KIRBY KEETON

April 19, 2010

New England's new catch share program starts on May 1st. Catch shares are an alternative to traditional fisheries that allocate a portion of the catch to commercial fishermen. New England's system is intended to be different than other catch shares because fishing vessels can band together into "sectors" and share an allotted portion of the fish. Each sector is free to take their allotment carefully and profitably without directly competing with other fishermen.

Traditional systems open fisheries for a limited amount of time, encouraging fishermen to race one another for fish. Accordingly, traditional systems lead to chaotic, unpredictable and inconsistent fish harvests. New England's groundfishing industry is far from sustainable. The catch share model has been offered by the Obama administration as a solution to the traditional model's malfunctions. The House Subcommittee on Oceans and Fisheries held a hearing on catch shares on April 22nd. Representatives of commercial and recreational fisheries gave feedback on the new way to manage federal fisheries.

Catch shares are meant to have both economic and environmental benefits, although commercial fishermen have concerns over potentially adverse economic effects of the system. "Catch-share systems are the ultimate win-win-win situation, providing conservation, economic and regulatory benefits," according to Environmental Defense Fund's Sally McGee. However, the 15 other major modifications to fishery management since 1977 have come with turmoil and this one probably will too. Smaller fishing operations feel left out of New England's catch share program because larger operations are poised to get an uneven share of the metaphorical pie. The fishermen's concerns reflect a lack of faith in government. The House Subcommittee is caught between fishermen's concerns and approving $ 54 million for new catch share programs in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's budget.

Sources:

Allison Winter, Catch-share Management Plans Get Second Look, Greenwire, Apr. 19, 2010, http://www.eenews.net/EEDaily/2010/04/19/archive/12?terms=new+england.

Environmental Defense Fund, New England Oceans Page, http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1531 (last visited Apr. 20, 2010).

Frank Carini, Catch Shares: The Latest Fishery Management Controversy, Examiner.com, Apr. 15, 2010, http://www.examiner.com/x-40883-Providence-Environmental-Health-Examiner~y2010m4d15-Catch-Shares-The-latest-fishery-management-controversy.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Brief History of the Groundfishing Industry of New England, available at http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/history/stories/groundfish/grndfsh1.html (last visited Apr. 20, 2010).

The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, Improving Federal Fisheries Management in the New England Region: A Summary of Views Presented during the New England Regional Roundtable, Aug. 2000, available at http://www.heinzctr.org/publications/meeting_reports.shtml.