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The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation calls for the establishment of MPAs or Marine Protected Areas, which many experts believe may hold the key to conserving and boosting fish stocks. A powerful free market solution to overfishing may individual fishing quotas or IFQs. IFQs would include

• Government authorities cap the total allowable catch and then allocate quotas among fishermen, usually based on the historical catch.
• The quotas become a "property right" that can be bought and sold among fishermen -- helping to reduce fleet capacity.
• And because fishermen have access to a guaranteed share of the catch, they don't race to compete, fishing seasons lengthen, prices rise and fish stocks grow.
• Since the introduction of IFQs, the country has seen a 37 percent decline in the number of quota owners, mostly in fisheries that were overfished and had overcapacity problems.
• Its 2002 assessments of main fisheries show that 80 percent are at or above sustainable target levels.

• The overall market value of New Zealand's IFQ fisheries has more than doubled in real terms from 1990 to 2000, even as fish stocks have grown.

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=4307
http://www.un.org/events/tenstories/06/story.asp?storyID=800

Why is overfishing a global problem?

Overfishing is a global problem because 52% of the world's fisheries are fully exploited and in danger of extinction. About 80% of the world's fisheries are fully to over-exploited, depleted, or in a state of collapse. We are losing species as well as entire ecosystems. As a result the ecological unity of our oceans are under stress and at risk of collapse. We are at risk of losing a valuable source of food many depend upon for social, economical, or dietary reasons. For example in Newfoundland Cod fish was a very predominant source of food for the people. In 1992 the cod never appeared; overfishing caused the disaster of the cod industry. The fish can't recover and reproduce as fast as we are fishing them. Overfishing is a global problem because sources of food and ecosystems are being destroyed.

overfishing.org