Kaitilin Gaffney

In the following viewpoint Kaitilin Gaffney argues that the benefits of Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs), the permission to catch a percentage of the total allowable catch of a fishery, may not outweigh the costs. Gaffney claims that small-scale fishers often sell their quotas to bigger companies, thus concentrating fishing rights in the hands of a few. Moreover, the author points out, ITQs do not necessarily prevent the depletion of fish. In New Zealand, Gaffney maintains for example, ITQs did not protect orange roughy from overfishing. Gaffney, who spent 1997 studying New Zealand’s ITQ system, is an environmental attorney in Santa Cruz, California.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Gaffney, what do ITQ advocates argue will happen when fishers are given ownership rights to fish resources?
2. In the author&rsquo...