What is a catch share program?
A catch share program is a market-based approach to managing fish, which mandate caps on fishing catches, dedicate secure shares of fish, and in most cases establish clear guidelines to trade shares of the catch. The hard data show that when managers put in place catch shares they are adding the missing piece to solve the puzzle of over-fishing. There are several different kinds of catch share programs: Individual Fishing Quotas, Individual Transferable Quotas, Individual Vessel Quotas, Community Development Quotas, Cooperatives, Sectors, Territorial Use Rights for Fishing, and Area-based management. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Management and Conservation Act, catch shares programs are known as Limited Access Privilege Programs, or LAPPs.
