There’s a better solution to the problem of too few fish than privatizing the ocean. -The Right Catch of the Day
Then an approach called “Individual Transferable Quotas” was implemented. Under this approach, each fisherman was awarded the right to catch a certain percentage of the total annual allowable catch, which was set each year. The idea was that if each fisherman owned a percentage share of the total, they would have a strong incentive not to overfish and destroy the fishery, since that would of course destroy the value of what they owned. This was supposed to protect the fishing ground, and also protect the economic security of individual fishing operators. Read the rest here 15:28
This author doesn’t have much understanding of ITQ or quota style fisheries.
“Unfortunately, the quotas brought about significant economic and
ecological harm, and losses to consumers. Individual Transferable
Quotas – now referred to as catch shares – are transferable, which means
they are easily bought and sold. Quickly, they have been accumulated,
in some cases by investors that never went anywhere near a boat, in
other cases by large agribusinesses concerns. Economies of scale have
grown overwhelming due to the costs associated with permit-trading and
permit-leasing” Looks to me like he has a good handle on it. Making fishermen into sharecroppers and creating a whole new industry on our backs- observers!