The Effects of Buyback Programs in the British Columbia Salmon Fishery

Policy makers have implemented five distinct buybacks of either vessels or salmon licenses over the past 3 decades in the British Columbia (BC) salmon fishery. The earliest buyback was one of the first of its kind in any fishery, and the most recent buyback is one of the largest ever in terms of vessel number reduction and funds used. This chapter reviews the circumstances under which these buybacks were conducted with an emphasis on their impacts on reducing fishing capacity and effort. The focus is on the two most recent buybacks that took place in 1996 and the period 1998-2000, specifically, what has been learned and what they have achieved. Of the three factors that can solve the (salmon) fleet's financial problems-volume, prices, and fleet size-only the third can be realistically influenced by government. The other two factors are largely at the whim of Mother Nature or world markets. Gislason and others 1998, Fishing for Money.