The Benefits of Rationalization: The Case of the American Lobster Fishery

The American lobster (Homarus americanus) fishery is currently the most valuable fishery on the Atlantic coasts of both the USA and Canada based on ex-vessel value. Lobster conservation policies have traditionally focused on technical restrictions such as minimum size requirements, v-notching, and a prohibition on taking egg-bearing females to protect the resource, rather than direct controls on fishing effort or catch. However, in 2005 the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission adopted a plan for the southern New England lobster management area (Area 2) that establishes a structure for limiting the number of license holders and the number of traps each lobsterman can have in the water. In this article, a bio-economic modeling exercise is employed to examine the biological and economic impacts of reductions to the level of fishing effort in a fishery that is modeled to represent the full-time lobster fishing fleet in Area 2. Model results show that a reduction in fishing effort has the potential to: (i) improve the sustainability characteristics of the lobster resource and, in contrast to popular belief, (ii) actually stimulate economic growth in the coastal economy.