Summary
This paper examines the potential of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification to to improve tuna stocks and increase resource rents in the unassociated-sets purse seine fishery of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA). The researchers use a tractable bioeconomic model to analyze the economic and biological effects of certification, finding that under plausible assumptions, stocks of skipjack and bigeye tuna are likely to increase, whilst a high catch rate for yellowfin tuna means its stock size is likely to reduce. It is also found that the PNA's access fee decreases in most scenarios.