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Limited access program for commercial fishermen is controversial
By SUSAN WEST  Fisheries commissioners have asked the state Division of Marine Fisheries for more information on how limited access privilege programs might work in North Carolina commercial fisheries. The request came after commissioners heard a presentation on limited access privilege programs (LAPPs) in 10 fisheries in the U.S. and Canada at their meeting in Ocracoke in November. LAPPS are the linchpin in fisheries rationalization, the reorganization of U.S. fisheries based on the principles of economic efficiency. Dietmar Grimm of Redstone Strategy Group, a business and social policy consulting firm in Boulder, Colo., told commissioners that the programs resulted in easier management, environmental gains, and the loss of fishing jobs and fish houses in some communities. In LAPPs, the total annual harvest quota for a fishery is divided into shares that are then granted to individual fishermen, companies, associations, or communities. Fishermen know exactly how much fish they can bring in during the year. Grimm said the programs create safer working conditions by ending “derby-style” fishing where fishermen race out in almost any type of weather to catch as many fish as possible before the season closes. He said the programs provide longer fishing seasons and increased economic stability for quota shareholders. Not every fisherman receives a share of the total quota, and some fishermen receive much larger shares than others. But participation in fisheries is eventually determined in the marketplace where quota shares can be sold and bought or leased. Not surprisingly, how government decides to allocate the initial shares is hugely controversial. Fishermen who receive shares have a new asset. In the initial distribution of Alaska halibut-sablefish shares in 1995, 40 recipients received shares worth an average of $2.5 million. The other 4,790 recipients received shares averaging $10,000 in value. Fishermen who don’t receive shares have an additional expense if they want to go fishing. The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported halibut shares selling for $25 per pound in some areas this year. A fisherman wanting to purchase 50,000 pounds of shares would need $1.25 million. In many systems, share allocations have been based on individual landings in years specified by managers. Pam Morris, a Carteret County resident and commission advisory committee member, said that many fishermen in her area have kept their boats tied to the docks because of high fuel costs and low market prices and might not qualify for shares if only recent landings records are considered. Louis Daniel, director of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, noted that allocations don’t have to be based on recent landings. State commissioners expressed concern over the loss of jobs and fish houses that would result as the size of the fishing fleet decreased. Redstone Strategy Group foresees as much as 90 percent of snapper-grouper fishermen leaving the fishery in the South Atlantic under a LAPPs program. With the majority of the 851 permit holders landing fewer than 10,000 pounds each year, fishermen might make more money selling their quota shares than fishing. The number of boats fishing for Alaska king crab dropped from 251 to 89 and snow crab boats dropped from 189 to 80 under the Bering Sea crab rationalization plan. A study by the University of Alaska – Anchorage found that 1,150 crewmen lost their jobs in the first year of that plan. Other research shows that small communities in Alaska have experienced a loss of halibut quota shares. “It is true that some communities lose out under LAPPs,” said Grimm, the analyst from Redstone. Commissioner Bradley Styron said the consolidation of shares into the hands of a few corporations concerned him. In 2002, the Government Accountability Office found that one business controlled 27 percent of the surf clam and ocean quahog quota. Daniel said that could be addressed by placing caps on shares to prevent concentrated corporate control of a fishery. Courtney Carothers at the University of Washington has studied the impact of quota share programs and Kodiak fishing communities. She said that reorganizing fisheries on the basis of economic efficiency achieves many management goals but also impacts fishing communities. “Rather than ignoring these social impacts as ‘unintended consequences,’” managers should attempt to design policies that mitigate these predictable (and as often voiced, undesirable) social impacts,” wrote Carothers in a paper presented at an Anchorage conference last year. State commissioners appear to be on that track. Commissioners asked the Division of Marine Fisheries to prepare a report on how LAPPs might change participation in the striped bass, southern flounder, and king mackerel fisheries in the state. That information will be presented at the January commission meeting in Carolina Beach. 
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