When a booming marine fishery can increase its shrimp catch while also reducing unintentional bycatch of turtles—that’s an example of what environmental scientists and managers call a “win-win.” Models often predict this ideal outcome is achievable, yet stakeholders rarely see it manifest in the real world.
Now, a CIRES-led study incorporates the complexity of the real world into models, explaining the discrepancy, validating the concerns of stakeholders and providing more realistic expectations for the future of environmental management.
“If a scientist’s model predicts a fishery will catch a certain amount of fish with little bycatch, or predicts a farm will harvest a certain amount of corn while cutting back on harmful fertilizer—but fishermen and farmers on the ground report the opposite, that leads to frustration on both sides,” said Margaret Hegwood, a CU Boulder graduate student in Environmental Studies working in CIRES and lead author on the new study out today in Nature Sustainability.
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