What are the results of catch shares?

There is general agreement among policymakers, practitioners, stakeholders and academics that fisheries should be biologically sustainable and provide economic benefits to the public, fishermen and communities.

A review of catch shares from around the world shows that catch shares can assure the long-term sustainability of fish stocks and maximize social and economic value created by the sustainable use of the fishery. Furthermore, catch shares consistently succeed where traditional management approaches have failed.

Specifically, research and experience shows catch shares:

• Prevent, and even reverse, the collapse of fish stocks (Costello et al., 2008)


• Ensure participants comply with catch limits (Branch, 2008)


• End the race for fish (Essington, 2010)


• Stabilize fishery landings and catch limits (Essington, 2010)


• Reduce ecological waste, such as discards and bycatch (Branch, 2008; Essington, 2010)


• Provide stability to the industry through well-paid, safer, sustainable jobs (McCay, 1995; Crowley and Palsson, 1992; GSGislason and Associates, Ltd., 2008; Knapp, 2006)


• Increase the profits and value of fisheries (Grafton et al., 2000; Newell et al., 2005)

Despite the positive track record of catch shares, there are some challenges that require special attention regardless of the management system in place. While well-designed catch shares are likely to help address some of these challenges, they will require continued innovation:

• Evolving science: If a catch limit is set too high, any fishery – including a catch share fishery – is at risk of becoming overfished. This was seen in the early days of the New Zealand orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) catch share fishery, where available science was limited, leading to unsustainably high catch limits being set. Participants did not exceed their shares, but they did catch the fishery's full catch limit and had significant discards at-sea, which resulted in overfishing. Since the orange roughy is slow to reproduce, this had a devastating impact. Though better science has been developed and limits have been lowered, some orange roughy fish stocks are still recovering (Straker et al., 2002).


• Effective monitoring and fishery information: Collecting good fishery information and ensuring effective monitoring and compliance is important for all fisheries, and catch shares are no different. For most catch shares, the management system must track catch in relation to the shares issued. Though all fisheries should have good data and monitoring, a transition to catch shares is often used as an opportunity to implement more robust and effective monitoring and fishery information systems. When this is done effectively, data quality and reporting accuracy improve, along with trust among fishermen and managers. Importantly, catch shares commonly create a willingness among all to improve data (Griffith, 2008).


• Species life cycle: Fisheries of long-lived, slow-growing, highly migratory, ephemeral, variable and/or high seas species pose unique problems for fishery managers. These challenges persist under catch shares. For long-lived species, especially ones that are already depleted, an individual fishermen today may not hold the share long enough to reap the benefit of a rebuilt, healthy stock. This limits the incentive to work toward that goal. In this scenario, setting a scientifically-appropriate catch limit and ensuring comprehensive monitoring will be even more important.


• Social pressure for the old way: Many fishermen hark back to past generations when commercial fishing was open, and even encouraged, for all. Regulations were few, boats were small, gear was less sophisticated, and the only limitations were one's ability and dedication. Though it may be desirable to return to this past, it is unfortunately not possible. Most fish stocks around the world are fully exploited or overfished, and with human population growth, it is unreasonable to think that we can allow open, unregulated access to stocks and have sustainable fisheries.