Fisheries management in New Zealand has been resting on its laurels for too long. The Quota Management System was once world-leading. But misreporting catches and illegal discarding have been troublesome. And the split between recreational and commercial shares of a total allowable catch (TAC) remains a political fight.

I travelled to British Columbia (BC) last year to see how fisheries management is approached there. What was of particular interest was that BC has integrated a recreational fishery into a quota-based management system more than anywhere else in the world.

In theory, that kind of integration is something of a Holy Grail. If a recreational fisher gets more value from going out and catching a fish than a commercial fisher gets from catching it, letting recreational fishers bid quota away from the commercial sector just makes sense. But is it feasible in practice?

This integration applies to the BC halibut fishery. The recreational fishing sector is allocated 15 percent of the halibut TAC. The recreational fishing licence restricts fishing to a 1-halibut daily bag limit, a 2-halibut possession limit, a 6-halibut annual limit, a maximum legal size, and the season generally lasts ten months.

Under the BC system, if a recreational fisher wants to fish for halibut beyond the limits and times available under the recreational fishing licence, any excess catch must be covered by leasing commercial halibut quota. Recreational fishers lease quota at market rates, and the lease transaction is easily done online with a credit card.

This solution has proved of most interest to fishers from the land-locked provinces or BC residents who live inland, who then can catch beyond the licence limits during the few days they spend marine fishing. But it is not without controversy. The Sport Fishing Institute of BC objects to it in principle, and strongly prefers the recreational sector instead gains a bigger share of the TAC. Commercial halibut fishers, of course, object to any TAC reallocation without compensation.

Integrating the management of these two fishing sectors has proved pretty expensive on the small trial basis currently underway, but a lot of those costs would be reduced with broader application. If recreational quota leasing proves successful, the political fight over who gets how much fish might well get resolved by letting people trade.

Our upcoming report will walk through what works and doesn’t work in BC and in other overseas locations. Stay tuned.