Cleaner Water
Establishing Individual Fishing Quota Systems
The Bush Administration, in its 2004 proposal to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and
Management Act, included the authority to establish individual fishing quota (IFQ) systems. An IFQ is a
management program that provides a quantity of fish (generally a percent share of a harvest quota) exclusively
to an individual fisherman. In such a program, each participating fisherman can use his share of the quota at
any time during the fishing season. The Administration's proposal on IFQs seeks to strike a balance between
flexibility in developing IFQ programs and the need to observe certain constraints or protections for the
common good. Encouraging market-based incentives to adjust harvest capacity in a fishery will have the
effects of ending the race for fish; improving product quality, and enhancing safety at sea, while providing
for greater efficiency in fishing operations and ultimately improving the livelihood of the fishermen who
depend on them.