The catch-share approach is used in New Zealand, Australia, Iceland and increasingly in the US and Canada. Officials in the US will soon decide how the groundfish fishery on the west coast will be run at a meeting in November.
“By aligning the incentives of fishermen with the long-term health of the fishery, catch-shares appear to be a mechanism for driving sustainability through profitability,” said researcher Christopher Costello. “The longer the fishery is managed with catch-shares the lower the likelihood of collapse.”
Costello and colleagues Steven Gaines and John Lynham, who is now at the University of Hawaii, studied data from more than 11,000 fisheries worldwide between 1950 and 2003. Around 1% of the fisheries had implemented a catch share system, generally of the “individual transferable quota” type.
The researchers found that fisheries using traditional management methods – the “free-for-all” approach – had a rate of collapse twice that of fisheries that had implemented a catch-share system. The result held true around the world and for all the different species of fish studied.
“The traditionally managed fishery induces what we call a ‘race to fish’,” said Costello. “In order to curtail total harvest, fisheries managers have to reduce progressively the fishing season.” For example, the season in Alaskan halibut fisheries was down to just two or three days, but following the introduction of a catch-share system, managers were able to increase the season to eight months. “Much like when you own a house you have an incentive to invest in it. By protecting a growing stock of fish, fishermen are investing in their future,” said Costello. “Essentially the catch-share becomes an asset that they value and protect – the larger and healthier the fish stock the higher is the value of that asset.” The total allowable catch for each year is decided by scientists at the start of the season. The larger the fish stock, the bigger the total allowable catch will be. Fishermen in the New Zealand rock lobster fishery, which had switched to a catch-share system, actually asked the government to halve the total allowable catch. “Catch-shares give fishermen an incentive to favour management actions that protect and enhance fish populations,” said John Lynham. “This is particularly relevant in light of the global movement towards ecosystem-based management and the design of marine reserves. Marine reserves are often resisted by fishermen because they believe reserves will reduce their catch rate, particularly over the short run. Catch-shares give fishermen a direct financial stake in the long-term health of fish populations.”
Catch-share-holding fishermen in the New Zealand fiordland system banded together with environmental groups to create marine reserves. Lynham says that it is widely believed that this wouldn’t have happened without a catch-share system in place.
What’s more, the catch-share system can protect other species too. According to Steve Gaines, when the “race to fish” is halted the fishing effort typically reduces and there are incentives to use lower-impact fishing gear. In turn this reduces habitat damage and bycatch – the capture of non-target species. In the Alaskan sablefish fishery, for example, fishermen reduced the number of hooks they used by 40% but caught the same number of fish. In US fisheries using the catch-share system as a whole, incidental catch has decreased by 40%.
“Strong as they are these results probably underestimate the benefits of catch shares,” said Gaines. “Nearly two-thirds of the transitions occured in the last 20 years, so the benefits should continue to increase.”
Gaines believes that catch-shares must be carefully designed and continuously fine-tuned to meet the goals of the ecosystems, economies, and socities they are meant to serve. “One of the big design challenges is how you allocate the shares in the beginning,” he said. “But this is not a scientific question, it is a value judgement on the part of local communities and their governments.”
The researchers reported their work in Science.