A new socio-economic study released by Ecotrust Canada today highlights a long list of troubling trends that has resulted from the implementation of individual transferable quota (ITQ) markets in B.C. fisheries since the early 1990s. The report is coming out at the same time as Ottawa plans to expand ITQ markets in Canada and U.S. President Barrack Obama is considering the widespread adoption of ITQs, also known as “catch shares,” in American fisheries.
The study, titled A Cautionary Tale about ITQ Fisheries, found that B.C.’s highly unregulated market for trading fishing quota is encouraging speculative buying and leasing of quota by “armchair” fishermen and investors. This is driving up business costs for working fishermen, which is hindering their competitiveness relative to American fishermen. Income is also being drained away from skippers and crewmen to pay for expensive lease fees. More troubling are safety statistics and anecdotal reports that suggest the economics of ITQs may be affecting the safety of working fishermen.
“Individual transferable quotas are being heavily promoted as a solution for both conservation and the financial ills plaguing fishing fleets around the world. However, our experience in B.C. is that highly unregulated, speculative ITQ markets can create as many problems as they solve,” says Tasha Sutcliffe, Fisheries Program Manager for Ecotrust Canada.
“Under ITQ markets, working fishermen in B.C. are increasingly becoming ‘tenants’ who pay exorbitant rents to landlords, or ‘sealords,’ who own all the quota. The lucrative leasing has, in turn, driven up the cost of fishing and the price of purchasing quota, making ownership prohibitively expensive for many fishermen,” Sutcliffe adds.
The study also found that setting a scientifically defensible total allowable catch and establishing inclusive and transparent co-management between government and stakeholders are by far the most important factors in maintaining the sustainability of both fish stocks and fishing-dependent communities.
Individual transferable quotas were introduced in B.C.’s fisheries throughout the 1990s to end competitive fisheries, or the “race to fish,” whereby fishermen competed with each other for a share of the catch. Under ITQs, individual fishermen or their vessels are allocated a defined share of the catch or quota. In B.C., few rules limit the ability of fishermen to transfer the ownership of their quota, either through lease or sale agreements.
Currently, eleven fisheries in B.C. are managed under ITQ markets, representing 74 percent of the catch, by weight, of all B.C. fisheries. Pilot ITQ programs have also been introduced in select salmon fisheries. By contrast, only about one percent of global fisheries are managed under ITQs.
Portland-based Ecotrust, the sister organization to Ecotrust Canada, has recently submitted recommendations to a national Catch Share Task Force in the United States appointed by the Obama administration in June. The task force will assist with the implementation of ITQs in U.S. fisheries.
Ecotrust’s recommendations draw on research on ITQs done by both organizations, including the 2004 landmark study, Catch-22: Conservation, Communities and the Privatization of BC Fisheries. Recommendations include establishing a public registry to ensure the full disclosure of quota ownership, setting national standards around social, economic and ecological objectives, and promoting community quota ownership and mechanisms to facilitate and finance new entrants into fisheries. Ecotrust is calling for the establishment of a National Fisheries Innovation Fund to help seed community quota ownership throughout the United States.
“Ecotrust Canada has undertaken this analysis, not to argue for the dismantling of existing ITQ markets in Canada, but rather to improve their design, and to inform policy discussions on the West and East Coasts about new ITQ pilot programs currently under consideration,” says Sutcliffe. “Quota markets need to be regulated and properly designed to prevent monopolies, excessive corporate concentration and other market distortions.”
In the design of quota markets, the study also calls on government to safeguard social goods such as fair crew payments, equitable Aboriginal participation in commercial fisheries and the interests of fishing-dependent rural communities.
