As the groundfishery approaches its partial transformation to a catch share economic system based on hard catch limits, permit banks are forming to buy and broker rights to the shares of the harvest.
These shares' value are largely determined by the size of the total catch limits โ issues that remain heatedly debated by industry interests and the New England Fishery Management Council.
Far ahead of the curve is Gloucester, which has the region's bank of unmatched capitalization, nearly $13 million, while a Cape Cod group is gaining ground and has set a goal of $10 million in permits.
In Maine, the state itself is in the process of forming a permit bank, while a small organization, the Penobscot East Resource Center is also organizing a permit bank in concert with the non-governmental organization, the Ocean Conservancy.
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.