Rights-based Fisheries Management: An Environmentalist Perspective

Fisheries management regimes take many forms, but most fail to designate shares of the catch. This failure creates strong incentives for individuals to maximize their share without regard to long-term sustainability, because the benefits of conservation actions do not accrue to individuals. The competition to maximize catch usually entails excessive capital investments in fishing vessels and gear and intense fishing pressure, resulting in overfishing, high bycatch rates, and the use of large, efficient types of gear that can harm habitat. Managers respond by increasing regulations, but this often exacerbates perverse incentives. In addition, many fisheries could be producing more value than the current system permits, i.e. large quantities of fish are landed during short seasons, forcing fishermen to sell for low prices. Conservation and economic problems facing fisheries can be addressed in an integrated way, by designating access privileges (specifying shares of the catch) to individuals, harvest cooperatives, fishing sectors, communities, or other appropriate entities. Designated Access Privilege (DAP) systems demonstrably end the competition to maximize catch and often result in better conservation and financial performance. The cost of implementing these systems can be relatively high and has been a barrier to better management. However, this doesn’t have to be so. Fisheries could accept investments from a variety of sources and use a portion of the increased financial performance to repay recoverable grants and loans. The key to protecting fish stocks, habitats, and the communities that depend on them will be to implement DAPs that are appropriate for each fishery or community, making investments in sustainability, and creating financing mechanisms that are themselves sustainable, drawing on the increased value that DAP fisheries can produce.