Development in fleet fishing capacity in rights based fisheries

Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) fisheries management systems are supposed to remedy the over-capacity problem associated with traditional command-and-control management systems. This paper provides some insight with respect to the impact of ITQs on vessel numbers in six different countries. The results indicate that the number of vessels was reduced by at least 30% within a few years of the implementation of individual vessel quotas. Thereafter a slow reduction in vessel numbers continued, indicating that it may take time period before over-capacity is fully removed. Moreover, the total effect on vessel numbers is surprisingly similar across countries and fisheries despite different degrees of transferability in the different cases analysed.     

The elephant in the room: The hidden costs of leasing individual transferable fishing quotas

Despite the increasingly positive reviews of individual transferable quotas (ITQs), few studies have considered how quota leasing activities can reduce the economic benefits to society and to fishermen operating under the ITQ fisheries system. This analysis reveals negative economic impacts of ITQs previously overlooked by examining the extent of quota leasing and the relationship between the catch value, the cost of fishing, and the quota lease price in the BC halibut fishery, long considered a poster child for ITQs. Findings challenge assumptions of economic theory used to promote the benefits of ITQs.     

A rejoinder to E. Pinkerton et al., the elephant in the room: The hidden costs of leasing individual transferable fishing quotas

The purpose of this rejoinder is to respond to and question the many assertions made by Pinkerton et al. in the recently published Marine Policy article entitled: “The elephant in the room: The hidden costs of leasing individual transferable fishing quotas”. Particular attention is paid to the assertion that 79% of the British Columbia Pacific halibut TAC is being leased out by “armchair fishermen”. The rejoinder also discusses how ITQs, when used with other fishery management tools, such as catch monitoring, creates incentives that align more closely the fishermen harvesting behaviour and practices with the objectives of the resource manager.     

Artisanal fishing in Andalusia: A statistical study of the fleet

Andalusia is a region of Spain with an area of some 90,000 km² and almost 900 km length of coastline. It has an important tradition in the fishing industry that makes it one of the areas of the European Union where fisheries policies have a great significance for the population. The present statistical study deals comprehensively with the so-called “artisanal fleet”, especially in respect of data on the typology of vessels (construction particulars) and on the extractive effort made (distances and depths where they fish, duration of fishing voyages, the fishing gear used and target species), with the aim of presenting a new approach in the policies for regulating this important fisheries sector.     

Vessel buybacks in fisheries: The role of auction and financing structures

Vessel buyback programs intended to address overcapacity and excess capitalization in fisheries can lead to dramatically different levels of decapitalization depending on program structure and availability of vessel-specific information. This paper develops a simple theoretical model of self-financing vessel buybacks to examine equilibrium outcomes using sequential versus take-it-or-leave-it auctions, and financing schemes which allocate costs either homogeneously or according to rents captured through the buyback. This model demonstrates that programs which spread costs evenly among remaining vessels limit the possible extent of buybacks, as do programs which buy vessels one at a time in sequence rather than all at once. In addition to the theoretical modeling, a stylized case study inspired by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Fishery is also provided. This analysis suggests that a wide range of auction structures could roughly half the size of the existing fleet, and starkly demonstrates how information poor settings can entirely derail a buyback.     

Free form property rights for fisheries: The decentralized design of rights-based management through groundfish “sectors” in New England

Harvest cooperatives were implemented in several US fisheries over the last decade during a period when US law prohibited implementation of any new individual fishery quota (IFQ) systems. Harvest cooperatives provided an alternative to individual quotas as a means to end the race for fish and increase fishery profitability. The prohibition on new IFQ systems in the US was lifted, but harvest cooperatives remain a more feasible and perhaps a superior alternative to IFQs for some fisheries. The New England Fishery Management Council is on the verge of implementing a new management system for the groundfish fishery based on harvest cooperatives known as “sectors”. This paper describes the New England sector management system and discusses a number of advantages but also some drawbacks relative to IFQs. It argues that a hybrid of the two approaches could have advantages over either.     

Quota discarding and distributive justice: The case of the under-10 m fishing fleet in Sussex,England

Marine fish discarding has become a contentious environmental issue, but little attention has been paid to the moral grievances that sometimes underlie discarding practices. This article explores such a moral grievance through a case study of the under-10 m fishery in Sussex, England, where discarding of cod (Gadus morhua) has become a highly charged issue, skippers blaming it on unjust quota allocations. The moral claim to a greater quota allocation is analysed using two conceptions of distributive justice, entitlement and desert. The conclusion reached is that the under-10 m fleet’s entitlement arguments for a higher quota are weaker than their desert arguments, but that entitlement arguments weigh more heavily than desert arguments with government when it allocates quota.     

Management responses to the problem of incidental catch in fishing: A comparative analysis of the EU,Norway, and the Faeroe Islands

The article addresses incidental catch as a two-level management problem for systems that regulate fish catches. The first level is legal and concerns the problem of establishing clear and legitimate criteria for criminal liability. The second level is environmental and concerns the efficacy of chosen liability criteria in resource conservation. The article compares and explains the solutions chosen by Norway, the Faeroe Islands, and the EU. Each solution constitutes a distinct form of fisheries management. It is argued that national choices are determined by administrative capacity for implementation and political autonomy in the distribution of fishing rights.     

Governance of tuna industries: The key to economic viability and sustainability in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean

The Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) tuna fishery is an important global food resource, and the economies of many Pacific Islands Countries (PICs) rely heavily on tuna industries. This paper proposes that governance by PICs is the key to improving the sustainability and profitability of tuna industries in the region. ‘Governance’ is usually used to refer to corruption, but here is interpreted more broadly to encompass the whole process by which decisions regarding public life are made and enacted, by government and also civil society. Argument is supported by empirical material from an interview study with stakeholders and a survey of reports.     

Safety at sea and fisheries management:: fishermen's attitudes and the need for co-management

Safety at sea is a serious issue for the commercial fishing industry; it ranks highly in all assessments of occupational dangers including risk-taking, injuries, and fatalities. This paper examines the impact of fisheries management on safety at sea and the use of fishermen's input in the safety regulatory and management process. Using case study techniques of analysis, 22 boatowners, captains and crew all with a minimum of 10 years experience in the commercial fishing industry and from a common New England port (New Bedford) are interviewed. Findings strongly suggest that regulations that have been primarily designed to reduce pressure on fish stocks may also result in increased pressure on fishermen and decreased safety at sea. Attitudes about the role of the New England Fisheries Management Council and improvements to the safety regulatory and management process particularly with regard to the increased participation by fishermen are also examined.     

A cautious fisheries management policy in South Africa: the fisheries for rock lobster

In South Africa, political emancipation has resulted in a new fisheries policy which is embodied in the Marine Living Resources Act of 1998. The pillars of the new policy are sustainability, equity and stability within the industry. We look particularly at a suite of mainly accessible species, the rock lobsters (truly spiny lobsters), at their management, at control measures, at realities of resource status and harvesting, at naturally occurring ecosystem stimuli, and investigate whether the policy can achieve what it aims to do, to provide more for more South Africans at levels at least equal to what they do today. Put simply, are the political aims and the sustainability aims of the new policy mutually achievable?     

Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURFs): State of the art and the road ahead

Emerging as an innovation for improving the management of overexploited fisheries around the world, rights-based fisheries management systems are being implemented in the form of either species- or area-based management. While there are numerous reviews on species-based management, there have been none on area-based management. To fill this gap, we undertake a critical review of the literature on area-based management systems known as “Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries” (or TURFs). Following an exhaustive search, seventy-nine peer-reviewed journal papers discussing the evolution, effectiveness, enforcement, and management context of TURFs were identified and selected. Review of these papers reveals that there is a growing interest in investigating the real-world effects of TURFs, both positive and negative. The variability in TURF performance appears to be due to design features, enforcement behavior of fishers, and specific contextual conditions, namely, biological fishery characteristics, socio-economic aspects of fishers, and institutional arrangements. The bulk of the published research has focused on theoretical analysis and empirical evidence based on fishers’ perception and experience. And there has been little research on enforcement issues or how design features and management contexts influence performance. This review emphasizes the need for rigorous empirical analyses of TURF effects, including assessment of the cost-effectiveness of different enforcement schemes and the effects of contextual conditions on TURF performance. Addressing current shortcomings in the literature could improve the design, implementation and performance of TURFs worldwide.     

Institutions and governance in the European Common Fisheries Policy: An empirical study of Spanish fishers' attitudes toward greater participation

Public participation in the decision-making process is a key element of good governance. In its latest proposals for reforming the Common Fisheries Policy, the European Commission acknowledges that management measures lack legitimacy without input from the fishers themselves and thus underscores the need to increase it and adapt it to local or regional conditions. This study analyzes Spanish fishermen's own views about their participation in the decision-making process. The results show that most fishers are in favor of more participation by themselves and by regional governments in the decision-making process.     

Issues at the fore in the land of Magnuson and Stevens: A summary of the 14th Bevan Series on Sustainable Fisheries

The Magnuson–Stevens Act is the United States׳ premier law governing fisheries conservation and management. Congress has revisited the Act multiple times since its inception in 1976—most recently in 1996 with the Sustainable Fisheries Act and in 2006 with the Magnuson Stevens Act—and is currently in the process of reauthorizing the Act. The University of Washington focused the 14th annual Bevan Series on Sustainable Fisheries on issues surrounding reauthorization. The symposium featured a diversity of stakeholders, including fisheries scientists, managers, policy analysts, students, non-governmental organizations, Tribes, and industry. The symposium explored the Act׳s history, means of ending overfishing and ensuring accountability, lessons from U.S. West Coast and North Pacific fisheries, and challenges and solutions to ecosystem-based fisheries management.     

Distribution of the burden of fisheries regulations in Europe: The north/south divide

The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is a priority area of the European Union's Better Regulation agenda. Understanding the spatial variation in the application of the policy and the reasons behind these differences would provide insights into policy making in different socioeconomic and cultural settings that will assist in better regulation. The CFP aqcuis (the body of European Union law accumulated thus far) was analysed by creating a database composed of pre-defined elements from each obligation. Distinct differences are apparent in the ‘burden’ imposed by regulations in the Northern and Southern waters. However, a combination of a timeline of fish landings and the accumulation of the CFP regulations shows that despite the increase in the number of regulations this has not led to the anticipated reduction in landings. Historical, biological and geopolitical differences between the two major marine regions of the EU are discussed in terms of the impact they have had on the formation of the different fisheries management models in the different regions. Finally, the elements forming these models are discussed in terms of successes and failures in the context of the 2012 CFP reform.     

Designed for failure: A critique of the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union

The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) of the European Union has neither lived up to its aim of enhancing the sustainability of fish stocks nor that of improving the economic competitiveness of the fishing industry. This paper discusses the failure of the CFP from a biological, economical, legal and political perspective.     

Local ecological knowledge and practical fisheries management in the tropics: A policy brief

This policy brief is a summary product of seven case studies examining the integration of local ecological knowledge in fisheries management. Each case began with a series of in-depth interviews with local fishers, after which their answers were examined using both social and biological approaches to assess the possibility of using the information as the basis of simple, valid and locally acceptable indictors for fisheries management. We found that allocation and knowledge issues are closely interlinked and must be addressed in concert, and that the negotiation of shared understandings between multiple sources of knowledge must be a continuous process within an adaptive framework rather than a question of identifying a fixed set of indicators.     

Law and fisheries reform: Legislative and policy developments in South African fisheries over the decade 1994–2004

Following the enactment of the Constitution in 1996, the South African government undertook a process of legal reform in the fishing sector. This led to the publication of a new fisheries policy endorsing equity and sustainability, as reflected in the Marine Living Resources Act. This paper examines efforts to implement the policy, particularly the objective of “transformation”, against the background of law reform in fisheries over the last decade. The discussion is located within the context of related domestic legal developments and current trends in international fisheries law. Methods for enhancing effective implementation of the new fisheries policy are highlighted.     

Expanding fisheries co-management to ecosystem-based management: A case in the Shiretoko World Natural Heritage area,Japan

Fisheries co-management in the Shiretoko World Natural Heritage area was expanded to ecosystem-based management, in which the fisheries sector plays an essential role in management. A marine management plan was drawn up to define the management objectives, strategies to maintain major species, and methods for ecosystem monitoring. A network of coordinating organizations from a wide range of sectors was established to integrate policy measures. Experience from this case could inform ecosystem-based management in other countries where large numbers of small-scale fishers take a wide range of species under a fisheries co-management regime.