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employed. Fish populations should not be exploited unless sufficient information 

 exists for the determination of nrniimnm sustainable yield and major ecological 

 impacts of harvest. 



Rebuilding depleted populations has been problematic due to economic and 

 social pressure for allowable catch levels that exceed levels required to rebuild the 

 populations. The biological requirements of the population and the long term viability 

 of the fishery should always take precedence over economic and social pressures for 

 short term increases in harvest levels, but especially in the case of overfished and 

 depleted populations. 



* Restrictions on the modification of allowable catch levels designed to ensure 

 sustainable harvest and/or to rebuild depleted populations by economic and social 

 factors are needed. 



ELIMINATE THE RACE FOR FISH AND PROVIDE INCENTIVES FOR 

 CONSERVATION 



The problem of open access 



Most U.S. fisheries, and indeed, most fisheries around the world, are open to 

 all who want to participate in them. This is termed "open access". Open access 

 commonly results in a race for fish, shortened seasons, and declining profits. These 

 conditions provide strong incentives to overharvest and result in political pressure on 

 managers to increase total allowable catch above sustainable levels. The result is 

 commonly an excessive number of fishers chasing dwindling numbers of fish, causing 

 further declines in profitability, more competition, and more calls for increased harvest 

 levels. 



The fact that open access to resources generates political and social pressure 

 for unlimited exploitation of them is an important cause of fisheries declines, and of 

 the depletion of many other natural resources. Conventional open access fisheries 

 management provides unlimited access to fish, usually resulting in a "race for fish": 

 intense competition to harvest fish as quickly as possible, leading in many cases to 

 over-investment in fishing equipment (overcapitalization), very short seasons, declining 

 profitability, and even compromised safety for fishers. The race for fish occurs 

 because there are no limits on the number of fishers who can participate in a fishery, 

 or on the individual catches of fishers. Fishers perceive that any fish (and thus profit) 

 left in the water will be caught by another fisher; hence, they have strong incentives 

 to catch as many fish as fast as possible, but no incentive to restrict their own harvest 

 in order to provide for a long-term, sustainable harvest. 



Caps on total harvest (TACs) decrease the likelihood that sustainable harvest 

 levels will be exceeded, but do not end the race for fish. If nothing is done to 

 restrict fishing power, caps result in shortened seasons and all the associated problems, 

 such as market gluts, intensified racing for fish, dangerous fishing conditions brought 

 on by intense competition and short seasons, gear loss, and "ghost fishing" (fish 

 mortality caused by lost gear). 



The race for fish increases the possibility of overharvesting the TAC. Reduced 



