Three methods to evaluate ITQ-based self-governance in New Zealand fisheries management and their application to the Bluff oyster fishery

Abstract

Fisheries economists consider ITQ-based self-governance to be the future of fisheries management. In theory, this management regime is argued to have a positive impact on fisheries performance. To evaluate its merits, researchers often use individual unstructured case studies– there is a lack of theoretical framework to guide systematic assessments. As a result, those case studies are often too descriptive to separate the contribution of self-governance from ITQs, which is itself an effective fisheries management tool. Furthermore, the lack of theoretical framework makes it difficult to analyse data and synthesise findings. The lack of rigorous research to date, calls for systematic approaches to examine self-governance regimes and to enable better-informed judgement whether the merits of ITQ-based self-governance are being realised. This thesis has developed three methods to systematically evaluate ITQ-based self-governance from a New Zealand perspective. In the first method, a new bio-economic model is used to project a fishery’s stock status and the fishing industry’s profitability. By applying a Bayesian statistics approach in the biological sub-model and a system dynamics approach in the economic sub-model, this method is able to identify the contribution of self-governance to the value of ITQs. The second method is the Minimum Information Management System (MIMS). MIM theory is a relatively new concept to fisheries management that suggests that fish quota prices can reflect the overall status of fisheries. The theory provides a way to assess the value of self-governance because not only is it theoretically sound but also simple to apply. However, the application of MIMS is limited due largely to a number of prerequisites about the quota system to which it can be applied. Despite the prerequisites, the theory can become a good tool to evaluate self-governance in New Zealand due to the country’s high quality quota systems. The last approach is the Indicator System (IS). Indicators have been used extensively to study the sustainability of fisheries resources. However, there is a lack of a set of indicators for self-governance in fisheries management. From the natural resource management literature, discussion has led to an indicator system and a new reference points system designed specifically to examine the merits of ITQ-based self-governance. The self-governed Bluff oyster fishery is analysed as a case study to test the practicality of the three methods and to discover the impact of self-governance to the fishery’s management. The analysis yields results that shed some light on ITQ-based self-governance. First, supporting the theoretical literature, the self-governance regime promotes economic efficiency in the fishery. In addition, ITQ-based self-governance adds value to fish stock management because of the positive relationship between profitability and stock abundance in the Bluff oyster fishery. Finally, unlike most arguments in both the theoretical and empirical literature, this thesis finds that self-governance does little for fishing environment management. This thesis contributes to the body of literature of ITQs and self-governance in two ways. Theoretically, this thesis develops and adopts three methods that can be used to systematically evaluate the merits of ITQ-based self-governance. Empirically, by applying the three methods to the Bluff oyster fishery, this thesis facilitates a deeper understanding of the dynamics of self-governance in a real fishery. Furthermore, based on the findings in the Bluff oyster fishery, this thesis is able to offer a number of policy implications for New Zealand’s fisheries management. To a certain extent, New Zealand has promoted fisheries self-governance. Being able to evaluate the performance of self-governance is valuable to policy makers in that it enables them to determine if self-governance can elevate the performance of fisheries above the level achievable by the ITQ programme under the Quota Management System (QMS).