Individual Quotas Research Articles

The Role of Quota Systems in Realising Planetary Boundaries

Abstract A strong vision of sustainable development requires respect for the limits imposed by the functioning of the planet to ensure its resilience. The framework of planetary boundaries is increasingly relied on to design quantifiable objectives that can guide policy- and decisionmakers to enact measures to ensure such a sustainable society. Yet, to effectively guide, the framework requires a reformulation to make it applicable to human activities. Concretely, planetary boundaries need to be transposed into planetary quotas, which express the maximum absolute quantity of emissions, withdrawals or use that is admissible so as not to exceed the planetary limits. Furthermore, the achievement of planetary quotas depends on the fair allocation of national, sectoral, or even individual quotas. In this context, we question whether and under which institutional conditions environmental quotas could be an appropriate tool to implement planetary boundaries. This article proposes a legal and political theory of quota systems and applies it to the establishment of planetary quota systems in international environmental law.

Stakeholder perceptions and policy implications of voluntary and government-led individual quota systems in japanese fisheries co-management: A case study of purse seine fisheries in the sea of Japan

Co-management, a governance system in which governmental authorities and local communities share resource management responsibilities, is increasingly recognized worldwide for its potential to reconcile natural resource conservation with livelihood goals. This case study examines the perceptions of diverse stakeholders regarding the effects of introducing both voluntary and government-led Individual Quota (IQ) systems in Japanese fishery co-management, spanning governance, economics, sustainability, and social aspects. Employing an integrated mixed method approach, the study combines qualitative interviews and questionnaires with quantitative analysis of before-and-after catch data. After the introduction of the voluntary IQ system in 2017, 67 % of the stakeholders acknowledged improvements in overall performance. The favorable findings from various perspectives reflect not only the stakeholders' profound confidence in the system but also their satisfaction with the matured co-management process. However, qualitative results from the case also indicate that the government-led IQ system implemented since 2022 primarily imposes rigidity on the existing voluntary system, while failing to provide sufficient incentives for fishers to transition effectively. Effective incentives are essential, including increased transparency in resource management, greater flexibility in managing catch quotas, and facilitating consensus on the liberalization of fishing vessel sizes. Continuous evaluation is crucial, and the government-led IQ system should be adaptively improved.

Chocolate squid (Todarodes pacificus) bait reduces snow crab catch rates

This study evaluated the performance of chocolate squid (Todarodes pacificus) bait as a lower-cost alternative to traditional squid bait in a snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) fishery in Eastern Canada. The results showed that pots with chocolate squid bait had significantly lower catch rates compared to pots with traditional squid bait. The chocolate squid bait significantly reduced the number of crabs caught per pot by 13.99% and the weight of crabs caught per pot by 2.88 kg. Although the chocolate squid bait is cheaper, the decrease in catch rates could require increased effort to reach individual quotas, which could lead to longer or more frequent fishing trips and more traps being fished, increasing fuel consumption and habitat disruption, resulting in negative environmental impacts. Finding alternative lower-cost baits that maintain catch rates remains a key priority for reducing operational costs and minimizing environmental impacts in the snow crab fishery.

Efficiency of a common natural forest exploitation by the system of individual transferable quotas with overlapping generations, capital, and monetary inheritance

This article focuses on the economic analysis of the exploitation of a renewable natural resource in common property, namely forests. In the Sahelian zone of West Africa with little forest cover, these natural assets are exposed to overexploitation despite the participation system established as a mode of their management for more than three decades. Thus, another mode of management is necessary to avoid the extinction of forests in certain countries like Niger to continue to benefit from the countless services that they provide. This paper proposes another mode of management by analyzing the effectiveness of the operating system through free distribution of transferable individual quotas with overlapping generations, capital, and monetary inheritance. From a general equilibrium model, the resolutions of the optimization programs using the Lagrangian show that the system in question provides the conditions for optimal management of the forest in common property. Moreover, it allows for an intergenerational transmission of renewable natural resources without any other incentive instrument such as taxes or subsidies despite the non-cooperative behavior of the actors.

The influence of new sustainable fisheries policies on seafood company practices and consumer awareness in Japan

Effective fisheries policy is critical to achieving sustainable transitions in the seafood industry. Here, we present a conceptual framework demonstrating how interactions between private sector actors, seafood consumers, and new fisheries policies can influence policy effectiveness. We then apply this framework to Japan, which recently implemented two new fisheries policies to develop sustainable fisheries: the Reformed Fisheries Policy (RFP), and a policy to reduce illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The former introduced an individual quota system based on total allowable catch and maximum sustainable yield. The latter altered rules around catch documentation to enhance traceability and transparency in the supply chain. Through interviews with companies involved in fishing tuna and importing mackerel, and surveys with seafood consumers, we investigate understandings of, opinions on, and responses to, these new policies. While the new policies led companies to change some of their operating and corporate sustainability practices, these were viewed unfavourably. Tuna fishing companies shared concerns around the RFP's inequitable quota allocations, believing quotas would reduce fisher incomes, company profits, and deter young people from entering the industry. Mackerel importing companies were unclear how to implement the new the Anti-IUU policy in their day-to-day operations. Meanwhile, consumer awareness on seafood sustainability was low. A lack of engagement between private sector actors, consumers, and policy makers was also evident, with greater communication and collaboration needed. Annual meetings, media campaigns, and partnerships with advocacy groups are recommended as ways to address this, to help ensure transitional change in Japanese fisheries is realised.

Not satisfactory, but still acceptable: Exploring socioeconomic incentives of individual quota systems in Japanese Pacific bluefin tuna fisheries from the management leaders’ perspective

The individual quota (IQ) system is a rights-based management system that has been implemented in many countries, despite its lack of quota transferability. The purpose of this study was to explore the incentives behind the introduction of a non-transferable IQ system from the management leaders’ perspective through comparative case study of three Japanese Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) fisheries with different community units. In 2019–2020, process tracing was conducted through semi-structured interviews with fisheries management staff, prefectural governments, and fishing cooperative associations who play an important role in introducing the IQ system in each community. In each case, in order to set allocations and to manage catch quotas, local fishers could participate in the council or by attending meetings. With a high priority for complying with the defined PBF catch quotas, the IQ system was finally introduced, either as a standalone system or combined with other management methods. While the non-transferable IQ systems in the case studies were not necessarily selected as satisfactory, but still considered acceptable, our data suggests that socioeconomic incentives, including revenue improvement and ensuring equity, were important. These incentives were not triggered by the system per se, but were due to a well-functioning co-management system. Recently, there has been a shift from voluntary IQ systems to government-led ones based on the revised Fisheries Act. Future trends should continue to be monitored, as government-led systems have stricter rules that may hamper the socioeconomic incentives described above.

Entry, location, and optimal environmental policies

We investigate the problem of choosing environmental regulations to control a multilateral, spatially heterogeneous pollution externality. There are three sources of inefficiency in this problem; the number of firms, their locations and their production/emissions levels. A first-best policy requires three instruments to address each of the sources of inefficiency, but such policies are not practical in most settings. Therefore, we examine the relative performance of second-best policies that optimally control one or two of the sources of inefficiency while leaving the other one or two sources uncontrolled. Because of the complexity of our theoretical model, we conduct numerical simulations to compare the alternative policies. We find that a policy of optimally-chosen individual quotas by themselves perform very poorly, because they encourage excessive entry. Combining individual quotas with an optimal entry restriction performs significantly better. Spatially differentiated taxes alone perform very well, because they partially address both the entry and location sources of inefficiency in addition to limiting pollution. We also argue that the welfare losses associated with even simpler policies like zoning restrictions or homogeneous taxes may not be high enough to justify the additional implementation difficulties associated with theoretically more efficient policies.

Individual Quota System for Anchovy Fishing and the Conservation of Hydrobiological Resources in Chimbote, Peru

The objective of this research was to determine whether the access regime and conditions for granting fishing rights; the allocation and duration of the quota system; fisheries control and control actions; and the monitoring, supervision, and sanction of regulatory breaches are the normative criteria of the system of individual quotas for anchovy fishing in direct human consumption to promote the conservation of hydrobiological resources, Chimbote, Peru, 2018. The research was applied, a non-experimental and descriptive correlational design. The sample was composed of National and Comparative Legislation, Doctrine, Jurisprudence, and Records specialized in fisheries issues; and by 30 fisheries experts: lawyers 25% and representatives of fishermen 25%, from the District of Chimbote. Two questionnaires were used for the variables under study. The results showed that the regulatory criteria of the individual quota system for anchovy fishing are 76.7% efficient in the conservation of hydrobiological resources; being Kendall's Tau-b test statistical contingency coefficient τ= 0.89, with a standard significance level of less than 1% (P < 0.01). It was demonstrated that the regime of access and conditions for granting fishing rights, the allocation and duration of the quota system, the actions of control and fisheries control, and the monitoring, supervision, and sanction of regulatory breaches are in 76.7% of the normative criteria of the individual quota system of anchovy fishing for direct human consumption to promote the conservation of hydrobiological resources being the statistical contingency coefficient of proof Kendall's Tau-b is τ= 0.89, with standard significance level less than 1% (P < 0.01). Likewise, the corresponding proposal was made for the regulation of the normative criteria of the individual quota system of anchovy fishing in direct human consumption to promote the conservation of hydrobiological resources, defining the parameters for their development and viability.

Local elections in the European Union and Ukraine: comparative characteristics

The article provides a comparative analysis of the electoral legislation of the EU countries and Ukraine at the local level and on the basis of this analysis, the proposals to improve the electoral legislation of Ukraine take into account the experience of the European Union.
 The main forms of direct democracy in most EU member countries and Ukraine are fixed at the constitutional level, and the procedure of preparing and holding elections is regulated by special election laws. Domestic electoral legislation is overloaded with detailed norms of procedural aspects, unlike the legislation of EU countries, in which much more attention is paid to the issues of transparency of party financial funds and transparency of election campaign financing, as well as protection of national minorities’ interests.
 The main ways of exercising the right to vote not at the place of inclusion in the voter lists in the EU member states were characterized: voting by absentee ballots at specially designated polling stations, voting on the territory of diplomatic and consular missions, voting by mail, proxy voting, mobile voting, voting via the Internet, distance voting. It is noted that the norms in which the institution of a cash deposit is enshrined are discriminatory since they violate the principle of equality of suffrage and create a situation in which candidates are excluded from the political arena on the basis of the property criterion.
 Relevant for EU countries is the adoption of measures to create appropriate conditions for the full implementation of the principle of equality of citizens before the law, in particular, to overcome the actual inequality of opportunities between women and men.
 In order to bring Ukrainian legislation in line with international standards set by the European Union, we propose: to grant the right to vote in local elections to citizens of other states or stateless persons who permanently reside on the territory of the respective territorial community and permanently pay local taxes and fees have common local interests related to everyday life, infrastructure, communication, recreation; to introduce electronic voting; not to apply the institution of cash deposit at the local level; to introduce individual (party) gender quotas, following the French example.

Use of passive acoustic monitoring to estimate fishing effort on artificial reefs in Alabama during the recreational red snapper fishing season

Estimating fishing effort is an important aspect of effective fisheries management for populations such as red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) in the Gulf of Mexico. Monitoring effort, however, can be limited by where and when anglers can be easily observed, such as boat launches or aerial surveys. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) can be used to detect boat presence spatially and temporally, which can be used to infer fishing effort. In this study, we deployed PAM devices at multiple artificial reef sites (up to three at a time) in federal waters of the Alabama Reef Permit Zone during the recreational red snapper fishery in 2017 and 2018. Reefs at our deployment sites included multiple structure types (concrete and steel pyramid modules, bridge rubble reefs, chicken coops, and M1 tanks). Reef sites included a mix of publicly available reef coordinates (published reefs) and unpublished sites. To improve reliability of estimates of site-specific fishing activity from captured boat noise, we developed a method to automatically detect sounds indicative of idling vessels maintaining station (live-boating) near an artificial reef. Detections of boat gearshift sounds were consistent with our prediction that fishing effort would be reduced on unpublished sites, decrease as the season progressed, and show a strongly diurnal pattern. Counter to our prediction, fishing effort as measured by boat detections did not appear to differ between open and closed recreational fishing days at our sites, which may be partially explained by commercial fishers that operate on an individual quota system that allows for fishing on days closed to recreational fishers. Our results indicate that PAM in conjunction with this novel method could be an effective way to monitor daily and longer-term patterns of live-boating fishing vessel presence at specific artificial sites for the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico.

A Multi-Region and Multi-Period Harvest Schedule of the Trawl Fleet

Under the individual vessel quota regulations, the expected economic return of a multi species fishery is influenced by an array of a multi-component choice such as targeted species, landings per haul, harvesting time and its location. The components of effort allocation decisions are further complicated by changes in the market conditions and the constant movements of fish between spawning and feeding habitats. Migratory behavior influences the dispersal of species, relative availability of fish and its composition, and the bycatch likelihood across different locations over the course of a fishing year. The objective of this article is to investigate the optimal allocation of fishing effort in the Norwegian bottom-trawl fleet within economically important species; cod, saithe, and haddock across three heavily trawled areas—including southern and northern parts of the west coast of Norway, and the high sea areas of the Arctic—to achieve maximum expected economic return, with respect to the individual vessel quota constraints and bycatch considerations. The results from a mixed integer non-linear optimization problem evidence that the spawning migration of Northeast Arctic cod along the northwest coast, effort allocation behavior of coastal fleet, together with institutional regulations necessitate the substitution of fishing effort across different fishing locations within the fishing season to maximize expected return. The results of our study further reveal that the Arctic region to target cod is the biggest contributor to annual fishing revenue. By contrast, conducting saithe fishery in the southwest of the Norwegian coast has the lowest economic contribution. The results from Monte Carlo simulation demonstrate that the proposed model is effective and applicable for effort allocation decision analysis.

Establishing a governance threshold in small-scale fisheries to achieve sustainability

The lack of effective governance is a major concern in small-scale fisheries. The implementation of governance that encompasses the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic, and ecological) is still a worldwide challenge. We examined nine stalked barnacle fisheries (Pollicipes pollicipes) across Southwest Europe to better understand the relationship between governance elements and sustainability. Our results show that nested spatial scales of management, the access structure, co-management, and fisher’s participation in monitoring and surveillance promote sustainability. However, it is not the mere presence of these elements but their level of implementation that drives sustainability. Efforts should be placed in the accomplishment of a minimum combination of local scales of management, access rights through individual quotas, instructive-consultative co-management and functional participation. Surpassing this threshold in future governance structures will start to adequately promote social, economic and ecologically sustainability in small-scale fisheries.

Individual Anchoveta(Engraulisringens) Fishing Quota and the Administration and Control of Fishing Activity in a Region of Peru

Aims:The research was carried out with the objective of determining whether the individual anchoveta(Engraulisringens) fishing quota for direct human consumption constitutes a regulatory alternative for the administration and control of fishing activity to the extent that it allows greater efficiency of the industry, the increase in value total fisheries, the improvement in the safety of fishing and the sustainability of the hydrobiological resource.
 Methodology:The research is applied, non-experimental type and descriptive correlational design. The sample consisted of 50% of National and Comparative Legislation, Doctrine, Jurisprudence and Specialized Records on fishing issues; and by 30 experts in fisheries: lawyers 25% and representatives of fishermen 25%, from the District of Chimbote; Two questionnaires were developed to collect the data of the variables under study.
 Results:The results are presented in tables and statistical figures. The results showed that the individual quota of anchoveta(E.ringens)fishing for direct human consumption constitutes 43.3% a regulatory alternative to administer and control the fisheries administration, Chimbote, 2018.
 Conclusion:It was evidenced that the individual quota for fishing for direct human consumption allows a greater efficiency of the industry, the increase in the total value of the fisheries, the improvement in the safety of fishing and the sustainability of the hydrobiological resource. The individual fishing quota is a system that deserves to be seriously evaluated in Peru, with a broad participation not only of fishing entrepreneurs, but also of the various actors of civil society.

Individual quotas and revenue risk of fishing portfolio in the trawl fishery

The Norwegian bottom-trawl fleet is managed through individual vessel quotas and is generally engaged in codfish fisheries, where several species contribute to the revenue of the fishery. The revenue from the fishing exhibits substantial intra-annual variation and carries a significant degree of risk due to the presence of intrinsic volatilities in the marine environment, such as seasonal fluctuations in stock size and constant changes in market conditions over the course of a year. In the face of volatile revenue, fishers may allocate fishing effort and use a quota portfolio to minimize revenue risk. However, decisions underlying effort allocation, such as when to fish what and how much to harvest to match the catch size and remaining quota, are challenging. In this regard, a decision-making framework based on a bio-economic model is used to explore the revenue risk minimization behavior of the Norwegian codfish trawl fleet targeting three different species (cod, saithe, and haddock), given the constraints set by the quotas. The study comprises trawl catches and fishing effort as well as the prices for the frozen products of codfish to investigate the adopted harvest strategy under two different scenarios. The results indicate that a risk-minimizing strategy leads to inefficient allocation of fishing quotas and fishing effort and that potential economic losses from minimizing revenue risk outweigh the benefits. Moreover, our findings prove that enhancing revenue is more important than minimizing revenue risk for the trawlers. We argue that the spatial and temporal freedom of the trawl vessels, together with a vertically integrated trawl industry, may explain the prioritization of revenue enhancement over revenue risk minimization. The seasonal spawning aggregation of NEA cod and how this affects market prices shape the trawlers’ harvest strategy of increasing fishing revenue.

Feasibility of a single‐species quota system for management of the Malaysian multispecies purse‐seine fishery

AbstractMalaysian fisheries employ multiple measures to improve management; however, not all are well‐suited to the multispecies fisheries. As part of a pilot project, an individual quota system was introduced for the purse‐seine fishery off the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia (ECPM), but no assessment of this particular measure nor the feasibly of its implementation has been confirmed. Therefore, this study analysed spatial and temporal patterns of purse‐seine fishing, by collecting catch composition data per landing and its fishing ground within three period fishery surveys between August 2017 and September 2018 at six different landing sites. Similarity and cluster analysis examined species composition and diversity to determine the feasibility of implementing a single‐species quota system in this multispecies fishery. Some overlapped of indices results and minor difference in catch composition were found due to changes in spatial and temporal fishing activities. However, no specific spatial or temporal patterns were discernible as structuring the fishing grounds used by purse‐seiners. The absence of patterns, using the available data, might be attributable to huge species aggregations and widely distributed and homogenously mixed fish stocks. Thus, it is likely impractical to manage species individually in such a multispecies fishery.

Profitability, Capacity and Productivity Trends in an Evolving Rights Based Fishery: The Norwegian Purse Seine Fishery

Regulators in many countries have adopted individual quotas as a means of dealing with the open access problem inherent in fisheries. The Norwegian Purse Seine fishery has evolved over the last 40 years from an open access fishery to a Rights Based management system with individual vessel catch quotas assigned to all major fish species. Regulations do allow for merging vessel quota. The purpose of this paper is to employ an index approach to decompose vessel revenues and costs by factor components. The index approach can measure the importance of prices, output and regulatory changes impacting productivity and provides insight into changes in a mature IVQ fishery. The current study uses a large individual vessel data set for the period 1994–2013. Results show that over time output prices have been the main drivers associated with increased revenues. We correlate output prices with an evolving IVQ fishery, and changes in harvest and demand conditions. Ongoing capital investment, not offset by increased harvest, has seen productivity decline in the early periods of the study but some recovery towards the end of the period.

Harvesting strategies during a forecasted decline in the Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab fishery

A predicted and communicated decline in the Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) resource, the basis of the world’s largest snow crab fishery for two decades, has come to fruition. Given considerable lead time, this scenario creates an interesting dynamic to investigate how crab harvesters may have formed anticipatory behavioural responses to mitigate against the decline. In this analysis, economic, stock status, and vessel activity indicators are examined along with spatiotemporal fishing patterns before, during, and after the decline to assess harvester behaviour and fleet dynamics. We hypothesize that behaviours indicative of increased competition and a race to fish would emerge in response to the forecasted decline. Contrary to our expectations, we find no evidence of earlier or more rapid fishing, nor broader or more intense fishing patterns. Increased gear soak times were the most common adaptive response employed by harvesters, which were marginally successful in mitigating against declining catch rates and reducing discards. The majority of harvesters appeared to prosecute the fishery in a similar fashion as they historically had, and simply accepted reducing catch rates on known fishing grounds. Some historically dominant fishing grounds even became abandoned with little to no apparent adaptive responses by harvesters. Specific reasons for the general lack of behavioural adaptations to the forecasted fishery decline are unknown but are associated with an Individual Quota system, favourable product prices that have more than offset revenue losses from reduced catch, and small-scale management areas that may have rendered little or no capacity to develop adaptive strategies.

Increased catches of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) with luminescent-netting pots at long soak times

Luminescent netting increases the catch rate of snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio) over short soak times (1 d), however the commercial fishery often requires longer soak periods, up to1 week. Building on previous research, this study investigated the catch efficiency and size selectivity of pots with luminescent netting over long soak times (144–336 h) in the inshore snow crab fishery of Newfoundland, Canada. A total allowable catch and individual quota allocation management system for snow crab is regulated in Canada and using luminescent netting to increase catch rates would reduce the carbon footprint of the fishery by reducing days fished. Our results showed that luminescent pots had a 21.6 % and 18.3 % higher catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE; number of crabs per pot) of legal-sized crab and sub-legal sized crab, respectively, than control pots; with no difference for soft-shelled crab. Additionally, no significant differences were shown for size selectivity over the range of carapace widths observed between luminescent and control pots. Little other bycatch (female snow crab and unwanted species) were caught in either pot treatments. This study shows that luminescent netting increases the efficiency of the snow crab fishery, which provides economic and environmental benefits.

Causal forest estimation of heterogeneous and time-varying environmental policy effects

Empirically evaluating environmental policies requires grappling with impacts that exhibit not only cross-sectional heterogeneity, but also variation across time. Phased policy roll-outs offer opportunities for improvement across cohorts and policy effects can grow or decay, especially when natural processes are involved. Focusing on a subset of these factors can lead to erroneous inference, while considering them jointly magnifies specification challenges. To address these challenges, I extend and apply causal forests, a nonparametric method for estimating heterogeneous treatment effects, to simultaneously examine how effects vary across time. I first adapt causal forests to a panel setting with staggered policy introduction by incorporating dynamic selection assumptions and estimators. After illustrating the method's performance on simulated data, I use it to reanalyze how individual quota programs have affected fisheries catches around the world. Estimates reveal substantial heterogeneity and time dependencies and suggest that longer policy exposure may be less beneficial than previously thought. More generally, the approach has potential value for evaluating impacts of a range of environmental policies as well as environmental shocks.

Regulatory Change, Market Structure, and Fatalities: The Case of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery

In fisheries, regime shifts from common-pool to tradable individual quota rights have led to a reduction in race-to-fish behavior—in particular under adverse weather conditions, and thus to a reduction in the rate of fatal injuries. At the same time, tradability of quota rights has led to some fleet consolidation, along with a shift to larger vessels, which may have also affected safety. We isolate the role of changing fleet composition and size in the overall reduction of fatal injuries by simulating a counterfactual scenario: what weather conditions fishermen would brave if quota rights were individual but not tradable and thus could not have been a factor in fleet consolidation. Looking at the specific case of the U.S. reef fish fishery in the Gulf of Mexico to calibrate our model, we find that consolidation boosts the safety gains by 10–15%: while the remaining active vessels are inherently less safe and target much larger annual catches (thus finding it more difficult to avoid poor weather conditions), they are also more efficient, thereby reducing overall labor-hours and exposure to risk.