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Towards a green economy
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special attention to essential habitats, safe minimum
biomass levels, input controls, etc.;
■ Networks of reasonably large marine protected areas
may be needed to accompany the implementation of ITQs
to deal broadly with the ecosystem effects of overfishing,
to allow for recovery, and to recognise uncertainty in
the performance of ITQs. Such a network would benefit
greatly by ensuring that it is designed to be compatible
with conservation and ITQ goals and objectives;
■ Imposing limits to quota that can be held by each
quota owner, to mitigate social problems associated
with the concentration of fishing power, although its
effectiveness is very variable. It is worth noting that
this is already a feature of many existing ITQ systems. In
some fisheries, equity concerns may be alleviated by
allocating quotas to ‘communities’ or to residents of a
territorial area in the form of community transferable
quotas (CTQs) and territorial user rights in fisheries
(TURFS), respectively (Christy 1982; Wingard 2000;
Charles 2002). With such schemes in place, the economic
efficiency benefits of ITQs may be captured while
minimizing negative social impacts; and
■ Auctioning of quotas can be used in some fisheries
to deal with the problem of initial allocation of quota
and its equity implications (Macinko and Bromley 2002;
Bromley 2009).
There are several areas of management where increased
investment can be extremely beneficial. These include:
■ Stock-assessment programmes;
■ Monitoring and control programmes; and
■ Establishment of marine protected areas (MPA).
Stock assessment programs are basic for fishery
managers who require reliable statistics to inform them
of the state of fish stocks so that they may keep a careful
eye on whether fishing effort is appropriate for the
sustainable use of the stock (Walters and Martell 2004).
Monitoring and control programs are those that allow
fisheries managers to determine whether fishers are
acting in compliance with catch quotas or not. Such
programs are also necessary in terms of mitigating the
impact of illegal and unreported fishing activities.
Historically, MPAs have not been used as a major tool in
the management of the world’s fisheries. However, their
role as a management tool has become more popular
in recent years. MPAs attempt to maintain the health of
fish stocks by setting aside an area of the ocean that is
free from fishing activity – allowing mature fish in these
areas to escape into unfished areas, thereby ensuring
the future resilience of the fishery.