Title: Bioeconomic model for the pilchard (Sardinops sagax) species in Namibia

Achieving sustainable, profitable fisheries is a major challenge facing developing fishing nations that depend on fisheries for income and food security. Namibia is still under threat of certain species collapsing after they have failed to recover from overfishing in the past in spite of the stock-rebuilding policy measures implemented in recent years. The aim of this paper is to develop a bio-economic model for the Namibian pilchard, a small pelagic species, to identify the optimal levels of utilization for this stock over time and in the long run. The biological and economic aspects of the situation are modelled and represented by different indicators such as the biomass, effort, prices, harvests, revenue and costs. Model parameters are estimated with the help of data obtained from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and the pilchard subsector. On the basis of the estimated bio-economic model, an optimal harvesting rule is developed and used to identify the appropriate policy for this fishery and its most beneficial long term sustainable state.