Solving the problem of fishery collapse

Ownership key to saving fisheries
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

Giving fishermen long-term rights to catch fish is key to keeping stocks healthy, scientists conclude.

A global survey found that fisheries managed using individual transferable quotas (ITQs) were half as likely to collapse as others.

Long-term quotas give fishermen a stake in conserving fish stocks.

The study was published in the journal Science just a day after the European Commission announced a major review of EU fisheries policy.

"Under open access, you have a free-for-all race to fish, which ultimately leads to collapse," said research leader Christopher Costello from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB).

"But when you allocate shares of the catch, then there is an incentive to protect it."

The principle of ITQs is straightforward. A safe level of catch is set for a given species or group of species in a prescribed area, and that catch is shared out between individual boats or fleets.

(More here.)