Catastrophe Theory and Fisheries Regulation

Catastrophe theory is a mathematical approach for analyzing systems that show abrupt changes. This paper attempts to apply the theory to fishery development and collapse, where the key variables are assumed to be stock size, level of economic investment or fleet size, and technological efficiency of the fishery gear. The analysis produces no new predictions about uncontrolled development and its consequences, but it appears to provide a useful way of exploring the implications of regulatory policies involving taxation, development subsidies, and technological improvement.