The unintended consequences of formal fisheries policies: Social disparities and resource overuse in a major fishing community in the Gulf of California, Mexico

This study investigates the local social and fisheries impact of formal fisheries policies in Bahía de Kino, one of the most important fishing villages in terms of extraction of benthic resources in the Northern Gulf of California, Mexico. The paper focuses on cross-scale institutional interactions, describing how existing formal policies are functioning on the ground, how these policies interact with local arrangements, and how this interaction may affect the incentives of different actors towards sustainable fisheries. Besides providing lessons on how the performance of a local fishery could be improved, this paper addresses the question of whether the formal institutional structure of Mexican fishing regulations is effective in promoting responsible behavior by small-scale fishery stakeholders. It is argued that the design of the most widely used management tool to regulate access to marine resources throughout Mexico -the permit (licensing) system- provides the wrong incentives for sustainable-use. Granting secure rights to resources to those actively involved in the fishery is a necessary step for promoting sustainable fishing practices.     

New perspectives in small-scale fisheries management: challenges and prospects for implementation in South Africa

Worldwide, the past 15–20 years has seen a significant shift in thinking and approaches to the management of small-scale fisheries. This is in response to the recognition that conventional fisheries management is not equipped to deal with the complexities, uncertainties and challenges prevalent in small-scale fishery systems. Consequently, a new fisheries paradigm is emerging based on the principles and ideas underpinning systems thinking, complexity theory, participatory democracy and adaptive management. Although fishery science is required to inform management decisions, it must be seen as one of the inputs needed for effective governance. Incorporation of other disciplinary perspectives, knowledge sources and local information is considered necessary for understanding the fishery system and identifying appropriate management responses. Although South Africa has incorporated many of these ideas and principles into broad policies and legislation governing resource management, implementation of this new paradigm in the context of small-scale fisheries is proving difficult. However, recent developments such as the recognition of the socio-economic rights of this group of fishers, the formulation of a new draft small-scale fisheries policy, efforts to identify and address human dimensions in fisheries through research and stakeholder workshops, as well as opportunities for greater participation in policy formulation and management, are all indicative of a shift in institutional culture and approach to this sector. This paper aims to provide an overview of the main ideas underpinning the new small-scale fisheries paradigm and explores the application of these ideas in the context of small-scale fisheries in South Africa. Challenges and prospects for implementing this new management paradigm are discussed, as well as some practical ideas for progressing this new approach.     

Co-management in Japanese coastal fisheries: institutional features and transaction costs

This paper presents the institutional history and features of Japanese coastal fishery management, including the past decade's major legislative developments. In Japan, local resource users have been the principal decision makers in fishery resource management. Under the current Fishery Law, resource conservation is an integral part of resource use. Coordination of fisheries’ issues, such as rights/license distribution and local regulations, is achieved by multilevel coordinating organizations. Government and/or research institutes provide support with planning, scientific advice, etc. A brief analysis of Kanagawa Prefecture suggests that the fisheries transaction costs, especially the monitoring, enforcement and compliance costs, are remarkably low.     

Institutions and management of fishing resources: The governance of the Galician model

Institutional analysis is among the most significant research programs in the economics of fisheries management, and it increases our understanding of the relationships between the institutional framework and the fishing sector. Galicia is one of the most important fishing regions in the European Union, and this paper analyses the Galician fishing sector from a new institutional economics approach. The paper studies several topics that characterise the relationship between institutional rules and fisheries management in Galicia. As a result, we demonstrate new institutional findings on fishery governance through the study of the recent Galician experience.     

Atlantic sea scallop management: an alternative rights-based cooperative approach to resource sustainability

The effectiveness of the US Atlantic sea scallop fishery regulations has resulted in recovery from a biological standpoint. However, due to excessive harvest capability and regulatory inefficiencies, the industry is facing substantial harvesting costs and, hence, economic inefficiency. The main reason is that most regulations or restrictions do not take into account the fundamental importance of the property rights for inducing behavior more consonant with aggregate as well as individual rationality. This article conceptualizes the role and importance of property rights structures in their application to Atlantic sea scallop fishery management. Additionally, embryonic industry efforts in developing an enhancement program for this fishery may point to the need for more cooperative, area-based management strategies. By doing so, two important elements for achieving greater production and value from the scallop fishery are identified. First, establishing an ownership structure of private property rights in the form of Territorial User Rights in Fishing (TURFs) and second, having fishermen cooperate under an organizational structure, such as a harvesters’ cooperative. These elements imply that an alternative, rights-based cooperative approach may become a compatible governance arrangement and provide an incentive for the rational management of the scallop fishery.     

Fish on the range:: the perils of crossing conceptual boundaries in natural resource policy

This paper examines the recurring theme that fisheries management ought to emulate the institutional arrangements governing other natural resources, such as public rangelands. Overly facile comparisons between fisheries and range have been based on a misguided vision of range policy and an obsession with the structure of property rights. The result has been a condition of “structural narcosis” that obscures obvious but important differences between range and fisheries and obstructs more productive and sophisticated attempts at comparative inquiry. This paper provides a more detailed contrast between past range and current fisheries policy in the United States, in pursuit of more realistic lessons for policy makers. Range management, the paper concludes, is evolving in directions that are instructive for fisheries, but the crossing of conceptual boundaries between these two resources must be undertaken with care and greater attention to detail.     

Global trade in fish and fishery products: An overview

Global trade in fishery products plays a significant role in shaping the harvesting and use of fish, and therefore will be an important part of a transition to sustainable fisheries. This article provides an overview of global trade flows in fish and fishery products as well as future trends affecting the sector. It then moves on to review trade policy measures applied in major producing and importing countries, including tariff, non-tariff measures, and fisheries subsidies. It ends with an overview of recent developments in international frameworks governing trade in fish and fishery products at the global, regional and national levels.     

北冰洋公海渔业权益争端的博弈分析——基于环北极国家视角

北冰洋公海尚处于冰封状态,但气候变暖、海冰加速融化使未来公海出现新渔场成为可能,其战略价值因而得到国际关注。当前,环北极国家已率先展开渔业权益争夺。为分析北冰洋公海渔业事务的国际走势,文章基于博弈论思想,构建非对称懦夫博弈模型及古诺模型来模拟和探究环北极国家在渔业利益争夺中的合作或冲突行为,研究得出:现阶段北冰洋公海渔业权益争端主要表现为渔业管理权的争夺,在该博弈中,非北冰洋沿岸国采取退让策略,沿岸国采取进攻策略,可以达到进化稳定均衡;一旦公海具备捕鱼条件,争端将演化为开发模式选择的博弈,此时,北冰洋沿岸国采取合作开发策略可以有效保护公海渔业资源,并实现国家的长期利益。     

A review of game-theoretic models of fishing

Game theory is a formal tool for analysing strategic interaction between a finite number of agents. The fact that usually more than one entity or agent has property rights to fishery resources, has led to an explosion in the use of game theory and applications thereof to analyse fishery management problems. This review shows that game-theoretic modelling has made significant contributions to our understanding of the problems of fishery resource management. However, many challenges still remain. For instance, models of straddling stocks are yet to be fully developed. In addition, fisheries economists have not yet fully exploited the opportunity provided by computational methods now available, and the ever increasing power of computers, to develop more empirical game-theoretic models for practical fisheries management.     

Review of indicators in fisheries management – a development perspective

A review of indicators for an ecosystem approach to fisheries management is presented, focusing on multispecies fisheries and limited resources for assessments and implementation, as often is the case in developing countries. Emphasizing the need to link indicators to management objectives, indicators from the literature are grouped into four categories, relating to the immediate fisheries resource base (single-species and multispecies indicators) and the wider ecosystem (habitat structure and ecosystem functioning). The usefulness of these indicators is assessed along three dimensions of acceptability among stakeholders, observability, and relation to fisheries management using a traffic light approach. The top ranking indicators are highlighted as a generally good start for any particular fishery management case. It is, however, argued that, even with similar management objectives, indicators need to be specific to both ecosystems and the institutional set-up if they are to be effective for management, and that indicators may consequently differ considerably between individual management applications.     

An evaluation of self-governance in the New Zealand Bluff oyster fishery – The indicator system approach

The use of self-governance as a fisheries management tool is increasing in New Zealand and elsewhere. Researchers argue that in theory self-governance can lead to improved outcomes, but evaluating actual benefits is difficult because of the need to distinguish self-governance impacts from other influences on fisheries performance. An indicator system was developed in this paper to evaluate the contribution of selfgovernance to the performance of the Bluff Oyster fishery (OYU5), which is also managed under New Zealand's Quota Management System. There is evidence that self-governance makes a positive contribution to economic efficiency, institutional effectiveness and resource preservation in the Bluff Oyster fishery.     

Constraints and solutions for managing Pacific Island sea cucumber fisheries with an ecosystem approach

The ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) is a holistic paradigm that considers stocks of exploitable species, marine ecosystems and stakeholders. Management agencies must strike a balance between their capacity constraints and the requisites of management measures. Most small-scale sea cucumber fisheries of Pacific Islands have been plundered while others are being opened to commercial exploitation. Data from fishery managers and a regional workshop were used to assess the current problems, institutional constraints and solutions to the management of sea cucumber fisheries in 13 Pacific Island countries (PICs). Technical capacity was often strong for some management actions such as developing marine reserves but weak for others, such as enforcement. Using multi-disciplinary indicators, half of the fisheries were diagnosed by their managers as being overfished or depleted, despite evidence of optimistic bias. Fishery governance varied greatly among the PICs, and co-management frameworks were not typical of any cultural region. Management objectives were prioritised differently among managers but most highly ranked was to protect ecological resilience. The fishery managers proposed different sets of regulatory measures and various management actions, such as surveys to collect socio-economic and fishery-dependent data, support for local governance and strong enforcement – all widely under-practised. Pacific sea cucumber fisheries exemplify how the transition to an EAF by management institutions must involve reorganisation of their technical and human-resource capacities among management tasks. Levies on exports need to be internalised to fund improved management. Management agencies should consider a shift in resources from developing marine reserves, conducting underwater surveys and aquaculture-based restocking to strengthening enforcement capacity, stakeholder involvement and communication with fishers. In concert with these actions, short fishing seasons, shortlists of allowable species and tighter enforcement at export points may serve to turn the tide on boom-and-bust exploitation and safeguard biodiversity.     

Swedish coastal herring fisheries in the wake of an ITQ system

The European common fisheries policy (CFP) advocates measures to sustain small-scale fisheries; hence, in the European Commission's proposal for a reformed CFP, these are exempted from a mandatory system with tradable fishing concessions. This opens up for management actions designed for small-scale fisheries, but also implies new management issues. This article provides insights into the topic based on a Swedish small-scale herring fishery in the western Baltic Sea that was exempted from an ITQ-system. The fishery has been profitable since the system was introduced, and the increasing effort of both incumbent fishermen and new entrants implies a situation where fishermen compete for a limited quota. The migratory pattern of the herring implies high densities in the southern parts of the fishing areas during spring and in the northern parts during autumn. This forms the basis for two different fisheries in the area, as well as for the current management proposal to divide the quota into a spring and an autumn part. This and other management proposals are discussed in the paper. The main conclusion from the case study is that, when exempting a fishery from tradable fishing concessions, it is important to build other institutions dealing with the fundamental problem of access to the quota. Failure to do so might result in an over-capacity issue and threaten the long-run development of an otherwise successful small-scale fishery.     

The utility and risk of local ecological knowledge in developing stakeholder driven fisheries management: The Foveaux Strait dredge oyster fishery,New Zealand

Local ecological knowledge (LEK) has been recognised as an important source of information for resource management in data-poor fisheries. Our case study of the Foveaux Strait dredge oyster fishery in New Zealand shows LEK can also make a significant contribution to the management of data-rich fisheries, but highlights the importance of appropriate data collection design and interpretation and presentation of LEK. We formalise a structure for interpreting LEK, illustrate the importance of design by comparing two LEK studies, and discuss how the inclusion of LEK into the fisheries plan process has provided unexpected benefits for better management of the fishery.     

Patterns of fisheries institutional failure and success: Experience from the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab fishery,in Nova Scotia,Canada

This paper examines why market and government institutions failed to prevent over fishing in the Southern Gulf snow crab fishery, whereas non-market institutions succeeded. A general conclusion is that the institutional environment in which economic behaviour must be coordinated for successful fisheries management is complex. More specifically, collective action dilemmas arise from the interdependency of human and fish species interactions. However, successful institutions are capable of resolving these dilemmas when they achieve credible commitment. Coordination mechanisms such as co-management contracts, horizontal patterns of communication and win–win negotiations all contribute to building an institutional arrangement in which participants are motivated to comply with conservation objectives.     

Reforming management of commercial fisheries in a small island territory

The Falkland Islands has successfully met many challenges in the management and development of its fisheries resources over the last 20 years. To meet a new set of challenges the current licensing system based on the allocation of non-transferable, variable duration licences to individual vessels is being replaced by a system of long-term individual transferable rights owned by Falkland Islanders. The anticipated gains are enhanced economic performance of the sector because fishing businesses have increased security and flexibility, rapid diversification from harvesting into value-added activities and increased international competitiveness as poorly performing companies sell rights to well performing companies. Implementing a rights-based regime in a small coastal state is challenging. Thin markets for rights, a desire to maintain local control of fishing rights, and a dependence on foreign direct investment in the fisheries sector are key considerations in the design of an effective and efficient management regime. Starting operation in 2006/07, the new rights-based management system provides a model for small coastal states or small industrial fisheries that previously had considered rights-based systems too complex to implement and administer, despite the inherent advantages of rights-based management.     

Managing coastal zone fisheries: A Mediterranean case study

Coastal fisheries are complex ecological and social systems, evolving in time with a shift from commercial towards recreational effort. We describe the coastal fisheries of Mallorca (W Mediterranean) and the management policies implemented to show the challenges faced at regional level to handle the different management tools used to conserve biodiversity and the social fabric in the coastal zone. Our example provides evidence of the complexity of fishing rights and how they can be adapted into practical fisheries management by combining fishing rights, open access recreational fishery, community-based management and biodiversity conservation.     

Developing underutilized fisheries: Oregon's developmental fisheries program

Oregon's Developmental Fisheries Program is designed to encourage the commercial exploration and development of State managed underutilized fishery resources. A key program strategy is allocating relatively secure harvest rights to pioneering entrepreneurs when a fishery successfully transitions from “developing” to “developed” status. Since the program's inception in 1993, two fisheries, sardine and bay clam, have moved from undeveloped to developed status. Case studies of these fisheries show that many challenges impact the success of the Developmental Fisheries Program including difficulties in designing and allocating asset rights, establishing operational program guidelines, selecting measurable targets that meet legislative standards for a developed fishery, and financing developmental fisheries management practices. Developmental fisheries strategies used in other regions and countries are summarized. Recommendations are made for improving Oregon's Developmental Fishery Program including establishing clear objectives and timelines for the Program and identifying appropriate renewal requirements for permits and other developmental incentives on a fishery-by-fishery basis.     

Angling management organizations: integrating the recreational sector into fishery management

This paper examines ways to reduce conflicts and improve the sustainability and value of marine recreational fisheries by fully integrating the recreational sector into the management of fisheries. One possibility involves a novel approach, here called angling management organizations (AMOs), which combines three of the more pervasive and promising trends in fishery management worldwide—management devolution, strengthened harvest rights, and co-management. AMOs are community-based organizations that are designed to conform to seven basic principles of integrated fishery management, which are described below. AMOs are loosely related to rights-based producer organizations in commercial fisheries, and are expected to strengthen resource stewardship, reduce enforcement and monitoring costs, alleviate management conflicts, and produce greater long-term net economic benefits in recreational fisheries. The other organizational structures considered here, including the management status quo, do not conform to all seven principles and are not expected to be as effective as AMOs.