WHAT IS A CATCH SHARE?

The New England Fishery Management Council, NOAA, and The Environmental Defense Fund have installed the Amendment 16 management scheme of Catch Shares or Individual Fishing Quotas (IFQ's), or Individual Transferrable Quotas (ITQ's). The various terms and acronyms for the program can all be defined by the concept of transferrable percentages of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) by individuals, or groups, or corporations, or organizations, or cooperatives. A "Sector" is a cooperative of Catch Share holders.