Modelling Spatial Distribution of the Barents Sea Cod Fishery

The paper presents a cellular automata (CA) model for the growth and spatially distribution of the Northeast Arctic cod including a harvest model based on economical rational behaviour. Rules and range of the CA model are estimated from observations and biological theory, and the environmental conditions are assumed to be in accordance with the IPCC A1B scenario for the following 45 years. The aim of the model developed is to study fleet behaviour based on available management decisions, resource information and economic performance. This paper presents fleet performance in the model under open access conditions, considering two different types of vessels (small and large) placed in four different homeports. Fleet smartness is a key parameter controlling the fish finding ability of each fleet. The study shows that increasing smartness reveals increasing differences between small and large vessels placed in different homeports. While homeport clusters vessels at low levels of smartness, vessel size and range clusters vessels at higher levels of smartness.