Lessons from Morro Bay

Last week, the New York Times published an article profiling a successful partnership between fishermen and The Nature Conservancy in Morro Bay, California.  In this partnership, The Nature Conservancy bought up multiple fishing boats and permits, and has worked with local fishermen to develop cleaner fishing gear and new methods of fishing.  The details of the Morro Bay program are fairly straightforward:  The Nature Conservancy leases quota pounds and boats to fishermen, and the fishermen in turn agree to participate in data-gathering programs and use more environmentally-friendly gear.

The results of this partnership are already promising, showing both ecological and economic benefits.  Fishermen are switching away from habitat-damaging gear like bottom trawl nets, and catching and discarding fewer unwanted fish.  They are also able to post a profit and maintain a viable fishery—bucking the trend of difficult economic times.

The New York Times did a good job explaining the success of the Morro Bay partnership, and how it channeled the experience and expertise of fishermen toward the goal of cleaner, more sustainable fishing.  But it’s worth adding at least two big-picture lessons from the Morro Bay project:

(1)  Hard Catch Limits and Flexibility Can Prompt Innovation

The Morro Bay program is a great illustration of how creativity—both in fishing techniques used on the water and in data collection and use—can benefit fishermen and the ecosystem.  A key to releasing this innovation, however, is to have hard catch limits and a system that gives fishermen the flexibility to experiment.

Why are firm catch limits necessary?  Because without them, there is no incentive to change.  Hard caps provide accountability, and when every fish counts, the old indiscriminate and destructive fishing practices like bottom trawling suddenly become much less attractive.  In this way, firm catch limits can push a fishery to evolve and adapt to new ways of doing business.

Why is flexibility necessary?  Because even when there is pressure to evolve, people need to be able to experiment in order to come up with a better mousetrap.  For example, if regulations prescribed the exact type of net or hook to be used, fishermen wouldn’t have the chance to be creative with their gear.

With the Morro Bay partnership, hard catch limits and flexibility are provided by a "catch shares" program covering the entire West Coast, within which The Nature Conservancy’s partnership is nested.  Catch share systems (often involving individual tradable quotas) are one potential way of providing firm limits along with flexibility to innovate.  They also come with some challenges—like the distribution of quota shares, as well as monitoring and enforcement costs—which the New York Times author addressed in a subsequent blog post.

Regardless of the system used, the best innovations come under firm catch limits, when there is freedom to experiment.

(2)  The Government Should Learn from the Morro Bay Example

The Nature Conservancy has demonstrated that when fisheries are truly managed for sustainability, it is possible to yield both economic success and ecological benefits.  They did this by taking over a regional fishery and managing it themselves (with a great deal of collaboration and input from fishermen and the harbormaster).  The Morro Bay project has worked well, brightening the community’s fishing future.

But the Morro Bay project also has a bigger significance:  it shows what could and should be happening in many other places around the nation, if the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) were to step up to its public trust responsibility of managing America’s fisheries.

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act gives NMFS and the regional fishery management councils power to manage our nation’s fisheries.  The Act contains a clear conservation mandate, requiring NMFS and the councils to end overfishing, rebuild depleted stocks, and protect essential fish habitat.  Courts have recognized that these conservation provisions take precedence over economic returns, and that American fisheries must be managed for long-term sustainability.

Given all this, one might wonder why we had to wait for a private party to take over and demonstrate how to manage a fishery sustainably.  Regardless, now that we’ve seen how to do it, the government must learn from the example.  We shouldn’t have to wait for the Nature Conservancy to buy out every single other fishery, in order to get sustainable fisheries management in America.

The Nature Conservancy and Morro Bay fishermen have worked hard to show us what’s possible.  It’s now time for NMFS and the Councils to step up and manage the rest of our nation’s fisheries equally well.

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