IFQ Summary Series No. 5

 

SOUTH ATLANTIC WRECKFISH

 

Program Adopted in 1992

 

Catalogue of IFQ Experience

 

 

Special Circumstances

• Rapid growth and subsequent decline of the fishery - The wreckfish fishery takes place in deep water in an area of strong currents using vertical hook and line gear.  The fishery began in 1987 with two vessels that initially landed 29,000 pounds of wreckfish.  Within four years, the fleet grew to 80 vessels that harvested 4,000,000 pounds.  Following the introduction of the ITQ system, market conditions in the fishery changed, making the fishery less desirable and causing an exodus from the fishery.  Most of the boats that entered the fishery had come from other regional fisheries and they went back to those fisheries when wreckfish lost its attraction.
• Innovative enforcement mechanism – Enforcement of the wreckfish ITQ system utilizes harvest coupons that must be filled out by fishermen before they reach port.  This reduces the possibility that a vessel can avoid reporting its landings because the vessel would be subject to a violation if it were boarded prior to unloading without having the appropriate landing coupons filled out.

 

Statements of Individuals Involved in the IFQ Program

 

Fishery Participant:  Samuel Ray, Commercial Fisherman 

I think the wreckfish ITQ program was going in the right direction, but due to the lack of participation and interest in the fishery it is hard to really talk about the benefits.  The reason there is no interest in participating in this fishery has absolutely nothing to do with ITQs.  Wreckfishing is very difficult; you are working in the middle of the Gulf Stream, the gear is expensive, and it just isn't a fishery for everyone.  The effort in this fishery would have declined naturally on its own, not because of ITQs.  What ITQs did do for this industry is prevented more people from spending a lot of money to get into a fishery that they would not have been able to make a living from.  It is important to realize that fishermen are the ones that wanted ITQs, the Council was not very interested in regulating wreckfish at all, the fishermen pushed for the process 100%.

 

Fishery Manager:  John Gauvin, former South Atlantic Fishery Management Council staff member

The wreckfish ITQ plan was implemented before the fishery was in a crisis situation thus avoiding some of the standard pitfalls of determining a fair initial allocation of fishing rights.  However a major drawback of the plan being developed so quickly was that it was based on a very rudimentary stock assessment.  This affected the probability of attaining the long-term objectives of the plan.  Despite this, fishermen overall agreed to try an ITQ approach because they were experiencing the adverse effects of a fishing derby situation, and while the plan was not perfect, most people would probably agree that it was fair.  Many aspects of the ITQ program are difficult to analyze because there is little interest in the wreckfish fishery by many stakeholders today.  Wreckfish is a substitute fishery for grouper, and demand for wreckfish has decreased since prices for traditional grouper species have decreased with improved domestic stocks and abundant imports.  Furthermore, the fishing cost to harvest wreckfish is very high considering the low price fishermen get in return, so without a strong market demand for wreckfish, it is not economically feasible for most fishermen to harvest wreckfish.  I do believe if the ITQ plan had not been developed, the conditions of the fishery would have been worse.  If the wreckfish stock was as large as originally estimated and if the market for wreckfish had remained stable, this ITQ program would probably be the most successful example of an ITQ fishery because it is single species, the fleet is relatively small, and there is no recreational component.  I think that many of the benefits of an ITQ program were not fully realized in this fishery because of the problems described above.

 

 

 

Short Biography for Individuals that gave Comments

 

Samuel Ray has been fishing for nearly 30 years.  He owns one vessel and harvests grouper, snapper, and inshore shellfish.  He has been involved in the wreckfish fishery since the beginning, which was 1987.

Phone Number: 843-571-5844

 

John Gauvin was formerly the fisheries economist for the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and was actively involved in the development and design of the wreckfish ITQ plan. 

Email address: gauvin@seanet.com

 

 

Resources:

 

• Buck, Eugene H. 1995. “Individual Transferable Quotas in Fishery Management,” A Report for Congress by the Congressional Research Service. Available at: http://www.cnie.org/nle/mar-1.html
• Iudicello, S et al. 1999. Fish, Markets, and Fishermen: The Economics of Overfishing. Island Press.
• National Research Council, 1999. Sharing the Fish. Committee to Review Individual Fishing Quotas. National Academy Press, Washington D.C.
• NMFS Annual Commercial Landings Statistics Website, http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/commercial/landings/annual_landings.html