A recent study conducted by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries suggests that the implementation of catch share practices in fishing economies can improve safety by providing fishermen more flexibility during the season, reducing the incentive of risky voyages during inclement weather.
Catch share refers to the assignment of protected shares of the season’s fish to “individual fishermen, cooperatives, or fishing communities for their exclusive use,” the NOAA website said. The practice has been implemented in eight NOAA fisheries nationwide since the early 2000s.
“Our initial work showed a classic story of a fishery that evolved into an intense race to fish,” Lisa Pfeiffer, economist at NOAA Fisheries' Northwest Fisheries Science Center, said in a Jan. 6 NOAA press release. “Then, after implementation of a catch share program, the fishing season lengthened, and we saw a huge shift in fishermen’s decisions to fish.”
The study showed that in most cases, catch share programs advocate safe fishing habits by eliminating the competitive aspect of fishing, resulting in less risky behavior, the release said.
While catch share measures have proven successful at several fisheries, some ran into complications, including the West Coast groundfish trawl fishery, the release said.
“Before the catch share program, it had a long, drawn-out season in which they could only fish a certain amount per month,” the release said. “Under the catch share program, fishermen condensed their effort into a shorter time window. This is economically advantageous (because they could also participate in other fisheries throughout the year) but resulted in fishers taking on somewhat higher risks.”
Overall, the study concluded that further research was necessary to ensure economic policies such as these can be successfully implemented nationwide.
“There are other incentives driving fishing behavior beyond just safety,” Pfeiffer said. “However, knowing more about how fishermen react to management actions like catch shares can improve future policies.”
