Abstract:
Individual Vessel Quota (IVQ) management provides geoduck harvesters in British Columbia with a greater stake in
the fishery, by enhancing certainty of harvest access to the fishery. IVQ management has encouraged harvesters to become more
interested in the economic and environmental sustainability of the fishery and less in developing strategies to better their
individual competitive position.
Because of the change to IVQ management, B.C. geoduck harvesters have been able to co-operate with each other, buyers, and
fishery managers in changing harvesting operations to meet market preferences while still maintaining a well managed sustainable
fishery. The end result from a market perspective has been a fishery which has gone from ex-vessel prices of 17 cents CDN per
pound in 1977 to an average of $8.50 per pound in 1999.
