Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Catch Share Design, Part 3: Available Resources


         After deciding on the projects goals, the specific resource components must be chosen.  First and foremost, the decision must be made whether or not the target species will be managed by itself, in a single species program or in a multi-species management plan.  In general, the decision to create a multi-species fishery can be determined by the fact that many species are often caught together.  For example, many kinds of groundfish are caught together.  This is why the US west coast groundfish trawl managers have implemented an ITQ system that distributes quota for 64 species of rockfish, 14 species of flatfish, 6 species of roundfish, 6 species of sharks and skate, and others, totaling over 90 species in all.  The reason to create a single species program is when fisheries that result in relatively minimal bycatch are isolated geographically or in some other way, such as species specific gear (crab traps).
            The spatial nature of the fishery is also of critical importance to its management.  Often times the same species can be harvested in disparate areas where local populations must be taken into account, just as overall populations are considered.  If this is the case, what the CSDM calls “zones” can be established to further regulate the fishery over spatially different regions.
            Next in the management development is determining the catch.  With biologically based data, an economic assessment of effort is conducted to determine where current practices operate, a point called “open access”, and where the final goal will lie.  A typical American goal is maximum sustainable yield (MSY), which operates at a point where the rejuvenation of the stock is equal in any given year to the harvest and where this stock growth is maximized.  Some managers do set the goal where resource rents are maximized at maximum economic yield, but it is difficult to convince fishermen to decrease effort and accept a lower harvest than MSY because it often means fewer fishermen participating.

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