Research
Fisheries Management
As with similar environmental problems, there are multiple ways to manage a fishery. The objective of management in general is to conserve the resource while maximizing efficiency. To achieve efficiency, management policies should minimize the costs to the industry and the fishermen themselves. In the U.S., the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act is regarded as the authority for fisheries management within the nation's borders.
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Jenkins, G. & Lamech, R. (1994). Green Taxes and Incentive Policies. San Francisco, CA: ICS Press.
Fishing Quotas
Total Allowable Catch
The Total Allowable Catch (TAC) is the number of fish that is deemed appropriate to remove from a fishery in a given time frame. In assigning a Total Allowable Catch, the fishery can manage precisely how many fish are caught. Establishing a TAC, which is essentially a quota on the fishery as a whole, is not a management tool that can be used alone; in 1996, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development declared that 16 of the 22 fisheries managed by TAC had failed. Studies have shown that upon realizing that there was only a limited number of fish available to catch, fishermen became competitive and raced to claim as large of a portion of the TAC as possible.
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Morgan, G. (1997). "Individual Quota Management in Fisheries - Methodologies for Determining Catch Quotas and Initial Quota Allocation." FAO Fisheries Technical Papers.
International Agreements and Bodies
UN-based organizations
United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea
UNCLOS was held in December 1982. The full contents of the convention can be found here: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm
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Yumiko Kura, Carmen Revenga, Eriko Hoshino, and Greg Mock. Fishing For Answers: Making Sense of the Global Fishing Crisis. Full text can be downloaded http://www.wri.org/biodiv/pubs_description.cfm?pid=3866
Parallel to Forests
In an attempt to better understand how to regulate a common good, we decided to evaluate a current common good that is being controlled: forests. We have just begun to research this topic. However, it seems as if the forests are being managed relatively well, according to an excerpt below taken from one of the articles found. It is interesting to note that after researching this aspect of regulation, we should be able to draw a parallel to the fishing industry. The main considerations are that fishes repopulate much quicker than trees, which would make the policies even more effective. On the other hand, it is important to recognize that fish are mobile and that forests are not. Also, the policies would have to be implemented on an international scale, which has not yet happened for forests. Even so, this is a good start to begin evaluating forestry standards. The groups of interest we should research are the SFI, the FSC, and the ATFS (as seen below in the article). The FSC is actually a nonprofit organization that issues certificates for well-managed forests. Below is the excerpt with facts.
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Goergen, M. (2007, Jul/Aug). Journal of Forestry www document (Vol. 105, Iss. 5). Proquest (visited 2007, November 8).
Raising Awareness Through Media
One possible method for raising public awareness of the issue of the world's fisheries is to follow the example of other promoters of global issues. One instance that comes to mind is that of Al Gore's film 'An Inconvenient Truth', a documentary designed to frighten the public out of it's apathy regarding climate change. Gore succeeded in executing a "multimedia plan for informing the public about the dangers of global warming" (Koeppel, 2007). What if Gore's tactic was applied to raising awareness about global fisheries?
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Wray, L., & Flanagan, C. (2006). An inconvenient truth about youth. Electronic version. Washington Post, pp. A17. Retrieved 11/9/2007.
Subsidies in Fisheries
Fisheries sector plays an important role in food supply. Apart from that, it is also a source of livelihood for many people, especially those in developing countries. Therefore, many countries subsidize their fishing industries to protect their food supply. In the world, the annual subsidies are $10 to $15 billion - possibly more than 25 percent of the annual $56 billion trade in fish. Hence, we can realize how prevalent subsidizing fishing industry is in the world.
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Milazzo, M. (2000). The World Bank: Subsidies in World Fisheries: A Re-examination. Technical Paper, No. 406, 4-6.
Benitah, M. (June 2004). Ongoing WTO Negotiations on Fisheries SUbsidies. ASIL Insights, 1-3.
Schrank, W. (2003). Introducing Fisheries Subsidies. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper, 437, 1-5.
Additional Sources
(2005). Fisheries. Retrieved November 9, 2007, from European Commission Web site: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/management_resources/conservation_measures/fishing_effort_en.htm
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This page included a lot of research and presentations that highlighted many of our concerns about fisheries, including how to regulate them and proposed solutions. We worked on figuring out how to implement them and improve them.
Proposed Solutions
GPS tracking
Establishing a law that requires all fishing vessels to have a GPS tracking device on board will make the regulation of fishermen and fishing companies much simpler and more effective. It will allow regulating bodies to know which fleets are in the water and whether or not they are within legal boundaries. For fishermen, it is an simple way to determine which closed areas are in effect, and the device could keep a tally on the amount of fish caught by that particular vessel and how much of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) has been caught. For all fishing vessels currently in operation, the cost of the tracking devices can be subsidized.
Excise tax on fish
Establishing a fish tax will put the cost of depleting fisheries on the consumer. Similar to gasoline tax and cigarette taxes, a fish tax will increase the cost of any fish products sold on the market. Currently there is a very high demand for fish, and if we are to keep a sustainable global fish population, we cannot catch the number of fish needed to meet this demand. An increase in fish prices will not only discourage consumers from buying more fish, thus lowering the demand, but it will make them aware of the crisis in our oceans today. Though this will make it so the lower class will have difficulty affording fish, in America and other developed countries, there are other protein options available, and fish prices will have little negative effect on public health.
Elimination of Subsidies
Currently subsidies are costing the governments around the world billions of dollars and only harming the state of fisheries by increasing the fishing effort and making it easier for us to deplete the fishing stock. Money is directed to lower the costs of shipbuilding, to compensate fishermen, and to establish joint fishermen, among other things. Studies show that fishing subsidies for the Distant Water Fleets of developed nations are harming the economy and growth of developing nations. Fishing subsidies should be eliminated and the money should instead be directed to conservation programs.
Tiered licensing
Developing nations often declare open access to their fisheries in order to attract foreign fishing companies, which try to minimize their costs by flag hopping to waters with the least regulation. Developing nations have little motivation to regulate their fisheries because doing so would only drive away business. Since their ultimate goal is economic growth and development, a solution would have to reach these goals more effectively than open access.
One such solution may be a tiered licensing system. (This can also be applied to developed nations, which also often grant foreign access to their fisheries.) Since a fishing vessel needs a license from a country to fish in its waters, the price of the license could vary depending on the vessel:
*Native fishermen who are not part of a large fishing company and who have limited technology and fish using basic methods should have the lowest license fee.
*Small fleet operators should be charged a moderate license fee.
*In order to discourage a monopoly, large fishing companies with advanced/disruptive fishing gear should be charged a percentage of their profits. Currently developed countries subsidize their Distant Water Fleets so the cost the foreign ships bear is only 1/3 what is offered for compensation to the host country, and this compensation can amount to as little as 1% of the fishing fleet's profits.
The more countries that follow this licensing system, the more each country gains from it, because it means there are fewer fisheries for large companies to exploit. This price discrimination brings in more money from foreign fleets and promotes the developing nation's own fishing industry, and while our goal is to reduce the amount of fish caught, urging countries to take control of their own fisheries instead of letting foreign fleets exploit their resources is the first step.
Another incentive for following this system is an access to the "whitelist" of fishing vessels, so the government can find out which boats use sustainable practices.
Bycatch plan
Quotas are often used to limit the amount of fish that can be taken out of a fishery, but a side effect of implementing quotas is the amount of bycatch that results from fishermen trying to avoid the penalties of bringing in too much fish. Instead of penalizing fishermen, the regulation should just state that fishermen cannot profit from any fish they catch that is beyond their quota. This extra fish should be collected and sold, instead of being cast back into the sea as dead and decaying fish, and the proceeds should go towards a local fisheries council or the appropriate regional fishery body (http://www.fao.org/fi/body/rfb/chooserfb.htm). Part of this money should fund a program that provides fishermen with representation in government, since a major obstacle in the way of a body that will give fishermen lobbying power is lack of funding. The fishermen will thus be motivated to not throw out their bycatch, but since they cannot make monetary profit off catching beyond the quota, there will be no incentive to overfish either. There needs to be strict supervision when measuring the fish, however, because if the price of fish goes up, a fishing blackmarket could develop.
Research as a priority + employing fishermen
Further research is undoubtably needed to effectively monitor and evaluate fisheries. The establishment of more research groups, particularly international research collaborations, dedicated to fisheries management and the state of the global fish stock will attract public attention and help bring awareness to this problem. A key step would be to incorporate local fishermen, many of whom are fishing fewer and fewer days of the year, in the research process through data collection and analysis. Understanding between the fishermen, the scientists, and the policymakers will accelerate the establishment of a sustainable system.
Market for "fair trade" fish
When trying to create awareness about the importance of sustainable fisheries in developed countries, tying this into economic markets might be the best idea: we can create an ecolabel that is stamped onto fish that has been harvested from a fishery with good practices. As of right now there are three groups that put a label on sustainable fish, but the process needs staffing and funding. Also, if producers want to have their fish evaluated and certified, there is a cost barrier that bars out small fishing companies who cannot afford to apply for certification. Since a substantial portion of the fish sold in the U.S. canned tuna, perhaps focusing on labeling tuna that is caught in sustainable fisheries is the first step.
Other ideas:
*set international standards for nitrates/phosphates to evaluate bodies of water and determine which ones need remediation
*set a buffer zone beyond the 200-mile EEZ where no fishing can occur