Committee on the Use of Limited Access Privilege Programs in Mixed-Use Fisheries

Ocean Studies Board

Division on Earth and Life Studies

A Consensus Study Report of

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu

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This study was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Award Number WC133R17CQ0031/1305M139FNRMA0179. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-67297-9
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-67297-X
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/26186

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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. The Use of Limited Access Privilege Programs in Mixed-Use Fisheries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26186.

COMMITTEE ON THE USE OF LIMITED ACCESS PRIVILEGE PROGRAMS IN MIXED-USE FISHERIES

BONNIE J. McCAY (NAS) (Chair), Rutgers University (ret.), New Brunswick, New Jersey

JOSHUA K. ABBOTT, Arizona State University, Tempe

LEE G. ANDERSON, University of Delaware (ret.), Newark

COURTNEY CAROTHERS, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Anchorage

JAMES H. COWAN, JR., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge

JOSH EAGLE, University of South Carolina, Columbia

TIMOTHY ESSINGTON, University of Washington, Seattle

SHERRY L. LARKIN, University of Florida, Gainesville

STEVEN A. MURAWSKI, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg

SEAN P. POWERS, University of South Alabama, Mobile

MARTIN D. SMITH, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

TRACY YANDLE, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

Staff

STACEE KARRAS, Senior Program Officer, Ocean Studies Board

VANESSA CONSTANT, Associate Program Officer, Ocean Studies Board

KENZA SIDI-ALI-CHERIF, Program Assistant, Ocean Studies Board

OCEAN STUDIES BOARD

LARRY A. MAYER (NAE) (Outgoing Chair), University of New Hampshire, Durham

CLAUDIA BENITEZ-NELSON (Incoming Chair), University of South Carolina, Columbia

MARK ABBOTT, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

CAROL ARNOSTI, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

LISA CAMPBELL, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

THOMAS S. CHANCE, ASV Global, LLC (ret.), Broussard, Louisiana

DANIEL COSTA, University of California, Santa Cruz

JOHN DELANEY, University of Washington (ret.), Seattle

SCOTT GLENN, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

PATRICK HEIMBACH, The University of Texas at Austin

MARCIA ISAKSON, The University of Texas at Austin

LEKELIA JENKINS, Arizona State University, Tempe

NANCY KNOWLTON (NAS), Smithsonian Institution (ret.), Washington, District of Columbia

ANTHONY MacDONALD, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New Jersey

THOMAS MILLER, University of Maryland, Solomons

S. BRADLEY MORAN, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

RUTH M. PERRY, Shell Exploration & Production Company, Houston, Texas

JAMES SANCHIRICO, University of California, Davis

MARK J. SPALDING, The Ocean Foundation, Washington, District of Columbia

RICHARD SPINRAD, Oregon State University, Corvallis

ROBERT S. WINOKUR, Michigan Tech Research Institute, Silver Spring, Maryland

Ocean Studies Board Staff

SUSAN ROBERTS, Director

STACEE KARRAS, Senior Program Officer

KELLY OSKVIG, Senior Program Officer

EMILY TWIGG, Senior Program Officer

MEGAN MAY, Associate Program Officer

ALEXANDRA SKRIVANEK, Associate Program Officer

VANESSA CONSTANT, Associate Program Officer

SHELLY-ANN FREELAND, Financial Business Partner

TRENT CUMMINGS, Senior Program Assistant

KENZA SIDI-ALI-CHERIF, Program Assistant

ELIZABETH COSTA, Program Assistant

Preface

In 1999, the National Research Council (now referred to as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [the National Academies]) published a report on an innovation in fisheries management called individual fishing quotas (IFQs). It was based on a study commissioned by Congress as part of the 1996 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (the MSA), which also imposed a moratorium on the further use of IFQs in managing commercial fisheries in federal waters. The findings and recommendations of that report, Sharing the Fish: Toward a National Policy on Individual Fishing Quotas, contributed to lifting of the moratorium and to Congress’s redefinition of IFQs as Limited Access Privilege Programs (LAPPs) in the 2006 reauthorization of the MSA. Subsequently, most of the nation’s regional fishery management councils worked with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to create LAPPs for one or more of the fisheries under their jurisdictions.

The committee that produced Sharing the Fish was aware of the potential challenges involved in using IFQs in fisheries with large recreational participation, having in mind the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery, for which an IFQ plan had been approved by 1999 but not implemented because of the moratorium. However, the issue of IFQs in a mixed-use fishery was not addressed until the Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2018 called for this National Academies study of how fishing under a LAPP might interact with all sectors in a mixed-use fishery for the same species: commercial, recreational, and charter (i.e., for hire).

Recreational marine fishing, whether on one’s own vessel or on a charter vessel or headboat, is a large and growing activity, with major effects on the intensity, timing, and magnitude of fishing effort as well as on coastal economies. It brings with it values and incentives that often differ from those of commercial fishing, and some of those differences are intensified by the focus on economic efficiency that LAPPs are designed to improve. The need for this study is therefore clear. Regional fishery management councils and the NMFS would benefit from cooperation among the sectors in striving to rebuild and sustain healthy fish stocks, while weighing and arbitrating competing claims for allocation. Knowing what difference a LAPP makes in this regard, based on an objective and independent review of available data, analyses, and testimonies, is important to considerations about reforming or strengthening existing programs and creating new ones.

Evaluating the effects of LAPPs in mixed-use fisheries requires multiple disciplines, with equal weight to fisheries ecology and the social sciences. Because LAPPs are mainly designed to address economic goals, economics looms large among the social sciences, but the social effects of matters such as the decision on how to initially allocate catch shares, the noncentralized trading markets, and rising costs of entry mean that other social sciences are equally important, including anthropology and political science.

The committee was aided by the staff of the fishery management councils and the NMFS, who gave generously of their expertise in those fields and their historical knowledge of the fisheries management regimes. The committee is also grateful to the many individuals who played a major role in the completion of this study. The committee met publicly six times, and it extends its gratitude to the individuals from the regional and science offices of the NMFS, regional councils, recreational and commercial fisheries organizations and businesses, and others who appeared before the full committee or otherwise provided background information and identified pertinent issues.

Finally, the committee sincerely thanks the National Academies’ staff for their valuable support and efforts to facilitate the rapid completion of the report without compromising quality. Stacee Karras was the study director; she guided us through all of the major meetings and set the tone for an impartial and objective perspective on what can be contentious matters. Vanessa Constant came on late as the interim study director and very ably helped the committee complete its report. We also thank Kenza Sidi-Ali-Cherif (program assistant), particularly for helping us navigate the world of web-based conferencing and cloud-based document storage.

Bonnie J. McCay, Chair
Committee on the Use of Limited Access
Privilege Programs in Mixed-Use Fisheries

Acknowledgments

The committee would especially like to thank National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries staff and contractors for their invaluable assistance in providing background documents and responding to information requested by the committee and for their participation in meetings and on calls. In particular, the committee thanks Lindsay Fullenkamp (NOAA Fisheries), Hannah Montoya (NOAA Fisheries), Patricia McBride-Finneran (NOAA Fisheries), and Ryan Edwards (NOAA Fisheries).

This report was also greatly enhanced by discussions with participants at the committee’s six open-session meetings. The committee would like to especially acknowledge the efforts of those who gave presentations and spoke on panels at these meetings: Lindsay Fullenkamp (NOAA Fisheries), Kelly Denit (NOAA Fisheries), Jessica Stephen (NOAA Fisheries), Andy Strelcheck (NOAA Fisheries), Susan Boggs (Reel Surprise Charter Fishing), Ava Lasseter (Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council), Assane Diagne (Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council), Kellie Ralston (American Sportsfishing Association), Chris Horton (Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation), Eric Brazer (Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance), Jason DeLaCruz (Wild Seafood Co.), David Krebs (Ariel Seafoods, Inc.), Ryan Bradley (Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United, Inc.), James Bruce (Commercial Sector Participant), Kindra Arnesen (Commercial Sector Participant), Casey Streeter (Commercial Sector Participant), William Copeland (Commercial Sector Participant), Richard Fischer (Louisiana Charter Boat Association), John Polston (King’s Seafood, Inc.), Charlie Phillips (Fish Hound Seafood, LLC), Mike Freeman (Sea Farmers of America), Lance Nacio (Commercial Sector Participant), José Montañez (Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council), Doug Potts (NOAA Fisheries), Paul Nitschke (NOAA Fisheries), Laurie Nolan (Commercial Sector Participant), Dan Farnham (Commercial Sector Participant), Ernie Panacek (Commercial Sector Participant), Michael Johnson (Commercial Sector Participant), Greg DiDomenico (Commercial Sector Participant), Fred Akers (Recreational Sector Participant), Steve Cannizzo (Recreational Sector Participant), Skip Feller (Recreational

Sector Participant), Tom Warren (NOAA Fisheries), Brad McHale (NOAA Fisheries), George Silva (NOAA Fisheries), Cliff Hutt (NOAA Fisheries), Walter Golet (University of Maine), Marty Scanlon (Pelagic Longline Participant), Scott Taylor (Pelagic Longline Participant), Bill Cox (Pelagic Longline Participant), Jim Budi (Pelagic Longline Participant), David Schalit (General Sector Participant), Bob Humphrey (Charter Participant), Peter Shelley (Conservation Law Foundation), Marysia Szymkowiak (NOAA Fisheries), Kurt Iverson (NOAA Fisheries), Steve Langdon (University of Alaska Anchorage), Abigail Harley (NOAA Fisheries), Jim Seger (Pacific Fishery Management Council), Lisa Colburn (NOAA Fisheries), Mike Jepson (NOAA Fisheries), Suzanne Russell (NOAA Fisheries), and Ashley Vizek (NOAA Fisheries).

Reviewers

This Consensus Study Report was reviewed as a draft by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by EILEEN HOFMANN, Old Dominion University, and BARBARA SCHAAL, Washington University in St. Louis. They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.

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In Memory of James H. Cowan, Jr.

Dr. Jim Cowan passed away shortly after the completion of this report in August 2021. Jim was an exceptional fisheries scientist and wonderful colleague. His scholarly work advanced basic fish biology, marine ecology, and fisheries oceanography and has been critical in the development of science-based fisheries management. After earning a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Old Dominion University (ODU), Jim received two master’s degrees, one in biological oceanography with a minor in ichthyology from ODU (1981) and the second in experimental statistics from Louisiana State University (LSU; 1988). He earned his Ph.D. in marine sciences with a minor also in experimental statistics from LSU (1985). Jim mentored many undergraduate and graduate students at the University of South Alabama and later LSU. Many of those students are now leaders in fisheries science. Jim’s knowledge of the science and complexity of modern fisheries management assisted the committee greatly as did his firsthand experience with those stakeholders dependent on the fishery. Although virtual meetings limited our social exchanges, those committee members that knew him best attest to Jim’s friendly nature and his many entertaining stories.

Steven Murawski and Sean Powers
on behalf of the committee and staff

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Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

SUMMARY

1 INTRODUCTION

2 INDIVIDUAL QUOTA SYSTEMS AND LAPPs

3 PROGRESS IN MEETING GOALS OF LAPPs AND MAGNUSON-STEVENS FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT AS DETERMINED BY PROGRAM REVIEWS

4 ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF LAPPs IN MIXED-USE FISHERIES

5 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EFFECTS FOR COMMERCIAL PARTICIPANTS IN MIXED-USE FISHERIES

6 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF LAPPs FOR RECREATIONAL FISHERY STAKEHOLDERS IN MIXED-USE FISHERIES

7 BROADER COMMUNITY SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EFFECTS

8 ADDRESSING THE IMPACTS OF LAPPs IN MIXED-USE FISHERIES

REFERENCES

APPENDIX: COMMITTEE BIOGRAPHIES

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