Sustainable Fisheries

Sustainable Fisheries

A sustainable fishery is one where fish and shellfish populations are harvested at rational levels and in ways that do not destroy or degrade habitat or kill large numbers of non-target species. Very few fisheries are managed sustainably due to what is called the “tragedy of the commons.” This situation occurs when a “public good” such as a fishery or a commons is exploited by multiple individuals who’s individual welfare is not closely tied to the welfare of the common resource.

One potential solution to this problem is the establishment of Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQ) otherwise called fishery catch shares. Catch shares assign ITQ holders a specific percentage of the annual allowable catch.

Under the U.S. National Ocean Policy and in coordination with NOAA all fisheries will be required to establish an annual catch limit or cap by 2011. NOAA is strongly advocating that most fisheries adopt some for of Limited Access Program, which allocates a percentage of the annual catch amongst the fishery. Catch shares are the method which NOAA is advocating where appropriate.

Aquaculture, or fish farming, is an exploding field. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that aquaculture accounts for nearly half of the world’s food fish and it is the fastest growing food-producing sector. Although aquaculture should theoretically reduce fishing pressure on wild stocks, it can also have profound negative impacts to ecosystems.

Poorly devised aquaculture practices can destroy and pollute habitat, alter gene pools of wild fish stocks, and cause a net loss of protein from the sea if wild fish are caught to feed farmed fish. However sustainable aquaculture avoids these negative impacts and Mission Markets seeks to support this practice.