Abstract
This study examined the characteristics and effects of the quota transfer system implemented in the Japanese Pacific bluefin (PBF) tuna Thunnus orientalis fisheries. Social network analysis revealed that from fishing year (FY) 2018 to FY2021, the number of management units involved in quota transfer increased, the network became denser, and approximately half of the transfer pairs were maintained in the following year. The results of network structure analysis, including triad census and block modeling, showed that some management units (e.g., minister-managed purse seines, Ishikawa prefecture) play an important role in facilitating unilateral transfers and virtually mediate transfers between other units. A brief analysis using initial/final quota and catch data suggested that while the system helped with quota compliance and contributed to effective quota use, there was little evidence that quota allocation or catch was significantly concentrated after the introduction of the quota transfer system. These findings suggest that quota transfers could be further promoted by: (1) sharing up-to-date information on quota use and transfer networks; (2) providing highly accurate forecasts of sea conditions and PBF arrival; (3) semi-automating the matching and approval process; (4) encouraging multi-level quota transfers; and (5) creating more incentives for transferors.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data that supports the findings of this study are openly available in the Fisheries Agency website at https://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/tuna/maguro_gyogyou/bluefinkanri.html and in the materials of resource management subcommittee meeting of the Fisheries Policy Council at https://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/council/seisaku/kanri/index.html.
References
Acheson J, Apollonio S, Wilson J (2015) Individual transferable quotas and conservation: a critical assessment. Ecol Soc 20:7
Bellanger M, Claire M, Oliver G (2016) A new approach to determine the distributional effects of quota management in fisheries. Fish Res 181:116–126
Birkenbach AM, Kaczan DJ, Smith MD (2017) Catch shares slow the race to fish. Nature 544:223–226
Carpenter G, Kleinjans R (2017) Who gets to fish? The allocation of fishing opportunities in EU member states. New Economic Foundation, London. https://neweconomics.org/uploads/files/Carpenter-Kleinjans-Who-gets-to-fish-16.03.pdf
Chu C (2009) Thirty years later: the global growth of ITQs and their influence on stock status in marine fisheries. Fish Fish 10:217–230
Clark C (2006) Fisheries bioeconomics: why is it so widely misunderstood? Popul Ecol 48:95–98
Connor R, Alden D (2001) Indicators of the effectiveness of quota markets: the South east trawl fisheries of Australia. Mar Freshw Res 52:387–397
Copes P (1986) A critical review of the individual quota as a device in fisheries management. Land Econ 62:278–291
Copes P, Charles A (2004) Socioeconomics of individual transferable quotas and community-based fishery management. Agric Resour Econ Rev 33:171–181
Essington TE, Melnychuk MC, Branch TA, Heppell SS, Jensen OP, Link JS, Martell SJD, Parma AM, Pope JG, Smith ADM (2012) Catch shares, fisheries, and ecological stewardship: a comparative analysis of resource responses to right-based policy instrument. Conserv Lett 5:186–195
Fisheries Agency (2019) Minutes of the 98th Meeting of the Resource Management Subcommittee on the Fisheries Policy Council. https://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/council/seisaku/kanri/attach/pdf/index-22.pdf (in Japanese). Accessed 18 May 2023
Fisheries Agency (2021) Minutes of the 110th Meeting of the Resource Management Subcommittee on the Fisheries Policy Council. https://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/council/seisaku/kanri/attach/pdf/index-35.pdf (in Japanese). Accessed 18 May 2023
Fujioka K, Fukuda H, Tei Y, Okamoto S, Kiyofuji H, Furukawa S, Takagi J, Estess E, Farwell CJ, Fuller DW, Suzuki N, Ohshimo S, Kitagawa T (2018) Spatial and temporal variability in the trans-Pacific migration of Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) revealed by archival tags. Prog Oceanogr 162:52–65
Fujioka K, Sasagawa K, Kuwahara T, Estess EE, Takahara Y, Komeyama K, Kitagawa T, Farwell CJ, Furukawa S, Kinoshita J, Fukuda H, Kato M, Aoki A, Abe O, Ohshimo S, Suzuki N (2021) Habitat use of adult Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis during the spawning season in the Sea of Japan: evidence for a trade-off between thermal preference and reproductive activity. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 668:1–20
Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council (GMFMC)—National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (2013) Red snapper individual fishing quota program 5-years review. https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/18731. Accessed 18 May 2023
Grafton RQ (1996) Individual transferable quotas: theory and practice. Rev Fish Biol Fish 6:5–20
Gunnlaugsson SB, Valtysson H (2022) Sustainability and wealth creation, but no consensus: recent decades in Iceland’s ITQ-managed fisheries. Mar Policy 135:104836
Hanneman RA, Riddle M (2005) Introduction to social network methods. http://faculty.ucr.edu/~hanneman/nettext/. Accessed 18 May 2023
Hanneson R (2013) Norway’s experience with ITQs. Mar Policy 37:264–269
Hanneson R (2017) Fish quota prices in Norway. Mar Resour Econ 32:109–117
Hanzawa Y, Watari S, Takemura S (2023) Not satisfactory, but still acceptable: exploring socioeconomic incentives of individual quota systems in Japanese Pacific bluefin tuna fisheries from the management leaders’ perspective. Mar Policy 150:105501
Hartley M, Fina M (2001) Allocation of individual vessel quota in the Alaska halibut and sablefish fisheries. In: Schotten R (ed.) Case studies on the allocation of transferable quota rights in fisheries. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 411. FAO, Rome, pp. 251–265
Hiraoka Y, Kanaiwa M, Fukuda H, Oshima K, Kai M (2017) Size distribution of Pacific bluefin tuna caught with Japanese set nets estimated via the stratified stepwise weighting method. Nippon Suisan Gakkaishi 84:2–13 (in Japanese with English abstract)
Hoefnagel E, de Vos B, Buisman E (2015) Quota swapping, relative stability, and transparency. Mar Policy 57:111–119
Holland DS, Speir C, Agar J, Crosson S, DePiper G, Kasperski S, Kitts AW, Perruso L (2017) Impact of catch shares on diversification of fishers’ income and risk. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114:9302–9307
Hoshino E, van Putten I, Pascoe S, Vieira S (2020) Individual transferable quotas in achieving multiple objectives of fisheries management. Mar Policy 113:103744
Høst J (2015) Market-based fisheries management: private fish and captains of finance. Springer, New York
Ishida Y, Fukuda H, Fujioka K, Sakai O, Hiraoka Y, Oshima K, Nakatsuka S, Suzuki N, Shimada H (2016) Long-term changes in recruitment of age-0 Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) and environmental conditions around Japan. Fish Oceanogr 27:41–48
Koido T, Mizuno K (1989) Fluctuation of catch for bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) by trap nets in Sanriku coast with reference to hydrographic condition. Bull Japan Soc Fish Oceanogr 53:138–152 (in Japanese with English abstract)
Kroetz K, Sanchirico JN, Contreras EG, Collado N, Swiedler EW (2016a) Examination of the Peruvian anchovy individual vessel quota (IVQ) system. Inter-American Development Bank Working Paper Series 749 (IDB-WP-749). https://publications.iadb.org/en/examination-peruvian-anchovy-individual-vessel-quota-ivq-system. Accessed 18 May 2023
Kroetz K, Sanchirico JN, Peña-Torres J, Novoa DC (2016b) Evaluation of the Chilean jack mackerel ITQ system. Inter-American Development Bank Working Paper Series 672 (IDB-WP-672). https://publications.iadb.org/en/evaluation-chilean-jack-mackerel-itq-system. Accessed 18 May 2023
Lasseter A (2008) Predicting adaptability with social network analysis in a small-scale lobster fishery. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the 61st Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute. http://hdl.handle.net/1834/31511. Accessed 18 May 2023
Lynham J (2013) How have catch shares been allocated? https://uhero.hawaii.edu/RePEc/hae/wpaper/WP_2013-8.pdf. Accessed 18 May 2023
Miyake M, Guillotreau P, Sun C-H, Ishimura G (2010) Recent development in the tuna industry: stocks, fisheries, management, processing, trade and markets. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper 543. FAO, Rome. https://www.fao.org/3/i1705e/i1705e00.htm. Accessed 18 May 2023
Nakatsuka S (2020) Stock structure of Pacific bluefin Tuna (Thunnus orientalis) for management purposes: a review of available information. Rev Fish Sci Aquac 28:170–181
Newell RG, Sanchirico JN, Kerr S (2005) Fishing quota markets. J Environ Econ Manag 49:437–462
Newell RG, Papps KL, Sanchirico JN (2007) Asset pricing in created markets. Am J Agr Econ 89:259–272
Ohshimo S, Tawa A, Ota T, Nishimoto S, Ishihara T, Watai M, Satoh K, Tanabe T, Abe O (2017) Horizontal distribution and habitat of Pacific bluefin tuna, Thunnus orientalis, larvae in the waters around Japan. Bull Mar Sci 93:769–787
Pastoors MA (2016) Stakeholder participation in the development of management strategies: a European perspective. In: Edwards CT, Dankel DJ (eds) Management science in fisheries: an introduction to simulation-based methods. Routledge, New York, pp 409–422
PBF Subcommittee (2018) Considerations for the allocation of total allowable catch of Pacific Bluefin Tuna after the 5th Management Period (in Japanese). https://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/j/council/seisaku/kanri/maguro/attach/pdf/index-8.pdf. Accessed 18 May 2023
Pinkerton E, Edwards DN (2009) The elephant in the room: the hidden costs of leasing individual transferable fishing quotas. Mar Policy 33:707–713
Sanchirico JN, Holland D, Quigley K, Fina M (2005) Catch-quota balancing in multispecies individual fishing quotas. Mar Policy 30:767–785
Scott J (2017) Social network analysis, 4th edn. SAGE Publications Ltd, London
Tokunaga K (2017) Estimating Elasticity of demand for Pacific bluefin tuna in Tsukiji fish market. Mar Resour Econ 33:27–60
Tokunaga K, Kerr LA, Pershing AJ (2023) Implications of fisheries allocation policy on anticipated climate change impacts. Mar Policy 148:105402
Turner RA, Polunin NV, Stead M (2014) Social networks and fishers’ behavior: exploring the links between information flow and fishing success in the Northumberland lobster fishery. Ecol Soc 19(2):38. https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol19/iss2/art38/. Accessed 18 May 2023
van Putten I, Hamon KG, Gardner C (2011) Network analysis of a rock lobster quota lease market. Fish Res 107:122–130
Vasta M (2019) Network analysis of the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) annual catch entitlement (ACE) transfer network (May 2010–April 2016). NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-NE-259. https://doi.org/10.25923/cnf1-mx82. Accessed 18 May 2023
Wasserman S, Faust K (1994) Social network analysis: methods and applications. Cambridge University Press, New York
Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) (2014) Conservation and management measure to establish a multi-annual rebuilding plan for Pacific bluefin tuna. https://www.wcpfc.int/doc/cmm-2014-04/conservation-and-management-measure-establish-multi-annual-rebuilding-plan-pacific. Accessed 18 May 2023
Funding
The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no conflicts of competing interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Hanzawa, Y., Yamakawa, T. Examining the emerging quota transfer system for Japanese Pacific bluefin tuna fisheries through social network analysis. Fish Sci (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-024-01776-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-024-01776-z