Abstract
Individual transferable quotas (ITQs) are a type of catch share system, which is a tool used by some governments to manage fisheries. Technical reasons for taking a rather cautious approach to the implementation of ITQs have been provided previously. In the current contribution, I first highlight the strengths and weaknesses of ITQs and then provide suggestions on how to design and implement these quotas to mitigate their weaknesses. ITQs need to be designed carefully as part of a broad ecosystem-based management scheme to meet the three generally accepted objectives of modern fisheries management: ecological, economic, and social sustainability.
Highlights
Individual transferable quotas (ITQs) are a type of catch share system, which is a tool used by some governments to manage fisheries
Individual transferable quotas (ITQs) are a version of what are popularly called “catch shares”, a regulatory tool that some governments use to control fishing (Essington [2010] provides a recent assessment of catch shares)
Even if ITQs did provide full property rights, it is possible under certain conditions to “empty” the ocean of a given fish species and use the proceeds to invest in other sectors of the economy
Summary
Individual transferable quotas (ITQs) are a version of what are popularly called “catch shares”, a regulatory tool that some governments use to control fishing (Essington [2010] provides a recent assessment of catch shares). Even if ITQs did provide full property rights, it is possible under certain conditions to “empty” the ocean of a given fish species and use the proceeds to invest in other sectors of the economy. Such emptying would occur if the objective of ITQ owners was solely to maximize the discounted economic rent from the fishery and if the discount rate and the intrinsic growth rate of the fish were at suitable levels (Clark 1973, Sumaila and Bawumia 2000, Sumaila and Walters 2005, Prager and Shertzer 2006, Sumaila and Walters 2007). In an analysis of B.C. halibut fishery ITQs, Pinkerton and Edwards (2009) came to the conclusion that issues of ITQ concentration are very important and cannot be ignored
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