Slide 1

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 2

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 3

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 4

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 5

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 6

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 7

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 8

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 9

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 10

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 11

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 12

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 13

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 14

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 15

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 16

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 17

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 18

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 19

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 20

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 21

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 22

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com


Slide 23

Money on the Table The Profit Potential in
Effective Fishery Management

My Topics
• Simplified Fishery Management
• Lobster Management Programs in Other
Places
• The Rhode Island Experience
• My Take on the California Lobster Fishery
• The Future of Fishery Management and
How to Profit from Sustainability

The 3 Basic Fishery Controls
1. Recruitment
–
–

requires adequate spawning stock,
then determined primarily by nature.

2. The minimum legal size
–
–

Creates a floor, doesn’t help the stock above MLS
Contributes to yield per recruit

3. The fishing mortality rate
–
–
–

fraction of the fishable stock taken each year,
determined by fishing effort,
Determines average size of animals.

Less fishing means higher catches!

Fishing Mortality Controls –
Leaving Lobsters in the Water
• Direct - Annual Total Allowable Catch
• Indirect – Fishing Effort Control
• Even less direct –
– Closed season
– Prohibition on egg-bearing lobsters
– Closed areas (effect depends on migration)

American Lobster
Management Areas

Traditional U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC
• No effort control
• Counter excess catch with discard
requirements
– Minimum size
– Egg-bearing females
– V-notched females
– Maximum legal size
– Throw back 86 of every 100 lobsters caught

Current U.S. Atlantic Approach
• No TAC, but tightening Reference Points
• 6 of 7 Lobster Management Areas have
Individual Trap Allocations, meant to be
transferable.
• A trap is not a unit of fishing effort.
• More regulations sure to follow as each
allocated trap turns into more fishing effort.

Canadian Atlantic Inshore
Approach
•
•
•
•
•
•

No TAC
Limit licenses, uniform trap limit (300)
Short legal season
Still overfishing
Chronic controversy
(Unimaginable trap limits by New England
standards)

• New Zealand, most of Australia
– Individual transferable quotas

• Australian states had transferable traps

• South Australia provides good lesson
• Southern Zone prospered after switch
from Transferable Traps to ITQs
• Northern Zone kept ITTs and collapsed

Comparisons
with Other Lobster Fisheries
# of avg.
total days/ total catch lbs/boat annual
boats traps/ traps year (1,000 lbs)
lbs/trap
Fishery
boat
LFA 33 NS, Canada
718
241 172,825 186
6,057
8,435
35
LFA 34 – 1994, Canada
951
388 368,513 186
22,964 24,147
62
W. Australia Rock Lobster
563
101 56,811 227
25,114 44,607
442
Tasmania
241
44 10,507 308
3,287 13,638
313
Victoria
161
46
7,388 289
1,100
6,832
149
Southern New England High 115
960 110,400 365
4,100 35,652
37
SNE Hi Prod Potential
32
300
9,600 365
7,200 225,000
750
Southern New England Low
80
743 59,440 365
1,100 13,750
19
SNE Low Prod Potential
17
300
5,100 365
1,300 76,471
255

1,000s
trap days
trap
days on per pound
bottom
32,145
5.3
68,543
3
12,896
0.5
3,236
1
2,135
1.9
28,256
6.9
3,504
0.5
18,082
16.4
18,612
1.4

Source for Western Australian data: http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J375D?open#Industryvalue and
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/ALIR-4Z95VB/$FILE/Rocklobsterpolicydocument.pdf
Source for Victoria: http://www.siv.com.au/lobster.htm
Source for LFA 33: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• Fished down in late 1800s
• Constant scientific warnings
– Reliance on newly recruiting lobsters

• Steadily increasing traps (300-1600 from 1970-1997)
• Increasingly variable catches
– Heavy fishing pressure increases variability
– No standing stock of adult lobsters to take up the slack when
environmental conditions produce poor year class
– Phenomenal fishing in late 1990s, then collapse

• Regulatory response increases discard rate to 86%
• High costs – low revenue

RI Lobster Fishery Experience
• 1,000+ commercial lobster licenses issued
each year 1990-2003 – meaningless
• 2003 – 278 reported more than 1 pound
• 2007 – Approx 200 rec’d Individual trap
allocation
• Based on average number of traps used to
catch an individual’s annual landings

60000

Southern New England Trap
Allocation Formula
01to03

40000

Predicted Traps
Calculator
Pounds landed =

1500

Predicted traps =

228

0

20000

Allocation was lower of
predicted or reported.

0

500

1000

1500

California Lobster Fishery
•
•
•
•

200 licenses – 151 transferable
300 traps per license average?
750-1,000 traps max
Will each license go to the max as
transfers take place?
• Will big operators try to stay ahead of the
pack?

California Lobster Resource
• Most legal lobsters caught in first year?
• With no limit on traps, will more traps take
more lobsters in first year?
• Take 20% of legal animals each year?
• More and larger lobsters in standing stock.

The Intersection of
Biology and Economics
Max Profit

Economic
Overfishing
Starts Here

Growth
Overfishing Yield in LBS
X Price = Revenue in $
Starts Here
Cost of Effort
Loss
10

Lbs.

9

Or $

8
7
6

?

Recruitment
Overfishing Starts
Here

5

4
1

Overcapitalization

3
2 Total Industry Costs - Includes a Normal Profit
FMEY

FMSY

OAE

Fishing Mortality Rate - F or Effective Fishing Effort (Boats, Traps, Days, Etc.)

MEY - Maximum Economic Yield

MSY - Maximum Sustainable Yield

OAE - Open Access Equilibrium

Economic Rent – The difference between
revenue and cost

Marine Stewardship Council
Requirements
• The dependence of productivity on abundance has been estimated
and used to estimate potential Target Reference Points and
associated uncertainties.
• A Limit Reference Point (LRP) has been established and its level is
computed at appropriate time intervals to determine whether the
stock is depleted.
• The management system incorporates and applies an adaptive and
precautionary exploited stock strategy
• The management system applies information through
implementation of measures and strategies (by rule or by voluntary
action of fishery) that demonstrably control the degree of exploitation
of the resource in the light of the natural variation in ecosystems.
• There is a process in place for rapid development of a recovery plan
for target populations should significant depletion occur. Significant
depletion can be defined as dropping below the LRP.

Investing in Conservation
• Reduce fishing effort – save costs
• Leave legal animals to grow and
reproduce – larger biomass
• Harvest greater yield at lower cost –
fishermen make money on high CPUE
• Reduce variability
• Profit from sustainability

Get a Piece of the Stock
• Competition for a natural resource is a
zero-sum game – produces the same or
less fish at higher cost.
• Allocation allows least cost harvest.
• Creates an incentive to build wealth in fish
stock, rather than maximize cash flow.
• Individual trap allocations are better than
nothing, but far from ideal.

Can a Lobster Fishery Achieve
Its Profit Potential without
Quota Shares or
an Effective Trap Limit?

Thanks!
For more information visit
www.LobsterConservation.com