Permit Stacking As An Approach To Implementing Harvest Rights That Can Be Transferred And Accumulated
By James D. HastieABSTRACT
The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) has, since 1994, employed a license limitation program for most of its groundfish fishery. Management objectives identified for this fishery include the provision of year-round supplies of fresh fish to regional markets. To promote this objective the Council has adopted, over the past 15 years, an evolving web of individual-trip and cumulative-time-period landing limits, which slow the pace of the fishery. In recent years, downturns in the perceived health of several stocks, combined with more stringent rebuilding requirements, have resulted in dramatic reductions in the limits for many species. With little hope of implementing a permit buyback initiative, the PFMC is currently considering alternatives for voluntary and mandatory permit stacking to achieve fleet reduction and, in turn, higher limits for vessels on the water. Stacking may prove to be an effective intermediate step towards IQs for fisheries combining limited access with some form of effort/output controls. In some fisheries, permit stacking may provide the most cost-effective way to accommodate flexibility in vessel landings in a system with output caps. The paper focuses on the projected consequences of permit stacking for the PFMC groundfish fishery, with additional discussion pertaining to the broader applicability of this approach.
KEYWORDS: fishery management, property rights
Property Rights:
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