Using Cellular Automata for Grid-Based Fishery Management

HTML  XML Download Download as PDF (Size: 2223KB)  PP. 249-258  
DOI: 10.4236/as.2019.103021    701 Downloads   1,263 Views  
Author(s)

ABSTRACT

This report introduced new concept and technics for a grid-based fishery management system. The fishing ground was first divided into small grid of equal area, each with predefined longitudes and latitudes (both 0.033 degrees or approximately 2 × 2 nautical miles in this study). All grids were laid and formatted into a Microsoft-Excel spreadsheet system, as defined by the coastline. Individual sheets were also constructed to represent different ecological characters, serving as supporting data of the main grid-map. Including individual fishing record, water depth, wind & current vector, benthic character, etc. Cellular automata (CA) mathematics was applied for simulation studies. They were programmed on the built-in Visual BASIC langrage in EXCEL. In a three-year research project, the author was able to accomplish the following major results: 1) An EXCEL-based spreadsheet system for storage of fishing effort in each grid. Provided that data of fishing yield is also available for each grid, research model for fishery management can be constructed, leading toward solutions for total allowable catch (TAC) as well as maximum economic yield (MEY). 2) A multi-layered, 2-dimentional spread-sheet system demonstrating the distribution of relative intensity for individual grids. The system can be decked up with different ecological data for more advanced studies. 3) Estimation of the nearest distance between two special grids as well as fishing harbors. This would help in more efficient navigation management and allocation of fishing rights for the fishing vessels.

Share and Cite:

Fong, S. (2019) Using Cellular Automata for Grid-Based Fishery Management. Agricultural Sciences, 10, 249-258. doi: 10.4236/as.2019.103021.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.