Incentive-Based Approaches to Sustainable Fisheries
Journal or Book Title: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Keywords: incentives; sustainability; rights; fisheries management
Volume/Issue: 63/3
Page Number(s): 699-710
Year Published: 2006
Abstract:
The failures of traditional target-species management have led many to propose an ecosystem approach to fisheries to promote sustainability. The ecosystem approach is necessary, especially to account for fishery-ecosystem interactions, but by itself is not sufficient to address two important factors contributing to unsustainable fisheries — inappropriate incentives bearing on fishers, and the ineffective governance that frequently exists in commercial, developed fisheries managed primarily by total harvest limits and input-controls. We contend that much greater emphasis must be placed on fisher motivation when managing fisheries. Using evidence from more than a dozen ‘natural experiments’ in commercial fisheries, we argue that incentive-based approaches that better specify community, individual harvest, or territorial rights and also price ecosystem services — coupled with public research, monitoring and effective oversight — promote sustainable fisheries.
DOI: 10.1139/F05-247
Type of Publication: Journal Article
Publisher: NRC Research Press