Economic Performance of Catch Share Programs

Overview

The NOAA Catch Share Policy recognizes that catch share programs are but one management option Fishery Management Councils may choose to meet their management objectives. The Policy identifies a number of guiding principles to assist Councils in designing a catch share program; one of which is to track program performance to gauge whether a program is meeting its goals and objectives. It has been difficult to systematically measure the economic performance of catch share programs because they are so diverse in terms of target species, location, and size. NOAA Fisheries has developed performance measures to track the economic performance of U.S. Catch Share Programs. The Office of Science and Technology convened three national workshops where experts developed these performance metrics.

U.S. Catch Share Programs

As of May 2012, the following catch share programs were in place:

Northeast

Alaska

Western Alaska Community Development Quota**, 1992

Alaska Halibut & Sablefish IFQ*, 1995

American Fisheries Act Pollock Cooperatives, 1999

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab IFQ*, 2005

Non-pollock Trawl Catcher/Processor Groundfish Cooperatives (Amendment 80), 2008

Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Cooperatives, 2012

Southeast

South Atlantic Wreckfish ITQ**, 1992

Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper IFQ*, 2007

Gulf of Mexico Grouper-Tilefish IFQ*, 2010

Northwest

Pacific Coast Sablefish Permit Stacking, 2002

Pacific Groundfish Trawl Rationalization Program, 2011

*IFQ/ITQ is an Individual Fishing/Transferable Quota

**Not covered under the Performance Indicator Project.