Incorporating Information and Expectations in Fishermen’s Spatial Decisions

Applied economic analyses conducted on fishermen’s spatial decisions have primarily used random utility models of location choice. A common characteristic of these studies is that they typically assume that fishermen have current information on catch rates at all fishing sites in the fishery, which implies a high degree of information sharing among fishermen while at sea. Using data from the Hawaii longline fishery, this paper tests this hypothesis, analyzing whether varying assumptions on information available to fishermen for basing spatial choices affects predictions regarding those decisions.