In 1994, the most recent year for which figures exist, the world spent $124 billion to
support a fishing industry that generated revenues of only $70 billion while chasing every last fish in the sea. Last year, the 80 member countries of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) signed a non-binding agreement to reduce the size of
worldwide fishing fleets by 2005. The question is how to do it in a way that allows the
fish population to recover without destroying the livelihoods of millions of fishermen.
The most common proposal is three-pronged. First, buy the boats from fishermen giving
them cash to either retire on or help them pursue other careers. Second, decommission the
boats by scrapping them or using them for other purposes. Third, buy a boats allotted
quota of fish to prevent fewer ships chasing the same number of fish. These methods
combined effectively reduce the size of the fishing industry while allowing the remaining
fishermen the ability to earn a decent livelihood harvesting a sustainable level of fish.
For economic incentives to work, according to buy-back experts John Gates of University
of Rhode Island Natural Resource Economics Department and Gert van Santen, senior
fisheries specialist at the World Bank, countries must literally buy back the lives of the fish they are trying to save. They point to a property-rights model developed in New Zealand as a viable method. Fish are conceptualized as property and divided into
Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) under a system which works much the same as
emissions trading – companies pay for the right to pollute a fixed quantity of the
atmosphere. Boat owners would be able to sell decommissioned vessels to fisherman in
less stressed fisheries, for example.
Many fisherman, of course, are not interested in early retirement or different careers.
Some analysts suggest limiting ITQs to low-yield, labor-intensive boats to keep the
maximum number of people employed. Fishermen also point out that unless a strong
management system is in place, new boats could simply take the place of
decommissioned ones, negating any conservation gain.
Buy-backs have begun in the U.S. In 1998, U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) attached a
rider to the budget bill authorizing $100 million to decommission vessels in the Alaskan
pollock fishery.
Adapted FROM
E Magazine, High and Dry: Buying Back Boats to Solve the Overfishing Crisis.
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