Abstract
Marine mammals and sea turtles in the United States are protected from commercial fishery interactions under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. To reduce harbor porpoise bycatch in the northeast sink gillnet fishery, fishermen are mandated to attach pingers to their nets in regulated areas. Although, pinger regulations have been in place for over a decade, in practice, enforcement is weak and the penalty for a violation is almost non-existent. In this scenario, the presence of normative factors may motivate a fisherman to comply with the pinger regulation. This study considers both economic and normative factors within a probit framework to explain a fisherman’s compliance decision. Model results indicate fishermen who previously violated pinger regulations, who are not completely dependent on gillnet gear and face a lower chance of being detected by an observer, are more likely to violate. Understanding the influence of normative factors on compliance decisions is a key component for higher compliance. That is, incorporation of these factors in the design of policy instruments may achieve higher compliance rates and thus more success in protecting these species. Our model findings were ground-truthed by conducting focus group research with fishermen using pingers; some preliminary findings are shared in the discussion in support of our model results. Finally, these results also suggest observer data can be used to support compliance and enforcement mechanisms in this fishery and possibly other fisheries as well.
Highlights
Non-compliance with regulatory requirements can derail resource management objectives
We examine economic and normative factors that may motivate compliance behavior in the sink gillnet fishery in relation to required gear standards in order to protect porpoise under the United States (U.S.) Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.)
Our proxy legitimacy and social influence variables indicate 38% of the vessel operators were affiliated with a local TRT member in their port, and 54% resided in a landing port where other vessels had a violation
Summary
Non-compliance with regulatory requirements can derail resource management objectives. Fisheries and marine mammal management rely on regulatory instruments such as a command-and-control approach, in the form of fishing effort reductions and gear standards to protect the stock. Resource managers can use any combination of instruments, if goals are not met, non-compliance may be the Understanding Noncompliance with Protected Species Regulations source of failure and not the policy instrument itself; additional policy instruments may not rectify the problem and cause further economic harm. Understanding the underlying motivation of behavioral responses to regulations is crucial and may allow us to design more successful policy instruments. We examine economic and normative factors that may motivate compliance behavior in the sink gillnet fishery in relation to required gear standards in order to protect porpoise under the United States (U.S.) Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.)
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