Economic essays on marine invasive species and international fisheries agreements

Summary of the thesis

This thesis uses economics to analyse some of the pressing environmental concerns facing the world’s marine ecosystems. We focus on two key concerns; biological change in fish stocks, and invasive species. For biological change in fish stocks, we consider changing fish stock location and the risk of stock collapse. Using game theory, the thesis analyses these biological changes in terms of the ability of international fisheries agreements to successfully manage fish stocks. Marine invasive species are analysed with mathematical models. These models consider the management of invasive species spread, i.e. reducing the risk that an invasive species will arrive in a new area, and invasive species control, i.e. the management of existing invasive populations in a given area.