111: Fisheries policy and catch shares with Dan Holland

In this episode, Michael speaks with Dan Holland. Dan is a senior scientist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center within the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.  Dan joined the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in 2010. Prior to that he held positions with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. He is an affiliate professor at the University of Washington, Chair of the Science and Statistical Committee of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, an associate editor of Marine Resource Economics, and is a former President of the International Institute for Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET).

Michael and Dan talked about several aspects of Dan’s research, which is focused primarily on design and evaluation of fishery management tools and strategies. In particular, they discussed Dan’s research related to catch share policy, which involves placing a cap on the total allowable catch (TAC) for a species and a distributing a tradeable quota that is allocated to a group of fishers in proportion to this cap. These policies have been both quite popular and controversial, and Dan’s research can help us think about the mechanics of some of the most critical issues involved, including how to balance the costs and benefits of individual vs. collective fishing rights, options for limiting bycatch and dealing with choke species via quota pooling, and how to these relate to the idea of ecosystem management.

Dan’s website: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/contact/dan-s-holland-phd

References:

Holland, Daniel S. 2010. “Markets, Pooling and Insurance for Managing Bycatch in Fisheries.” Ecological Economics: The Journal of the International Society for Ecological Economics 70 (1): 121–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.08.015.

Holland, Daniel S. 2013. “Making Cents Out of Barter Data from the British Columbia Groundfish ITQ Market.” Marine Resource Economics 28 (4): 311–30. https://doi.org/10.5950/0738-1360-28.4.311.

Holland, Daniel S. 2018. “Collective Rights–Based Fishery Management: A Path to Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management.” Annual Review of Resource Economics 10 (1): 469–85. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-100517-023110.

Holland, Daniel S., Joshua K. Abbott, and Karma E. Norman. 2020. “Fishing to Live or Living to Fish: Job Satisfaction and Identity of West Coast Fishermen.” Ambio 49 (2): 628–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-019-01206-w.

Holland, Daniel S., Cameron Speir, Juan Agar, Scott Crosson, Geret DePiper, Stephen Kasperski, Andrew W. Kitts, and Larry Perruso. 2017. “Impact of Catch Shares on Diversification of Fishers’ Income and Risk.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114 (35): 9302–7. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702382114.