Can catch shares prevent fisheries collapse?

Recent reports suggest that most of the world's commercial fisheries could collapse within decades. Although poor fisheries governance is often implicated, evaluation of solutions remains rare. Bioeconomic theory and case studies suggest that rights-based catch shares can provide individual inc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 321; no. 5896; p. 1678
Main Authors: Costello, Christopher, Gaines, Steven D, Lynham, John
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 19.09.2008
Subjects:
Animals
Biodiversity
Databases, Factual
Ecosystem
Fisheries - economics
Fisheries - methods
Fisheries - statistics & numerical data
Fishes
Humans
Motivation
Population Dynamics
Regression Analysis
ISSN:1095-9203, 1095-9203
Online Access:Get more information
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Summary:Recent reports suggest that most of the world's commercial fisheries could collapse within decades. Although poor fisheries governance is often implicated, evaluation of solutions remains rare. Bioeconomic theory and case studies suggest that rights-based catch shares can provide individual incentives for sustainable harvest that is less prone to collapse. To test whether catch-share fishery reforms achieve these hypothetical benefits, we have compiled a global database of fisheries institutions and catch statistics in 11,135 fisheries from 1950 to 2003. Implementation of catch shares halts, and even reverses, the global trend toward widespread collapse. Institutional change has the potential for greatly altering the future of global fisheries.
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ISSN:1095-9203
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1159478