Catch shares bring back fish populations

A study of over 11,000 fisheries found that catch shares prevent – and even reverse – the collapse of the world's fisheries when compared to conventional management.¹ If you want abundant fish in the ocean, catch shares are the best choice.

There are four reasons catch shares mean more fish in the ocean.

1. Catch shares hold fishermen accountable for staying within scientifically-determined total allowable catch limits.
2. Catch shares reduce discards of perfectly good fish, and let fishermen keep more of their catch that regulations previously required fishermen to throw over the side, usually dead or dying.
3. Catch shares reduce harm on habitat and ocean wildlife -- including sea turtles and dolphins-- because fishermen deploy less gear.
4. Catch shares give fishermen a stake in protecting and restoring fish stocks. As fish populations improve, the amount each fisherman can catch increases. Fishermen who play by the rules directly benefit in the short and long terms.

The simple fact is that fisheries managed with catch shares perform significantly better, both biologically and ecologically.

Fishermen are accountable to science-based targets

The best way to end overfishing and rebuild stocks is to make sure fishing does not exceed scientifically-identified catch limits. Catch shares do just that, and better than any other management approach. Under conventional management, some fisheries don’t even have a cap. And when they do, conventional management routinely fails to keep fishing within the catch limit.

Under catch shares, compliance with science-based catch targets is the norm rather than the exception. A study, which looked at adherence to catch targets before and after catch shares within 10 fisheries, found that the fisheries exceeded their caps 65% of the time on average before the catch share, sometimes by as much as 200%.² After the catch share, they rarely (and minimally) exceeded their limits, actually averaging a 5% lower harvest than the catch target after catch share implementation.

A striking example of this is the Gulf of Mexico commercial red snapper fishery, where the total harvest for the program's first two years achieved 95% and 98% of the target.³ Before the catch share, this fishery routinely ran over the catch limit, exceeding the catch target nine years out of 17.⁴

Catch shares perform so much better because in exchange for secure access to fish, fishermen are held accountable for fishing only their given percentage of the science-based catch target. That means that for the first time, fishermen are required to stop fishing when they reach their individual cap. And, fishermen who continue to overfish risk financial penalties or the loss of their access privileges.

Catch share fishermen reduce bycatch and deploy less gear

Catch share benefits go beyond just meeting catch limits. Under catch shares, fishermen can take their time to improve their fishing methods, particularly targeting high-value species and minimizing interaction with species that are restricted or have lower limits. This is strikingly different than conventional management where fishermen race to catch fish in limited time periods or are forced to comply with effort controls that aim to make fishermen inefficient. The result is a substantial decrease in bycatch and reduction in gear that can have harmful impact on habitats.

For example, under catch shares, fishermen are no longer required to dump overboard dead or dying fish that don't meet arbitrary size limits or trip limits that were intended to limit catch, a standard feature under conventional management. In catch share fisheries, wasteful discards plummeted from pre-catch-share rates, down an average of about 40%.⁵ In the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery, discards are down by as much as 70%.⁶

The impact on ecosystems from fishing under catch shares is also likely reduced because catch share fishermen deploy less gear. Less gear in the water means less impact on the oceans. With more time to fish allowed under catch shares, fishermen have the time they need to avoid sensitive and important bottom habitats or areas with high bycatch. Fishing more carefully also leads to less gear lost at sea that has become known as “ghost gear” because it often continues to kill fish and other marine creatures. In the Alaska halibut fishery ghost gear was reduced more than 80 percent after catch shares were implemented.⁷

Fishermen have a stake in protecting and restoring stocks

Under catch shares, fishermen have a strong incentive to become stewards of their fishery because they benefit directly from conservation practices, better monitoring, and improving information about stock condition. Like an investment that grows over time, as stocks improve, catch share fishermen’s shares increase. Fishermen and managers start working more collaboratively to manage the stock and improve its health.

Benefits extend beyond compliance with catch limits and reductions in bycatch. Science also gets better under catch shares. In a study of 10 catch share programs, uncertainty in science used to set caps declined by about a third within the first five years of the initiation of catch share management.⁸ Or said differently, catch targets become more certain under catch shares. Moreover, catch share fishermen have sometimes even advocated for lower catch limits in order to rebuild the stock over the long term.^9,10

Science concludes catch shares are effective

The science on catch shares is clear. Three seminal studies have documented that these effects, taken together, help prevent the collapses of target stocks and rebuild fisheries. By some measures, fully 30 percent of the world's fisheries have already collapsed.¹¹ Many others are overfished, and nearly all fisheries are fully exploited. But fisheries under catch shares fare far better.

• "Can catch shares prevent fisheries collapse?" showed that fisheries with catch shares are largely protected from further fishery-induced collapses.¹²
• "Sustainable Fisheries" demonstrated that fishery production, on average, increases significantly after catch share management is implemented – in some cases, dramatically so.¹³
• "Rebuilding Global Fisheries" presented a strong consensus from scientists around the world – built around a brand-new, sophisticated fisheries database – that catch shares is one of, and perhaps the, most effective fishery management tool. Catch shares were credited by experts as "an essential tool" in four of the six ecosystems where reductions in total allowable catch were essential. Conventional management was deemed "essential" in just two other ecosystems, and one of those is now also finalizing catch shares.¹⁴

Bottom line

Catch shares do bring back fishing populations, more effectively than any other management approach.