Fishermen's Incomes and Fisheries Management (Report‪)‬

Introduction It is common to find the improvement of fishermen's incomes as an objective of fisheries management systems, especially in the case of developing countries (see, eg, Lawson, 1984). Indeed, the problem of low fishing incomes (in Canada) provided the initial impetus for Scott Gordon's pioneering work in fisheries economics. Yet, it remains very difficult to find cases where such an objective has been attained. The purpose of this paper is to consider the reasons for the widespread failure to achieve a sustainable improvement in fishermen's incomes and to make policy proposals designed to improve the chances of achieving this goal in the future. The conclusions reached seem likely to be especially relevant to developing countries, but may also apply to developed countries with regions that are dependent on fishing.