A rejoinder to E. Pinkerton et al., the elephant in the room: The hidden costs of leasing individual transferable fishing quotas

Catch Share Policy and Job Satisfaction in the West Coast Groundfish Trawl Fishery

“…The element of transferability is a key component of this system thought to aid improving economic performance within a commercial fishery (NOAA 2010, Turris 2010. Transfer through trade, sale, or lease, allows fishermen to match fishing effort to vessel activity and harvest capacity, harvesting quota at lower operating cost and providing a valuable asset and mode of compensation should they choose to exit the fishery (NOAA 2010).…”

“…Rather than lose the opportunity to fish this quota, the quota may be temporarily leased or sold to another fishing operation that can harvest the fish. Similarly, if a vessel did not receive an allocation of a particular species quota sufficient to fish it economically, the vessel owner may be able to acquire desired quota units from another entity in possession of quota surplus to its individual needs (Turris 2010). Additionally, should a vessel incidentally exceed its quota of a given bycatch species quota units can be transferred from other vessels in possession of bycatch quota shares surplus to its needs.…”

“…Additionally, should a vessel incidentally exceed its quota of a given bycatch species quota units can be transferred from other vessels in possession of bycatch quota shares surplus to its needs. The option to transfer unused bycatch quota allows vessels in need to remain active without foregoing remaining target species quota (Costello, Gaines, and Lynham 2008, NOAA 2010, Turris 2010.…”

“…ITQ Implementation is connected to a number of social changes known to affect human well-being in fisheries, including changes in fishing season length, fishing trip duration, a reduction in the number of available jobs in fishery dependent communities, and development of an absentee quota owner class. (Pinkerton 2009, Abott 2010, Turris 2010, Carothers 2015 Himes-Cornell 2015) Such changes to the structure of fishing as an occupation can affect job satisfaction, a component of overall human well-being in the fishery. Job satisfaction is associated with a host of variables including physical and mental health, longevity, and job performance, which in turn, can impact community structure, solidarity and compliance with regulations Poggie 1988, Pollnac et al 2011).…”

Paper Fish and Policy Conflict: Catch Shares and Ecosystem-Based Management in Maine's Groundfishery

“…One found that market distortions around capital and information access necessary for quota leasing undermine broad distribution of public goods (Pinkerton and Edwards 2009). Another argued that ITQs nonetheless increase halibut landings and overall income (Turris 2010). Although these findings are not incongruent, they remind us that different truths become more and less salient at different scales of analysis, and that policy decisions require difficult trade-offs among competing social priorities.…”