Issue: Improved Management

Alliance Position Paper -- The Alliance’s position on improving fishing management, specifically with individual fishing quotas.

Saving fisheries and the fishing industry

Traditional race-for-fish management has failed

Many fisheries in the U.S. and around the world are overexploited with catches exceeding that which populations can replenish. This has resulted in another unfortunate but inevitable outcome - fishermen struggling with falling catches. Unfortunately, the vast majority of fisheries work under outdated “race-for-fish” regulations that pit fishermen against each other to harvest the catch as fast as possible – regardless of weather, market prices and family needs – before the limit is reached and the fishery shut-down. The race-for-fish harms fish stocks and the communities that rely on them.


A former National Marine Fisheries Service administrator once referred to the Gulf of Mexico’s red snapper fishery as a “poster child” of a fishery in need of reform. For a decade, race-for-fish regulations controlled every aspect of red snapper harvesting, but overfishing continued. The fishing season was cut from year round to as short as two months a year. Rules forced fishermen to throw millions of valuable red snapper overboard dead. Fish prices were often low and always unpredictable. Fresh snapper was available to consumers just a few days a month. Fishermen faced the unfortunate choice between participating in the race or forfeiting their income.

Here are the unfortunate and common outcomes:

• Dangerous working conditions
• Declining fish stocks and high bycatch
• Ever-shrinking harvests
• Fish spoilage, waste and low prices
• Rising harvest costs
• Inability to provide markets with high quality wild fish

Individual fishing quotas are a proven solution

A growing number of scientific and economic evaluations of fisheries in the U.S. and around the world conclude traditional management is failing and that IFQs can prevent overfishing and increase the economic performance of fisheries. IFQs end the “race-for-fish” by implementing a scientifically-safe catch limit and individual accountability. Regulators allocate a portion of the catch as secure fishing privileges to each fisherman. Instead of racing against each other and the clock, fishermen work when weather and market conditions are good, and they have flexibility to buy and sell shares with other boats to expand their business or move to another occupation. In turn, they comply with strict accounting rules that closely track fishing activities.

The Gulf of Mexico implemented its first IFQ for commercial red snapper in 2007 and the turn-around was immediate. Commercial overfishing was reversed for the first time in two decades as mandatory discarding of dead fish has dropped and the annual catch has been under harvested by three percent. Dockside fish prices have risen with better timed and higher quality delivery of fish. Fishermen report cutting expenses by better planning trips to use less fuel. Fishermen avoid working during bad weather and when a vessel needs maintenance.

There are dramatic benefits after just a few short years:

• Commercial overfishing is reversed
• Throw-backs of dead snapper have dropped
• Fishermen report savings in fuel and fishing costs
• Reports of savings in fuel and fishing costs
• Dockside snapper price rose and stabilized
• Safer working conditions
• Monitoring and enforcement rules are tracking catch and deterring violations