Community Elements in North Pacific Catch Share Plans

Experience with previous catch share plans in the North Pacific informed the design of community protection measures incorporated into the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab rationalization program, implemented in 2005. This presentation briefly reviews some of the earlier North Pacific catch share program community element experiences, but focuses primarily on the recent crab fishery experience with respect to the efficacy of community protection measures and the types of community-based social impacts that occurred during the first 5 years under a catch share plan. Patterns of commercial fisheries engagement and dependency were altered in a number of coastal Alaska communities, driven primarily by fleet consolidation, vessel owner and captain share transfers, and community protection measures that were directed toward geographic constraints on landings and processing. The nature of crew engagement and the economic viability of some support service businesses were also altered. This presentation is based on a recently completed, comprehensive, social impact assessment that was part of a 5-year program review. It also presents information from a pre-implementation social impact assessment that documented baseline conditions and a 3-year post-implementation social impact assessment, allowing for a time-series perspective on community effects.