Oregon Public Broadcasting

A new study released Wednesday concludes that fisherman may benefit from sharing their catch, rather than trying to net as many fish as possible.

Sharing is also apparantly better for the environment.  But as Rob Manning reports, such a system is unlikely to help the Northwest’s threatened salmon runs.

Researchers examined the idea of “catch-share.” That’s where rather than fiercely competing for fish, fishers get a set quota, or a fixed area, and catch fish under those conditions, instead.

University of Hawaii researcher Jon Lynam says the study showed catch-share is good for fishers and threatened fish.

Jon Lynam: “Implementing a catch-share system halts the global trend toward complete fisheries’ collapse. In some cases, we’ve also found some evidence that catch-shares don’t not only halt the trend, they actually reverse it.”

But experts say that catch-shares probably can’t help with salmon. That's because it’s difficult to accurately predict salmon numbers, so quotas would be hard to set.

However, there are plans to expand quota-type systems for other West Coast fish,  snapper and cod later this year.