Commercial Fisheries

This GAO report evaluates the impact of recently completed buyback programs in three diverse fisheries--New England groundfish, Bering Sea pollock, and Washington State salmon. GAO looks at (1) the extent to which the buyback programs have affected fishing capacity, (2) the potential ways the buyback programs can be made more effective, and (3) the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS) efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of buyback programs. GAO found that buyback programs in New England the Bering Sea, and Washington state initially removed from 10 to 24 percent of their respective fishing capacities. Also, the effectiveness of buyback programs in reducing fishing capacity depends upon whether fishermen return to the fishery and also whether remaining fishermen have an incentive to invest in larger or better-equipped fishing vessels. Furthermore, NMFS has made limited efforts to evaluate buyback programs, assessing only the fishing capacity reductions in the New England groundfish buyback because it was required to do so.

GAO noted that: (1) buyback programs in New England, the Bering Sea, and Washington State initially removed from 10 to 24 percent of their respective fishing capacities; (2) however, the experiences of these three cases demonstrate that long-term effectiveness of buyback programs depends upon whether fishermen return to the fishery; (3) the $24.4 million New England buyback removed 79 vessels that accounted for 19 percent of the groundfish catch in that fishery; (4) however, 62 additional vessels have become active since the buyback because no steps were taken during the program to prevent previously inactive vessels from engaging in fishing; (5) these vessels have begun to erode the capacity reductions made by the buyback because they have replaced fishing capacity by as much as two-thirds of that purchased through the buyback; (6) experience also shows that, while buyback programs reduce capacity in one fishery, the recipients of the buyback may simply shift that capacity to another fishery not subject to the buyback; (7) for example, according to GAO's survey of fishermen who participated in the New England buyback, nine recipients who formerly fished for groundfish are now primarily lobster fisherman--a fishery that is also classified as overfished throughout much of its area; (8) the effectiveness of buyback programs in reducing fishing capacity depends upon whether fishermen return to the fishery and also whether remaining fisherman have an incentive to invest in larger or better-equipped fishing vessels; (9) in most fisheries, fisherman have an incentive to increase their fishing capacity in order to catch fish before someone else does, which is called the "race to fish"; (10) however, when buyback programs are accompanied by other measures that reduce incentives for larger or better-equipped fishing vessels, capacity reductions from a buyback need not erode; (11) NMFS has made limited efforts to evaluate buyback programs, assessing only the fishing capacity reductions in the New England groundfish buyback because it was required to do so; and (12) because evaluations can identify ways to improve future programs, prudent management suggests that buyback programs should be evaluated.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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