Marine Resource Management

Marine Resource Management is for people who will be in the room when a decision is made about how much of something can be taken, and by whom. The degree is built on the conviction that the decision cannot be made well by someone who understands only the biology or only the economics.

What you study

Fisheries policy and management, stock assessment, and marine resource economics. The assessment course is the same one the fisheries science students take — this is not a simplified version, and graduates report that being able to work through an assessment themselves is what distinguishes them in the job market.

The economics half addresses the parts economics handles badly as well as the parts it handles well. Adjustment costs are the recurring case: when a fishery declines, the barrier to a household moving out of it is usually licensing, debt and vessel capital rather than skills or willingness. Most transition programs are designed the other way, and understanding why is a large part of the degree.

Valuation is taught with its limits attached. Putting a number on a coastal wetland is useful in a process that would otherwise value it at zero, and that is not the same as the number being right.

Where it leads

State and federal fishery management, regional management councils, seafood industry and certification bodies, consulting, and international resource organizations. Several graduates have gone into the co-management arrangements the department studies.

What to expect

Quantitative work throughout, and case material drawn from real management decisions with all of their compromises intact. Students who want clean answers find the first semester uncomfortable.