Unalaska, AK – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released their draft catch share policy Thursday. The policy encourages fishery management councils around the country to adopt catch share programs like the ones already in place for the Bering Sea crab fisheries and for the pollock fishery.

"What this new policy is doing is urging every council to actively consider catch shares for different fisheries," said NOAA administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco as she spoke with reporters over a teleconference.

Lubchenco said that world wide studies have shown that catch share programs help rebuild ailing fisheries better than traditional management systems. They can also increase the value of the catch. NOAA estimates that catch shares can increase the dockside value of seafood by $2.2 billion in the U.S. NOAA is giving a set of guidelines on how to set up the programs, but each regional fishery council will tailor the catch share programs to their specific fisheries.

"The devil is in the design and the benefit is in the design," Lubchenco said. "The point is that, it's important to get the design right, which is why we're spending a fair amount of time thinking about what should the guidance to the councils be, what are the best lessons learned, how can they be designed to have the best possible outcomes for fish and for fishermen as well as the health of oceans."

Councils would set their own rules for quota transferability and distribution, set their own management goals, and develop their own review processes.

Though catch share programs may raise the overall value of a fishery, they can also cause many people to lose their jobs. For example, crab rationalization in the Bering Sea led the fleet size to drop from 250 boats to 70, meaning many crew members lost their positions. But, the ex-vessel value of the fishery went up over $50 million dollars. Luchenco said that catch shares may lead to fewer jobs but will create better jobs and help stabilize local economies.

"The purpose of catch shares is to help put those fisheries that are appropriate for catch share management on a better path to sustainability. And in some cases that's going to mean fewer boats or fewer fishing jobs simply because there has been too much in the past. The goal is not to sustain the level of fishing that's happening now. The goal is to transition to a level that can be sustained and healthy through time."

She said the programs also make it beneficial for fishermen to help protect the resources. "The concept of catch shares is to have fishing be done in a way that provides share owners an interest in the future, if you will. A guaranteed fraction of the catch with the hope that the value of that is going to grow through time as a population recovers and becomes more abundant."

However, catch shares cannot ensure that stocks don't change because of environmental conditions, as might be happening with the pollock fishery.

The draft catch share policy will be open for public comments until April 10. You can access it on the NOAA Fisheries Office of Sustainable Fisheries website along with brief descriptions of the 13 fisheries in the U.S. that currently use catch share programs. Six of those are in Alaska.