Whatever Happened to the Wreckfish Fishery? An Evaluation of the Oldest Finfish ITQ Program in the United States

The wreckfish individual transferable quota (ITQ) program started in 1992 and is the oldest finfish ITQ program in the United States. Initially, the program appeared to be a success, bringing order to the previous years’ derbies. Ex-vessel prices rose, harvest stabilized, and there was an orderly shrinking of the fleet to an economically appropriate size. The subsequent history of the fishery is more complex. ITQ sales dwindled in 1995, then ceased for 13 years. Harvest plummeted to barely a tenth of the eligible quota, and in 2010 the fleet’s quota was reduced 88%. Was the wreckfish ITQ program a failure? We provide the first published analysis of the program in two decades. We examine the decisions of former participants to leave the fishery. We also examine the program’s current economic, biological, and regulatory performance compared to the program’s original stated goals and the goals associated with ITQs in the literature.