| Abstract: | ABSTRACT. What bio‐economic benefits can be expected from the implementation of marine protected areas (MPAs) in a fishery facing a shock in the form of recruitment failure, and managed jointly compared to separately? What are the optimal sizes of MPAs under cooperation and non‐cooperation? I explore these questions in the current paper by developing a computational two‐agent model, which incorporates MPAs using the North East Atlantic codfishery as an example. Results from the study indicate that MPAs can protect the discounted economic rent from the fishery if the habitat is likely to face a shock, andfishers have a high discount rate. The total standing biomass increases with increasing MPA size but only up to a point. Basedon the specifics of the model, the study also shows that the economically optimal size of MPA for cod varies between 50 70% depending on (i) the exchange rate between the protectedandunprotectedareas of the habitat; (ii) whether fishers behalf cooperatively or non‐cooperatively; and(iii) the severity of the shock that the ecosystem may face. |
