Bioeconomic modeling of an age-structured population typically assumes the value of a fish increases with size; the fish increase in weight as they age, and harvesters may receive an increase in the price per weight. When size selectivity is possible, traditional policy such as individual quotas may still result in...
We describe the dynamics by which competing harvesters selectively target prime market-sized fish, without internalizing the externality of increasing targeting costs, as the abundance of prime fish decreases. Due to the increasing targeting costs for prime size, harvesters continually target the next-most-desirable size fish, gradually fishing down the size structure...