Fishers' individual salmon harvesting rights: An option for Canada's Pacific fisheries

Canada's Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus) fisheries are again in a crisis of declining stocks, excess fishing effort, and poor returns. Changes in fisheries management that may help resolve some of these problems include licence buy-backs, individual transferable quotas, additional effort controls, single-gear licensing, and area licensing or combinations thereof. This paper proposes an alternative: fishers' individual salmon harvesting rights, which provide fishers with rights to bid for the privilege of participating in salmon fishing openings. Fishers' individual salmon harvesting rights have the potential to rationalize the salmon fleets and control excessive fishing effort and thus help ensure the sustainability of the resource and viability of the industry.