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Holy Mackerel! an Exploratory Agent-Based Model of Illicit Fishing and Forced Labor

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Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Modeling (SBP-BRiMS 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 9708))

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Abstract

This paper introduces an agent-based model to explore the existence of positive feedback loops related to illegal, unregulated, unreported (IUU) fishing; the use of forced labor; and the depletion of fish populations due to commercial fishing. The author hypothesizes the use of forced labor adversely impacts economic activity, provides incentive for illicit activity, and depletes the population of fish. Left unchecked, such a dynamic may lead to irreversible environmental impacts, exacerbate international tensions, and yield significant economic losses. The lack of reliable data on human trafficking and global fisheries makes statistical analysis extremely difficult. This model serves to consolidate several behavioral and impact assumptions into a single exploratory model in order to test these assumptions and establish a proof of concept to guide future research.

Kyle M. Ballard—The views expressed here are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the U.S. Department of State or any other U.S. government agency.

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Washington, D.C., USA

    Kyle M. Ballard

Authors
  1. Kyle M. Ballard
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Correspondence to Kyle M. Ballard .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA

    Kevin S. Xu

  2. Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    David Reitter

  3. Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Dongwon Lee

  4. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

    Nathaniel Osgood

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Ballard, K.M. (2016). Holy Mackerel! an Exploratory Agent-Based Model of Illicit Fishing and Forced Labor. In: Xu, K., Reitter, D., Lee, D., Osgood, N. (eds) Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Modeling. SBP-BRiMS 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9708. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39931-7_38

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39931-7_38

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39930-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39931-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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