Championed by NOAA adminstrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco, catch shares and sector management cut the capacity of the fishing fleet dramatically. People lost their jobs. Small boats with small fishing histories and small allocations tied up or sold out. Bigger players got even bigger: The top 10 percent of the fleet now holds the lion's share of the business.
No one is asking that the fleet go back to the old "days-at-sea" method of restricting catch. That was messy, unpredictable and, in many cases, inefficient. Sectors, which let fishermen decide how to limit their catch to stay within their allowances, are complex and expensive, and the industry still hasn't found its sea legs.
Fishing quota is being leased and traded throughout the groundfish fleet, which creates an additional expense that crews must absorb. Some boats are fishing for nothing more than to be out there, because with so little quota they can't catch enough fish to pay for their expenses.
But there has been a grudging acknowledgement that sectors can work if costs are controlled and allocations are sufficient to make it pay to go fishing.
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