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The NWFSC Scientific Publications Database serves as an archival repository of NWFSC-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, technical memorandums, reports, or other information authored or co-authored by NWFSC or funded partners. As a repository, the SPD retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.

NOAA Fisheries Northwest Science Center Publication Details

CitationHolland, D.S., S. Kasperski, J.K. Abbott. Contract and Sustain: The Impacts of Limited Entry and Catch Shares on West Coast and Alaska Fishing Fleets and Ports Over Four Decades 2025. In Press Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2024-0271 (https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2024-0271)
TitleContract and Sustain: The Impacts of Limited Entry and Catch Shares on West Coast and Alaska Fishing Fleets and Ports Over Four Decades
Publication Year2025
Volume10
Pages1139
Keywordsfisheries, diversification, catch shares, limited access
AbstractAccess to West Coast and Alaskan fisheries has been progressively tightened for more than four decades with limited license programs, buybacks, and catch share programs. These management programs were intended to ensure sustainability of fisheries and improve profitability, but raised concerns that they would constrain fishers¿ ability to manage risk by diversifying their fishing portfolios and that consolidation would lead to inequity in the distribution of fishery benefits, disadvantaging individuals without access to capital and communities with less favorable locations or infrastructure. We document the implementation of a series of limited access and catch share programs in federally and state managed fisheries of the West Coast and Alaska and evaluate trends in participation, diversification, vessel revenue, and distribution of revenue between 1981 and 2022 for this large interconnected system of fisheries. We show that the progressive tightening of access has succeeded in drama
Official CitationHolland, D.S., S. Kasperski, J.K. Abbott. Contract and Sustain: The Impacts of Limited Entry and Catch Shares on West Coast and Alaska Fishing Fleets and Ports Over Four Decades 2025. In Press Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2024-0271
Links (https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2024-0271)