Enforcement of fisheries regulations is crucial to ensure that noncompliance does not undermine fishery management or rebuilding. ELI takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding compliance and enforcement that combines our legal and enforcement expertise with quantitative analysis of fisheries surveys and enforcement data. Our work identifies models and strategies for improving fisheries enforcement and integrating enforcement into management decisions.
The Ocean Program seeks to advance understanding of the compliance with and enforcement of domestic fisheries laws, regulations, and policies. Through a project undertaken in collaboration with the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science, ELI has surveyed fishing communities and analyzed historical data to characterize compliance and enforcement in United States fisheries and identified potential strategies for improving fisheries management. ELI recently completed a focused assessment on compliance and enforcement in the Gulf of Mexico red snapper catch share fishery, supported by the National Sea Grant Law Center.
- Reducing Overfishing Through Traceability (The Environmental Forum, 2013)
- Listen to Read Porter discuss current topics in Gulf of Mexico fisheries management during his interview on Speaking of Green.
- Effects of catch share systems on enforcement and compliance in the Gulf of Mexico (Marine Policy, 2012)
- Reassessing the Value of U.S. Coast Guard At-Sea Fishery Enforcement (Ocean Development & International Law, 2009)