Governments looking to boost their fish sector should consider rights-based management systems that can create incentives for stakeholders and lead to economically and environmentally sustainable fisheries, according to this publication.

Rebuilding Fisheries: The Way Forward provides fisheries policy makers with evidence-based principles and guidelines for designing and implementing rebuilding plans that contribute to green growth and preserve the livelihoods that depend directly or indirectly on fishing.

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Rights-based management (RBM) measures are driven by economic incentives but can also achieve biological goals such as rebuilding fish stocks. For example, a tradable rights system introduced by New Zealand contributed to a successful rebuilding of its hoki fisheries, while in Iceland a quota system has helped stocks of capelin recover from near collapse in 1980 to sustainable levels today. These and other case studies are available to read and download below, along with inventories of national and regional approaches to fisheries rebuilding programmes.

Clear communication and engagement with stakeholders such as fishers and environmental concerns can contribute crucial information to rebuilding plans and help overcome initial resistance to RBM proposals, the report also finds.

OECD analysis suggests that successfully recovering a fishery from a collapsed state can bring a 2 to 5-fold increase in its value, depending on its ecological, economic, and regulatory characteristics.