It is well known that many of the world's fisheries resources are grossly over-exploited. That situation has come about, inter alia, due to poor management regimes coupled with government financial transfers that have augmented fishing capacities of the fleets to unsustainable levels. In response, but only recently, the international community has sought to address this situation and to lay out avenues for redressing the situation. One international action was the adoption by the FAO of the Code of Conduct of Responsible Fisheries in 1995. However, little international effort was invested in understanding the economic and policy implications of making the fisheries responsible.

Against this background the OECD's Committees for Fisheries decided in 1997 to study the implications on the fishing sector, fishers and processors alike, and public policy institutions of adopting responsible fisheries frameworks. The outcome is " Transition to Responsible Fisheries: Economic and Policy Implication".

A series of free documents containing supporting case study material are freely available and downloadable.

The case studies contain information on the process of transition to responsible fisheries:

• Identifying the social implications of moving to responsible fisheries , and
• Discussing the role of that post-harvesting sector may play in moving to responsible fisheries ;
• Exploring the impact of government financial transfers in supporting a move to responsible fisheries;
• Identifying the costs and gains of a move to responsible fisheries ( PART1 and PART2)

In addition the OECD's Committee for Fisheries adopted a Statement which highlights the important outcomes of the study.

The attached zipped and downloadable files are spreadsheet models (Excel) for six of the fisheries surveyed in the part of the Study entitled "Modelling the Transition to Responsible Fisheries".

1. Australia_Shark.exe
2. Canada_Herring.exe
3. Germany_Baltic.exe
4. Iceland_Cod.exe
5. Japan_Saury.exe
6. New_Zealand_Lobster.exe

While we find the information important and hence should be readily available to potential interested persons we regret that, due to staff limitations, the OECD will not be able to provide technical support for users of these models. These models were developed by Professor Dan Lane of the University of Ottawa, Canada, together with Member countries in the course of the project.