Analysis of the British Columbia Salmon Purse-Seine Fleet: Dynamics of Movement

Abstract

Three hypotheses regarding the movement patterns of the British Columbia salmon purse-seine fleet are considered. Two of these hypotheses, that boats move strictly in traditional patterns, or that boats attempt to maximize weekly landed value of catch are rejected. The third hypothesis, that boats move to optimize economic gain, modified by relative desirability of the areas appears to provide a better prediction of patterns. It is shown that when unusually large runs occur in an area, a sufficient number of boats will move into that area to reduce the catch per boat to a level typical of that area. Key words: boat movement, fleet dynamics, spatial pattern