More than a quarter of the world’s fisheries are overfished, according to the United Nations. Many communities worldwide that depend on the ocean for their livelihoods are struggling to manage the resource.

A growing number are adopting programs called “catch shares,” which aim to make fishing more sustainable.

Under previous rules, for instance, officials used to decide how many striped bass could be caught each year in the Chesapeake Bay, an estuary lying inland from the Atlantic Ocean that stretches from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Virginia Beach, Virginia.

“It was a fishing derby, and it was, ‘Green light, go,’ ” said Rachel Dean, part of a family fishing operation in the bay. “Catch all you can and hope that you get your share of the pie.”

This can lead to overfishing, unsafe and destructive fishing, and other problems.

But last year, authorities launched a “catch shares” system for striped bass in the Chesapeake. Under these new rules, each fisherman gets a set amount of fish to catch.

“That individual has the freedom to fish that amount whenever they choose,” said Kelly Denit, who oversees fisheries at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. “So you are no longer racing to get out and catch fish before the total amount has been caught.”

But there are winners and losers in the new program.

“There’s some boys that had fished only two years,” said Chesapeake fisherman Larry Powley. “They got more quota than I did. I’ve been doing this job for 40 years.”

Powley was able to buy enough shares from other fishermen to stay in the striped bass business, “but some of the young guys, the boys couldn’t afford to buy up quota, then they’re gonna get left behind.”

Dean said her family was concerned at first, too.

“We didn’t really get what we had hoped for,” she said. “Obviously, everybody wants more when something’s divided like that. That was our first fear. But we also knew there were going to be benefits with it.”

Ultimately, Dean came to like the program, because she can wait out bad weather and mechanical problems and sell when prices are high.

NOAA likes the new program because catch shares prevent overfishing and raise incomes.

“If you look across the 16 programs that we now have, I think you can see pretty clearly that there have been successes,” Denit said.

Catch shares don’t work everywhere, but regulators for the Chesapeake Bay area say they’re the best way to help fish, and the fishing industry. [Read More]

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Source: VOA News: Economy and Finance