Values, Ideologies, and Preferences: exploring their influence on support for rights-based fisheries management

Abstract

Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) is an actively investigated form of fisheries management that stems from neoclassical economic theory. First implemented in the 70s in Iceland, Canada, and New Zealand this form of management, which entails a privatization of a public, common pool or open access resources, has since spread globally. A variation on ITQs exist in a majority of developed coastal states and 16% of developing states. However, despite empirical evidence that ITQs benefit the fishing sector, they remain contested on several fronts. ITQs have been connected to increases in revenue, and improved stock management. However, ITQs have also eroded communities and produced greater inequality within the fishing sector. This project explores the ideological nature of ITQ discourse and investigates if preference for ITQs management rests in part on ideologies informed by personal values, rather than being formed on the basis of empirical evidence. Findings demonstrate that there are two ideological groups within ITQ discourse and that there is a difference in personal values held by each side. Despite the division, findings also determined points where both ideologies have near agreement on the issue. This has implication for the future design and use of ITQ programs.