The Evolution of Collaboration

Building collaboration in fisheries management can be complex. This article displays a case study that covers the complexity of collaboration in fisheries management related to tilefish fishery. The new regulations are creating a more competitive fishery, suboptimal prices and dangerous fishing techniques. The evolution of collaboration with permit holder in vessel categories will be explained in the Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The history of the Tilefish is an important part of my summary, so you can better understand the case study.

In this case study, they discuss that collaboration was never an objective. However, collaborative management offers participation and more of a shared responsibility. The article covers a section about how the collaboration will improve a more sustainable, equitable and efficient management system outcome. If the fishers are included in the decision-making process it can help with compliance.

In addition, governments should offer economic incentive to participation and by following regulations. Tilefish new have been harvested since the early 1900s. The fish are harvested in the Mid-Atlantic and up near New England. Tilefish usually reach lengths of 1.3m and live as long as 35 years. The fishers use long-line and otter trawls to catch tilefish. With the development of gear and fishing techniques Barnegat, NJ has quickly become known as the ‘tilefish capital of the world’. They use tub trawl gear to catch tilefish, but now they use circle hooks with longliners. The vessel lay the line out during the day and pull it in at night. The process to hook and bait the line is a manual process and labor intensive. The tilefish decreased in size in the early 1980s. With the reduction in size of the tilefish the Barnegat vessels looked for other longline fish to catch on loneline. This fish hits markets like New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The price of this fish varies depending on timing and quality. In a flooded market tilefish sell for $2.20 a kilo. Prior to the Tilefish FMP in 2001, tilefish fishery was an open a fishery. The fish stock became overfished due to the amount of fishing that was taking place. Crews would work long days and long stretches before coming back to the ports. The crews would swap out like a football team when arriving at port. The goal of the FMP is to prevent overfishing. The FMP was really created to rebuild the tilefish population and prevented overcapitalisation in the fishery.

The FMP created a 10-year population rebuilding schedule; a commercial quota was divided into two different tiers; trip limit for the incidental category; and limited entry for the two categories (Full-time & part-time). An annual Total Allowable Landings (TAL) fishing quota of 905 t live weight was established, which reduced the landings by half (B. Rountree, A. Kitts and Patricia Pinto da Silva, 2006). The limited access program created three permit categories (A for one full-time group, B for a second full-time group and C for part-time). Groups A and B did not have very high cooperation. However, category C had the largest number of participants with 22. An association was created to give the fishers a voice in the FMP and it was called Montauk Tilefish Association. Category A benefited the most because of their early involvement in developing the Tilefish FMP. Last, there was another interesting piece, there were no license fees, and the vessels received allocation for an individual vessel quota (IFQ). In the past, tilefish fishery was being overfished. With the creation of 3 permit category types, it really created more collaboration and participation to create a tilefish FMP. Some groups benefited more than others but that had more do with participating early in the FMP process. It just goes to show if fishers get involved and have a voice in the process the system will get a better cooperation. 

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