Showing posts with label catch shares. Show all posts
Showing posts with label catch shares. Show all posts

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Ending overfishing with catch shares (ITQs, etc.)

It's time to move beyond ideology and use catch shares (ITQs, LAPPs, etc.) to help end overfishing. A new study by Environmental Defense shows how this can be done.

Market-based solutions to environmental problems have created a sharp ideological divide. Some say they're the best answer, and others say they're no answer at all. Where's the pragmatic middle that says they're a useful tool?

Right here, that's where. Blogfish steps boldly into the crossfire between ITQ true believers and dyed in the wool opponents and says catch shares (ITQs, DAPs, LAPPs, co-ops, etc.) can be a good way to manage fisheries.

The key is that catch shares--like any other tool--must be well designed in service of clear objectives. They're especially valuable where too many boats are chasing too few fish,(hey tell me someplace where there are too few boats chasing too many fish?).

OK, let the crossfire begin.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Race for fish bad for fish, fishermen

What's wrong with this picture? It shows how $millions have been wasted on fancy, bloated fishing boats in an absurd "race for fish."

Why? Misguided rules and subsidies lead fishermen to foolishly invest more and more money to catch the same or fewer fish. Now the fleet is going bankrupt, beaten by foreign competition.

The boat at left is a "modern" Bristol Bay salmon boat. It's a massive and unsafe 32-footer, tall & wide with a cut-off bow, because of rules that limit boat length. It's built big to catch lots of fish fast. In contrast, the boat at right is a "normal" 32-footer. There are nearly 2000 salmon boats permitted to fish Bristol Bay, many of them expensive, fast, bloated behemoths like the boat at left. Yet once the same catch was made using only 1200 sailboats!!

One casualty in this race for fish is conservation. In a race for fish, who has time to think about conservation? Gotta beat the next guy to the fish, to pay of last year's boat improvements and make the boat even faster for next year.

Some are trying to reform the Bristol Bay fishery, and ending the race for fish would help fishermen and advance conservation.

Photo: Norm Van Vactor