Anticipating Exit from North Carolina's Commercial Fisheries

Abstract

If access to commercial licenses has been limited, then understanding the factors that contribute to movement out of these fisheries (fisheries exit) has value for managers. Studies on the causes of fisheries exit have focused on economic or social factors, but rarely both. I test the relative influence of 15 social and economic attributes from the fisheries exit and job satisfaction literature on fishermen's expectation of eventual exit from fisheries, with the hope that this will contribute to better predictions of fisheries participation and useful feedback for current management. I use available data from four comprehensive demographic and attitudinal surveys in North Carolina. Participation in the state's limited-access commercial fisheries has steadily declined since 2000, leading to concerns that the long-term infrastructure of the industry may be collapsing.

Keywords:

• co-management
• exit
• fisheries management
• fishing communities
• human dimensions of fish and wildlife
• limited access
• limited entry
• multicriteria decision making

Acknowledgments

I thank the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries for continued access to the survey and landings data. The views expressed herein are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its subdivisions.