Biogenic reefs built by oysters and other suspension feeders are vital components of estuarine ecosystems. By consuming phytoplankton, suspension feeders act to suppress accumulation of organic matter in the water column. Nutrient loading increases the rate of primary production, thereby causing eutrophication. As suspension feeders consume more organic matter from increasing abundance of phyto...

A rejoinder to our recent paper suggests that there has been confusion over our central point. The 85 IUCN Red List Threatened species that the International Game Fish Association issues world records became threatened due to commercial overfishing, not recreational. However, given that they are threatened now, we have concerns about trophy fishing for them, at least in the current form that pr...

Human activity in the deep sea is extending ever deeper, with recent research showing that this environment is more sensitive to human and natural impacts than previously thought. Some deep-water fish stocks have collapsed and fishing methods such as bottom trawling have raised international concern over the habitat damage they cause. It is likely that in its current form, deep-sea fishing is u...

The compound effects of changing habitats, ecosystem interactions, and fishing practices have implications for the management of Antarctic krill and conservation of its predators. For Antarctic pack-ice seals, an important group of krill predators, we estimate the density and krill consumption in theWest Antarctic Peninsula (WAP)–WesternWeddell Sea area, the main fishery region; and we consider...

An ITQ system that relies on a single price to allocate harvest rights will not be fully efficient unless the stock in question is uniform in terms of its economic value. Variations in the location or density of portions of a stock can give rise to corresponding variations in value, leading harvesters to compete for the best portions of the stock. The size of the waste that can arise from this ...

Political controversies associated with individual fishing quota (“IFQ”) programs have impaired IFQ implementation. As an alternative, U.S. fishermen have sought rationalization through private ordering. Their ability to do so is subject to U.S. antitrust law, under which agreements among competitors allocating resource outputs are typically considered “per se” violations. However, where (i) a ...

Catch shares appear to lower fishing costs by eliminating redundant capacity. Theory suggests that catch shares may also alter within-season behavior and generate revenue benefits through improved market timing, higher product quality, and changes in the fresh/frozen product mix. Do catch shares alter within-season behavior to end the race to fish? Do catch shares cause ex vessel prices to incr...

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a popular conservation strategy, but their impacts on human welfare are poorly understood. To inform future research and policy decisions, we reviewed the scientific literature to assess MPA impacts on five indicators of human welfare: food security, resource rights, employment, community organization, and income. Following MPA establishment, food security gene...

The failure of modern fisheries management is blamed on myriad socio-economic and technical problems, but the most fundamental reason for failure might be the overwhelming dominance of extractive interests in participatory decision-making venues. In the United States, commercial fishing interests made up 49% of appointed voting members of the eight Regional Fishery Management Councils between 1...

The Galapagos Islands are a prime example of a place where fishery management policies have been established without first understanding the behavior of fishermen. Since the creation of the Galapagos Marine Reserve in 1998, there has not been a single study in the archipelago that investigates fishing behavior and the factors affecting this behavior. This paper addresses this gap in the literat...