Licence Banks as a tool to mitigate corporate control of fisheries: A British Columbia groundfish example

- Licence banks can reduce consolidation and corporate control associated with ITQs.
- The small size of the licence bank limited its impact and its ability to scale up.
- The bank had clear social, economic and ecological objectives.
- The bank provided peer and moral support and access to quota to its members.
- Central to the licence bank was a commitment to fair leasing prices.

This paper provides an example of how one group of fishermen, operating in an ITQ fishery in British Columbia, Canada, used a licence bank to attempt to mitigate the negative consequences of ITQs. After ten years in operation, the licence bank is self-sustaining and has realized modest and limited success. The authors identify a number of lessons learned from the experience, as well as highlight the opportunities that licence banks offer as an alternative mechanism to redress the negative consequences of ITQs.