The impact of rolling horizon planning on the cost of industrial fishing activity

Vertically integrated fish-processing firms must dispatch their fishing fleet to meet short-term or long-term requirements for raw fish at the various processing plants. Fleet harvesting activity must be planned against a backdrop of uncertain catch rates, fish quality, and demand. In this paper, we investigate the potential for using rolling horizon planning as a strategy for managing the impact of these uncertainties, particularly in catch rates. We study the impact of the length of the planning and frozen horizons on the cost performance of fishing fleet schedules. Results for several scenarios involving variable catch rates, variable demands, and alternative rolling/planning horizon combinations are presented.