Short-term choice behaviour in a mixed fishery: investigating métier selection in the Danish gillnet fishery

The study presents a short-term effort allocation modelling approach based on a discrete choice random utility model combined with a survey questionnaire to examine the selection of métiers (a combination of fishing area and target species) in the Danish North Sea gillnet fishery. Key decision variables were identified from the survey questionnaire, and relevant proxies for the decision function were identified based on available landings and effort information. Additional variables from the survey questionnaire were further used to validate and verify the outcome of the choice model. Commercial fishers in a mixed fishery make use of a number of decision variables used previously in the literature, but also a number of decision parameters rarely explicitly accounted for, such as price, weather, and management regulation. The seasonal availability of individual target species and within-year changes in monthly catch ration were the main explanatory drivers, but gillnetters were also responsive to information on the whole fishery, fish prices, and distance travelled to fishing grounds. Heterogeneous responses were evident from geographic differences in home harbour, which underpins the need to understand alternative fishing strategies among individual gillnetters better.