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"Applying Financial and Economic Methods to Multispecies Fisheries Management"

Monday, September 28, 2026 at 1:00pm to 2:00pm

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SMAST East 101-103 : 836 S. Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford MA 02744
Callie Rumbut
c.rumbut@umassd.edu
https://umassd.zoom.us/j/97302340488

Department of Fisheries Oceanography
PhD Dissertation Proposal Defense

"Applying Financial and Economic Methods to Multispecies Fisheries Management"
By: Connor Coscino

Advisor
Dr. Lauran Brewster (UMass Dartmouth)

Committee Members

  • Dr. Steven X. Cadrin (UMass Dartmouth)
  • Dr. Gavin Fay (UMass Dartmouth)
  • Dr. Geret DePiper (Texas A&M)
  • Dr. Howard Townsend (NOAA)

Monday September 28, 2026
1:00 PM
SMAST East 101-103
836 S. Rodney French Blvd, New Bedford

and via Zoom

Abstract:

Historically, fisheries management has focused on single-species approaches and largely overlooked multispecies and economic interactions. Failure to account for these linkages has led to suboptimal yields and overfishing. Modern Portfolio Theory, a financial framework based on the principle of diversification, provides a novel perspective for addressing these challenges. In finance, diversification benefits arise when individual assets (e.g., stocks, bonds, cash) in a portfolio exhibit imperfect and offsetting correlations, thus reducing total portfolio variability to less than the weighted sum of individual asset variabilities. Applied to fisheries, fish stocks can be thought of as revenue-producing biological assets, with revenue covariance occurring between species due to interacting biological, technical, and economic dynamics. Fishery managers may leverage contemporary financial and economic methods to gain insight into regional fishery dynamics and explore harvest strategies that reduce financial risk for the fishing industry. This dissertation demonstrates practical applications of these quantitative methods for multispecies fisheries management. Chapter 1 advances recent work on applications of Modern Portfolio Theory through a New England region case study. While supply-side biomass dynamics are frequently studied in fisheries science, demand-side ex-vessel prices are scarcely incorporated outside of the economic field despite strongly influencing revenue determination. Chapter 2 applies economic methods to analyze common trends in ex-vessel price shocks and their portfolio implications. Chapter 3 proposes a framework adapting Modern Portfolio Theory and other common financial metrics as a suite of indicators that describe the economic state of the region’s fisheries. Together, these chapters seek to advance the integration of economic tools and objectives into management practices to achieve more holistic outcomes.

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https://umassd.zoom.us/j/97302340488

Meeting ID and passcode required. Email contact to obtain

For additional information, please contact Callie Rumbut at c.rumbut@umassd.edu