Group Project Proposal 2007: DAP-Based Fisheries Reform of the Commercial and Recreational Sectors Proposers:

Many of the world’s fisheries are in serious decline, and there is growing pressure to reform fisheries management by incorporating market-based incentives and ecosystem-based approaches into management plans. In response, Dedicated Access Privilege (DAP) programs are increasingly being implemented in commercial fisheries. DAP programs are market-oriented fishery management programs that provide an individual fisherman, cooperative, or community the exclusive privilege of harvesting a quantity of fish at any time within the fishing season 1 or exclusive privileges to harvest within a specified area. DAP programs are tailored to the specific economic, political, and biological conditions of a given commercial fishery, and in some DAP programs, such as IFQs, access privileges can be traded among vessels in the commercial fishery. Since their implementation in 1990 in the United States, DAP management programs have led to increased profits, decreased costs of gear and labor, and a safer and more stable industry 2. Despite these successes, DAPs have been limited to just a few commercial fisheries, and are virtually nonexistent for recreational fisheries. While the operations and value-creating mechanisms of the recreational fishing industry are completely different than those of the commercial industry, in reality, the two compete for the same resources. In fisheries where there is both a commercial and recreational sector, this poses 3 problems: 1) poor management of the recreational fishery may have adverse environmental impacts, 2) th