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Regulations to prevent the capture of small fish in North Atlantic groundfish fisheries were widely applied in the 1950s by the then recently established international fisheries commissions. These regulations were strengthened after coastal state extensions of fisheries jurisdictions in the late 1970s. Their purpose was usually to optimize (often maximize) yield-per-recruit but, in some cases, the intention was to ensure good recruitment by maintaining spawning stock size. The present paper reviews the assumptions, explicit and implicit, that underlay the calculations of benefits expected from enacting these regulations. It is concluded that there are sufficient uncertainties about these assumptions to make realization of the anticipated benefits doubtful. Actions to eliminate large-scale wastage caused by discarding of unmarketable fish, as taken by the international commissions in the 1950s, still appear justifiable. However, applying the doctrine of letting most fish spawn at least once to protect spawning stocks is not an appropriate basis for size at first capture regulation when exploitation rate can be controlled. |
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