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Fishing for Beads: Simple Games, Serious Insights

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  • We have developed simple and fun “fishing games” which can be played easily and quickly with cheap supplies—and which demonstrate important economic characteristics of fisheries. Players “fish” by scooping beads from a common bowl into individual cups placed near the bowl. The beads are the fish stock; the scoops are the fishing gear, and the cups are the player’s delivery ports. Players pay a rental cost for their gear (scoop), which depends upon the scoop size they choose. They are paid a price for their fish, which depends upon the distance of the cup from the bowl. If not allowed to communicate, most players compete aggressively to maximize their harvests from the limited total stock of beads by scooping as fast as they can. We describe three games which compellingly illustrate three important mechanisms by which rent dissipation may occur in competitive fisheries. The “gear-choice game” illustrates cost-driven rent dissipation as players choose larger, higher-cost scoops rather than the smallest and lowest-cost scoops. The “port-choice game” illustrates value-driven rent dissipation as players deliver beads to a closer but lower-priced cup. The “harvest choice game”—in which the volume left un-harvested each period determines the extent to which the bead stock is replenished for the next period—illustrates resource-driven rent dissipation as players over-harvest in earlier periods. In all of these games, replacing competitive fishing with individual quotas immediately and dramatically changes player behavior and increases rents. We have found these seemingly simple games to be powerful and effective tools for instruction, outreach, and experimental research.
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  • Knapp, G. & J. Murphy. Fishing for Beads: Simple Games, Serious Insights. In: Visible Possibilities: The Economics of Sustainable Fisheries, Aquaculture and Seafood Trade: Proceedings of the Sixteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, July 16-20, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Edited by Ann L. Shriver. International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET), Corvallis, 2012.
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  • AQUAFISH, USAID, NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency, Norad, The World Bank, Hyatt Regency Dar es Salaam, NAAFE, World Wildlife Fund, United Nations University Fisheries Training Programme, ICEIDA, JICA, JIFRS, The European Association of Fisheries Economists, International Seafood Sustainability Foundation
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