Oceans and Fishermen in Crisis
From Maine to California and the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska, commercial fishing is part of America's heritage. But its future is far from certain. If something doesn't change, we'll see more fisheries closed and fishing seasons cut back.
It's already happening. Today, 60 important fisheries in the U.S are overfished or undergoing overfishing.1 It's time to recognize that the way the government manages fish stocks just hasn't worked, for fish or for fishermen.
The way forward: catch shares
We need catch shares, an innovative approach that helps fish and fishermen rebuild, recover and renew.
Under catch share management, managers set a scientifically-determined catch limit. Then, the privilege to harvest a given percentage of the catch limit is granted to an individual, a group, or a community. Fishermen are held accountable for fishing only their given percentage in exchange for this secure access to the fishery. With catch shares, fishermen have a real investment in sustainability – because if the stock goes up, the amount of fish guaranteed to each fisherman goes up too.
Best of all, catch shares work. They bring back fish populations and ensure a future for American commercial fishing. See a listing of U.S. catch shares [PDF].
Catch Share FAQs
- Do catch shares bring back fish populations?
- What do catch shares mean for fishing jobs and fishing fleets?
- What do catch shares mean for fishing communities?
- Do catch shares ensure that our fishing heritage still belongs to all Americans?
- Will new participants be able to get catch shares?
- What do catch shares mean for private saltwater anglers?
1 National Marine Fisheries Service. 2009. Annual Report to Congress on the Status of U.S. Fisheries – 2008 [PDF]. U.S. Department of Commerce. NOAA. NMFS, Silver Springs, MD.
Posted: 09-Dec-2009; Updated: 28-Oct-2009
