Human Dimensions of Ecosystem-based Fishery Management in the Pacific Northwest

There is a growing agreement among scientists that people should be treated as part of large marine ecosystems (LME). While we have targeted substantial efforts at understanding ecological linkages in LMEs, our attempts to understand people and communities as an endogenous component of LMEs are more limited. 

Many of the California Current key fisheries appear to have relatively weak ecological links (e.g., through predator-prey or competition) but may have linkages resulting from cross-participation by fishermen who distribute their effort across multiple fisheries. This work includes several projects to understand fishermen's participation and location choice behavior and how they respond to regulations and economic and environmental drivers. 

We study both federally, and state-managed fisheries since many fishermen participate in both. This work aims to enable the design of fishery management approaches that promote sustainable fisheries, stabilize incomes for fishermen, and minimize adverse ecosystem impacts. 
 

Adaptation to Climate-Driven Variability in California Current Fisheries And Fishing Communities 

This work explores linkages amongst several important fisheries in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) caused by joint exposure to climate forcing and human interconnections related to fishermen moving amongst them. 

We conduct analyses and develop bioeconomic models to understand how alternative access regimes and fishery portfolios (for individuals or ports) affect profitability and income variability for fishermen and fishing communities. 

This is a multi-year project that involves collaborators from Arizona State University (Josh Abbott, PI), University of Washington (Andre Punt), Washington Sea Grant (Melissa Poe), and Rutgers University (Malin Pinski) who are fund by a grant from the National Science Foundation Coupled Natural Human (CNH) Systems program (Award 1616821). 

Our work on this project focuses on:

• Understanding motivations and benefits that drive fishery participation (Holland et al. 2019).
• Understanding responses of fishermen to salmon fishery closures (Richerson et al. 2017, 2018).
• Bioeconomic models of fisheries linked by participation and environmental forcing (Oken et al. in review).
• Environmental drivers of productivity of key species (Richerson et al. 2020).

Diversification

Many fishermen on the Pacific coast participate in multiple fisheries. Some travel long distances each year, moving up and down the coast and even between the West Coast and Alaska to pursue different fisheries. By diversifying, fishermen and fishing communities can increase their fishing opportunities and reduce the variability of their income caused by shifts in abundance, prices, and regulations in individual fisheries (Kasperski and Holland 2013). 

Our project focuses on identifying the drivers, trends, and impacts of diversification of West Coast fishermen. We update West Coast fleets' diversification trends annually for inclusion in the California Current Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (CCIEA). We have quantified the relationship between diversification and variability of revenues (Kasperski and Holland 2013), and how limited access and catch shares impacted diversification (Holland and Kasperski 2016, Holland et al. 2017). In current work, we explore whether there are trade-offs between risk reduction and efficiency associated with diversification and how specific diversification strategies perform.

Modeling Location Choice of the Groundfish Trawl Fleet 

We estimated location choice models for groundfish trawl fleets. This model used observations of fishermen's past location choices to quantify the factors that determine where they fish. We model fine-scale tow-level location choice decisions. 

Our research shows distance to the fishing location and expected revenue to be the primary determinants of location choice. Still, the scarcity of quota for some incidentally caught species with restrictive total quotas also plays a role (Hicks et al. 2020. Kuriyama et al. 2019). Since quota costs reduce expected net revenues, the high cost of quota for species with a shortage of available quota can drive effort away from locations where they are more likely to be caught. 

We also use the model to evaluate the welfare impacts of potential temporary closures of depth band intervals to reduce bycatch of salmon or overfished rockfish.

Quota Markets and Risk Pools 

The individual quota systems implemented in 2011 allow fishermen to buy and sell the allocated quota pounds each year. This quota market will enable fishermen to balance their intended and their unexpected catch with quota. 

Our ongoing project helps understand the dynamics of the quota market: how quota prices are determined, how and why the market redistributes quota, and whether and why the market is effective and efficient at redistributing quota to those who value it most (Holland 2016; Holland 2020; Holland and Norman 2015). This understanding will improve our ability to predict what will happen to the fishery over time and may enable us to implement policy measures to enhance the quota market's functioning. 

This project led to developing a web application that provides fishermen with regularly updated information on quota pound prices. This information helps reduce transactions costs and facilitate the function of the quota pounds market 

Concern that it might be impossible or very costly to purchase additional quota to exceed one's own allocation led many fishermen to pool their quota pounds for some overfished rockfish species that they catch incidentally. The need for risk pools for rockfish bycatch has lessened as most of these species have rebuilt. More recently, risk pools have switched focus to managing salmon bycatch in the groundfish fishery, where the fleet must comply with overall bycatch limits rather than individual quotas. 

This project includes ongoing theoretical, experimental, and empirical analyses designed to determine how to develop risk pools that can ensure catch does not exceed the pool's quota but allows individual fishermen flexibility in the way they fish. Published work includes (Holland 2010; Holland and Jannot 2012; Holland 2018; Holland and Martin 2019) 

Mitigation of Harmful Algal Bloom Impacts on Fisheries

Concentrations of domoic acid in crab during harmful algal blooms (Pseudo-nitzschia) (HABs) can close commercial and recreational crabbing areas. Recently HAB events have caused lengthy delays to the start of the commercial season. During the 2015/2016 season in California, HABs caused a six-month delay resulting in a fishery disaster declaration triggering $25 million in federal assistance. We expect HAB events associated with marine heat waves to become larger and more common in the future. Substantial public and industry interest in mitigation strategies will enable effective adaptation. 

This project will use recent experiences with HAB-related delays to evaluate potential strategies for the Dungeness crab fishery that may reduce future HAB events' economic impact. Key strategies to be explored include:

• Evisceration so crab can be landed and marketed when toxicity levels are too high for selling whole crab.
• Holding crab in tanks to detoxify.
• Fine-scale monitoring and spatial openings for fishing to avoid longer delays. 

We use econometric evidence from past industry behavior and data on processing costs and product value to parameterize economic simulation models that can be used to study how policy reform may work in practice. 

This work is a multi-year project that involves collaborators from Oregon State University (David Kling, PI; Gil Sylvia), University of Washington (Sunny Jardine), and UC Davis (Jim Sanchirico). It is funded by a grant from NOAA, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.

Related Publications 

Hicks, R.L., Holland, D.S., Kuriyama, P.T. and Schnier, K.E., 2020. Choice sets for spatial discrete choice models in data rich environments. Resource and Energy Economics, 60, p.101148.

Holland, D.S. 2016. Development of the Pacific Groundfish Trawl IFQ Market. Marine Resource Economics 31(4):453-464.

Holland, D.S. 2018. Collective Rights–Based Fishery Management A Path to Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management. Annual Review of Resource Economics 10:469-85.

Holland, D.S. 2020. An Analysis of the Pacific Groundfish Trawl IFQ Quota Pound (QP) Market Through 2019. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA. NWFSC Technical Memorandum

Holland, D.S., J. Agar, S. Crosson, G. DePiper, S. Kasperski, D. Kitts, L. Perruso, and C. Speir 2017. The Impact of Catch Shares on Diversification of Fishers’ Income and Risk. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (35) 9302-9307

Holland, D.S. and C. Martin. Bycatch Quotas, Risk Pools, and Cooperation in the Pacific Whiting Fishery (Bycatch Quotas and Risk Pools PGTF) 2019. Frontiers in Marine Science 6:600.

Holland, D.S. and K. Norman. 2015. The Anatomy of a Multispecies Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) “Market” in Development. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-F/SPO-158.

Holland, D.S., K. Norman, J.E. Abbott 2019. Fishing to Live or Living to Fish: Job Satisfaction and Identity of West Coast Fishermen. Ambio. 49(2):628-639.

Holland, D.S. and S. Kasperski 2016. The Impact of Access Restrictions on Fishery Income Diversification of US West Coast Fishermen. Coastal Management 44(5):1-12.

Kasperski, S. and D.S. Holland 2013. Income Diversification and Risk for Fishermen. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. 100(6):2076-2081. 

Kuriyama, P.T., D.S. Holland, T.A. Branch, L.A.K. Barnett, R.L. Hicks, K.E. Schnier 2019. Catch shares drive fleet consolidation and increased targeting but not spatial effort concentration nor changes in location choice in a multispecies trawl fishery. Forthcoming Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 

Oken, K., D.S. Holland, A.E. Punt 2020. The effects of population synchrony, life history, and access constraints on benefits from fishing portfolios. In review  

Richerson, K. and D.S. Holland 2017. Quantifying and predicting responses to a West Coast salmon fishery closure. ICES Journal of Marine Science 74(9):2364-2378. 

Richerson, K., Punt, A.E., Holland, D.S. and Corbett, K. 2020. Nearly a Half Century of High but Sustainable Exploitation in the Dungeness Crab (Cancer magister). Fisheries Research 226(2020) 

Richerson, K., J. Leonard, D.S. Holland 2018. Predicting the economic impacts of the 2017 West Coast salmon troll ocean fishery closure. Marine Policy 95:142-152

Contact

Dan Holland