According to the available information top fisheries regulators are supporting the idea of catch shares as the best way to managing the nation’s fish stocks and meeting federal requirements to end overfishing by 2010. The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told leaders of the country’s eight regional fishery management councils, who are meeting this week in Boston, that catch shares should be “actively considered for each fishery.”
Dr. Jane Lubchenco said during a meeting of the Council Coordinating Committee that catch shares is an ideal way for many fisheries to both meet the Magnuson (Stevens Act) mandates and have healthy, profitable fisheries that are sustainable. It is informed that catch shares mark a shift in how fisheries managers impose limits on the fishing industry. Current rules manage the harvest of fish by placing restrictions, known as input controls, on fishing activities such as the type of gear fishermen use or the number of days they are allowed to fish.
It is told that catch shares place restrictions on the output of a fishery by setting a total allowable catch for each type of fish. Fishermen or groups of fishermen are given a share of that catch, known as a TAC, and may mostly decide for themselves how to go about catching that share. Lubchenco explained that NOAA Fisheries task force has been created to develop strategies for implementing catch shares in more of the nation’s fisheries. She also told that NOAA has included $18.6 million in its proposed 2010 budget to help the New England groundfishing industry switch from the current days-at-sea management regime to sectors, a voluntary catch share program involving self-selected groups of fishermen.
She further said that managing fisheries needs a clearer understanding of how ocean ecosystems work, especially given the challenges posed by climate change and ocean acidification. She aims to develop “a mechanism for having more comprehensive ecosystem-based planning” that would minimize conflicts between different ocean activities and ensure a healthy ecosystem.
