Press Release
April 23, 2014
Dr. Hannesson has published several books and over a hundred journal articles on the economics of fishery management, which have been widely cited and had a significant impact on the field of fishery economics. In particular, his early work on bio-economic modelling has been described as “path breaking”, as he was one of the first to construct a fully-fledged empirically based numerical fisheries model. In addition to serving as a model for many empirical studies which followed, this work led to the observation that “pulse” fishing can be optimal under certain conditions.
Dr. Hannesson was among the first economists to focus on and analyze the costs of fisheries management, and was also among the first to draw attention to the importance of fish stock fluctuations in determining optimal fleet capacity. He carried out influential work on the economics of marine reserves, pointing out that extreme assumptions are required to make them economically efficient.
In recent work, Dr. Hannesson has contributed to the study of the economic impacts of climate change on fisheries.
In addition to his contributions in academic research, Dr. Hannesson has made important contributions in the practical aspects of fisheries economics and policy. He has served as leader of several joint international research projects, and an integral part of many others, and served on several key government committees contributing to policy advice on economic aspects of fisheries management. He has also contributed to improved fisheries policies in developing countries. Dr. Hannesson served as one of the first chairmen of the Executive Committee of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics & Trade (IIFET), from 1986-1990.