NOAA released the draft national policy encouraging the use of catch shares, a fishery management tool that can help to end overfishing, and rebuild and sustain fisheries and fishing communities.
The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration received extensive input on the draft from the NOAA Catch Share Task Force, which included representatives from each of the eight regional fishery management councils in addition to NOAA and its National Marine Fisheries Service staff.
In a catch share program, the scientifically-based annual catch limit, is divided among individual fishermen or groups according to rules set by the regional fishery management councils. Fishermen catch their share and stop for the year when it is exhausted.
Catch share programs help eliminate overfishing to rebuild sustainable fish stocks. Under traditional fishery management, fishermen compete for a total allowable catch.
This has lead to fishermen racing each other to catch as many fish as they can before the catch limit is reached. It has also resulted in more boats and gear then necessary or economical, quotas being exceeded, increasingly shorter fishing seasons, unsafe fishing and high levels of by-catch. This type of management system can also result in too many fish being brought to market at once, which depresses the value of fish for fishermen and coastal communities.
I encourage you to read the draft and comment on it. You can find the draft policy and a link to submit comments by going to our catch share Web site at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/catchshares. The comment period ends April 10.