September 10, 2012 — Over the objections of hook-and-line anglers, the 9th Circuit on Monday upheld a quota system meant to increase the efficiency and sustainability of the Pacific groundfish fishery.
The National Marine Fisheries Service amended the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan in 2011 to include a quota system for trawl permit holders. Amendments 20 and 21 were designed to increase economic efficiency through fleet consolidation, to cut down on bycatch (the unintentional catch of some fish species), and to generally reduce environmental impacts on the fishery, which extends 200 miles off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.
According to the changes, trawl vessels that do not reach their assigned quotas can sell or trade their shares of a particular fish species with other vessels. The new plan divides the trawl fishery into three sectors and then assigns a certain number of fishing privileges within each sector. For the on-shore, hook-and-line sector, privileges are initially allocated based on catch history and then become transferable after two years.
Such "liberal transferability" is expected to increase efficiency and reduce bycatch, but it also "may force out participants from local fishing communities by consolidating privileges and making them more expensive," the ruling states.