| Using twenty years of licensing data from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, this research investigates recent trends in the urbanization and concentration of license ownership within fourteen different commercial fisheries in BC. Analysis of these trends illustrates that licensing policies, including quota systems and buyback programs, affected urbanization and concentration of license ownership to varying degrees, redistributing the costs and benefits accrued by coastal communities from the fishing industry. Community quota is forwarded as an alternative policy option that can ease these trends by supplementing market-oriented policies like transferable licenses and quota to create a more inclusive and sustainable system that integrates the socioeconomic needs of the rural coast with efficiency and conservation objectives. |
