School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-2026

Abstract

Harvest strategies are increasingly promoted as a mechanism to reduce political discretion and align fisheries management with pre-agreed scientific objectives. While substantial progress has been made in tuna regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), non-tuna RFMOs have lagged behind. Existing research has focused primarily on technical modeling challenges, with comparatively limited attention to the governance dynamics shaping adoption. Using the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) as an instrumental case study, we examine the progress and delays in the development of a harvest strategy policy (HSP) through semi-structured interviews and participant observation. We find that the IPHC successfully addressed commonly cited barriers, including modeling expertise, stakeholder engagement, and communication of management strategy evaluation (MSE) outputs. However, the Commission adopted a “reference” harvest strategy in which harvest strategy outputs remain subject to discretionary adjustment. We identify three interrelated governance barriers limiting full implementation: (1) historical allocation conflicts with strong preference solidification, (2) institutional reluctance to cede decision-making authority, and (3) declining confidence in scientific inputs under budget-constrained data collection. These findings suggest that the principal obstacles to harvest strategy adoption in non-tuna RFMOs are institutional rather than technical. Successful implementation requires confronting allocation legacies and reinforcing confidence in scientific outputs alongside technical development.

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© 2026 The Authors. 

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Fisheries Research

DOI

10.1016/j.fishres.2026.107788

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