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Compensatory mitigation as a solution to fisheries bycatch–biodiversity conservation conflicts
Author(s) -
Wilcox Chris,
Donlan C Josh
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1890/1540-9295(2007)5[325:cmaast]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - bycatch , incentive , business , fishery , fisheries management , population , liberian dollar , natural resource economics , environmental resource management , fishing , economics , biology , finance , microeconomics , demography , sociology
Globally, fisheries catch of non‐target species has major environmental impacts, resulting in social conflict, litigation, and fisheries closures. We use a bio‐economic approach to demonstrate that compensatory mitigation – an innovative, market‐influenced approach to fishery–conservation conflicts – can facilitate high‐value uses of biological resources and cost‐effective conservation gains for species of concern. We illustrate the strategy with a seabird example: levying fishers for their bycatch and using the funds to remove invasive mammals from breeding islands. Removal of invasive predators is 23 times more effective from a return‐on‐investment perspective (ie percent increase in population growth per dollar invested) in comparison to fisheries closures, and is more socio‐politically feasible. A bycatch levy, which would increase with endangerment, provides an individual incentive for avoiding bycatch, the most effective mechanism for sustainable management of fisheries. Compensatory mitigation provides an opportunity to address a global concern, optimize conservation interventions, and forge an alliance between conservation and fisheries organizations.