Principal Investigator Madeleine Hall-Arber
Catch share programs for fisheries management have caught the imagination of NOAA Fisheries, some managers, environmentalists, and fishermen as a way to assure sustainable fisheries and fishing communities. Some stakeholders, however, believe that catch shares are unnecessary, lead to over-consolidation, negative impacts on small communities, and other unintended consequences. Working with a team of experts in fisheries ecology, economics, and social sciences and the Marine Conservation Initiative of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, this project is developing a framework for the evaluation of the ecological, economic, and social impacts of U.S. West Coast and New England catch share programs in fisheries management.
A key task is to identify the management goals and objectives for the different catch share systems with the help of local, regional, and federal fisheries managers and participants in the fisheries. The team is seeking indicators that could be used to demonstrate whether or not the goals and objectives have been met and whether or not unintended consequences are also associated with this new form of management. Ultimately, research will be conducted to analyze the effects of catch shares so that fisheries management will have an empirical basis for their decisions in the development of regulations.