The
Dare County Commission for Working Watermen voted last Thursday, April
16, to oppose the use of individual fishing quotas in the commercial
striped bass fishery.
Under an individual fishing quota (IFQ) program, only fishermen who
meet certain qualifications, such as landing at least a minimum amount
of striped bass in specific years, would be eligible to continue in the
fishery.
Shares of the total 480,480 pound quota for the ocean commercial
fishery would then be allocated to qualifying fishermen. In most
IFQ systems, fishermen can buy, sell, or lease shares after regulators
make the initial allocation.
Commission member Dewey Hemilright made the motion opposing IFQs at the
meeting Thursday night at the Hatteras Village Civic Center. Phil
Ray Haywood of Colington seconded the motion.
“I’d like to see the state use other management mechanisms
that are already available to prevent over-harvest before turning to
IFQs,” Hemilright said.
He said stricter possession limit rules and gear permits could be used
to ensure that the total harvest limit was not exceeded in any
year. Noting that North Carolina fishermen hadn’t harvested
the full quota for the last two years, he recommended that the state
seek authority to roll-over unused quota to the next fishing season.
Proponents say IFQs, also called limited access privilege programs,
catch-shares, or individual transferable quotas, protect fish from
over-harvest better than open access fisheries.
Kelly Schoolcraft of Frisco was the only commission member not supporting the motion made by Hemilright.
“The plain and simple truth is that the state doesn’t have
enough striped bass quota to accommodate fishing by everyone with a
commercial fishing license,” Schoolcraft said.
He said more than 700 fishermen participated in the fishery in 2007,
and cautioned that the high number of participants jeopardized
effective harvest controls.
Prior to the vote, the commission heard a presentation on IFQs by
Canadian fisherman Wes Erikson and listened to public comment.
Erikson, a British Columbia halibut fisherman, described a fishery
marked by short seasons, low prices, poor quality fish, consistent
overharvesting, and hazardous working conditions in the 1980s.
He said an IFQ program that began in 1991 and reduced the number of
participants from 435 to around 200, has addressed those
problems. He also noted that the program led to fishermen-funded
research that is expected to result in larger harvest quotas.
“A sense of ownership led to stewardship and sustainability for
the fishery. There’s less government involvement in
management now,” Erikson said.
One of the drawbacks to the Canadian system is that the increase in the
value of fishing licenses makes it more difficult for young fishermen
to start out in the fishery, according to Erikson.
He said the most difficult parts in designing the IFQ system was
developing eligibility standards and the formula for dividing the quota
among qualifying fishermen.
That statement clearly struck a chord with Dare County fishermen Thursday.
“This is a small community where we all know everybody. I
don’t want to be the one to make the decision that this
child’s daddy gets into the fishery, but this one’s daddy
doesn’t,” said Britton Shackelford, president of North
Carolina Watermen United, an advocacy group for charter-boat captains
and commercial fishermen.
