Catch shares allocate a percentage of the overall catch to individual fishermen, who can then choose to fish their entire share, or sell their share, or sell a portion of it. Because the value of the share rises with the health of the overall fish stock, catch shares give fishermen a strong incentive to be good stewards of the oceans. Fishermen are also heavily penalized for fishing more than they are allotted.
A key element of catch shares is that they set strict performance standards but let fishermen decide how best to meet them. That's a far cry from traditional fishing management that tells fishermen how and when to fish.
For the last decade, Virginia has used catch shares to manage its commercial striped bass fishery in bay and ocean waters. As a result, the fishing season has been extended from three to 11 months. Virginia fishermen are making more money and, most important, striped bass populations are in good shape.
Maryland is considering the use of similar catch shares programs for striped bass and other commercial fisheries. This could turn around the declining fishing industry in the bay and bolster Maryland's reputation as a leading supplier of seafood.
Still, more needs to be done to ensure that state and federal fishery managers consider the use of catch shares to end overfishing. Congress has mandated that overfishing be ended by 2011. The new administration must put management measures in place to meet that deadline. Well-designed catch shares programs will provide a much-needed and long-overdue economic boost to a fishing industry that has been in decline for decades.
In our lifetimes, we may not see the Chesapeake Bay clogged with fish the way John Smith did, but we can turn the situation around and bring real benefits to watermen and all U.S. fishermen. Reviving America's fishing industry with catch shares is a political, economic and ecological win for the taking.
Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest is a Republican who has represented Maryland's 1st Congressional District since 1991.
