To Manage Quotas or Manage Fisheries? The Root Cause of Mismanagement of Canada's Groundfish Fishery

The collapse of the Atlantic groundfish fishery is the result of a complex combination of factors including scientific uncertainties, overfishing, poor results in capacity control, and ecological conditions. It is argued that the root cause of the collapse is that the foundation of groundfish management since 1977 has been single species quotas rather than a sound set of principles for fisheries resource husbandry. The implications of this for science, management, and the fish are discussed and a principle based management structure is proposed.