This site now incorporates FisheryConservation.com. In addition to being your "reference resource" for the American lobster, Homarus americanus, you will also find other general fishery conservation information. The links at the left of the page will take you to information that is currently on this site. Use the "contact us" page to suggest additional materials or links that would be helpful.
New!!! - Stock Stewardship Shares Discussion
Stock Stewardship Shares hold the promise of making conservation a truly good investment for fishermen and for the fishery management system. Over the years a number of fishery researchers have proposed the idea of allocating shares of a fish stock to groups or individuals who would then have the responsibility and accountability for maintaining the productivity of their "conceptual partial populations," as these biomass allocations have been called by Canadian fishery scientist Stratis Gavaris. Other researchers who have contributed to the development of this concept include John Caddy, Trevor Kenchington, and Ralph Townsend. The new Stock Stewardship Shares discussion page is intended to continue the collaborative development of this concept.
For an introduction to the concept of Stock Stewardship concept, click on the Population Stewardship Shares link to get a copy of Stratis Gavaris' paper titled Population stewardship rights: decentralized management through explicit accounting of the value of uncaught fish." I believe that this concept provides a solution to a major set of problems facing fishery management. Population stewardship shares go beyond ITQs by allocating shares of the stock itself, thereby giving fishermen an incentive to invest in conservation of their stock share, and punishing those who deplete their stock share.
Other Highlights
Harvesting Cooperatives will be another significant development in fishery management in coming years. Harvesting cooperatives will serve as the "elementary management units" that will manage stock stewardship shares. Watch this space for more information on fishery harvesting cooperatives.
The "IFQ Info" section contains fact sheets on a variety of individual transferable quota systems, with information obtained from participants in the programs.
LobSense, the user-friendly egg- and yield-per-recruit model for American lobsters is essentially complete and available for downloading. See the LobSense link in the "Files to Download" section at the left side of this page.
SIMLOB, the bio-economic simulation model for the lobster fishery is undergoing continuing improvement. Please contact Dick Allen for additional information.
Understanding the Area 2 Lobster Fishery Collapse and Doing Something About It is a booklet written by Dick Allen and available by email. Click on the "Fishery Collapse Booklet" at the left of this page for instructions on ordering a copy of this booklet.
Initial funding for this web site and for the development of LobSense and improvements to SIMLOB were provided by the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation. Continuing sponsorship is provided by R.B. Allen Associates, Fishery Consultants.
