Fact Sheets: Catch Shares

Catch limits are protective caps on the number of fish that can be caught in a fishing year. They are a fundamental measure to prevent overfishing and ensure the long-term sustainability of fish stocks. These measures are set based on scientific assessments of the health of fish stocks.

The United States and the European Union are moving toward privatizing their fisheries management systems through catch shares, while Iceland, with one of the world’s oldest and most comprehensive catch share programs, is struggling to find a way to dismantle its program. Why? The answer is that catch shares have failed Iceland’s fisheries and the nation as a whole.

Catch shares are a system for managing our nation’s fisheries that are causing consolidation in the fishing industry at the expense of the livelihoods of thousands of smaller-scale, traditional fishermen and their communities. Such programs are being heavily touted as a means to promote sustainable fishing, but a closer look reveals they do not have a positive environmental record. Catch shares can incentivize the use of larger-scale boats, more damaging gear and wasteful fishing practices that hurt fish populations and the habitats on which they depend.

The North Atlantic island nation of Iceland has historically been closely tied to the fishing industry. Years of experience have taught local fishermen many valuable lessons affecting their livelihoods. In particular, many Icelandic citizens are outraged by an unfair fishery management practice that the government is now trying to reverse: catch share systems that privatize access to fish.

Countries around the world are suffering from depleted fish populations and are desperately struggling to develop plans to rebuild and sustainably manage valuable fish resources. Namibia has a developed a holistic approach to fisheries management to effectively rebuild and protect fish resources, derive a financial return to the public from commercial catches and provide employment and services to the Namibian people.

FAIR FISH is about making sure U.S. fish are managed for the long-term benefit of the fish, fishing communities and all of us in the United States.