# Costello and Gaines Continue to Make the Case for Catch Shares

*Published:* 2009-06-05
*Author:* Tom Lalley

Professors [Christopher Costello](http://fiesta.bren.ucsb.edu/~costello/) and [Steven Gaines](http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/eemb/faculty/gaines/index.html) have recently sent ripples throughout the fishing world. Last year, they published a groundbreaking [study](http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?contentID=8446) in the journal *Science*, showing that fisheries under catch shares management dramatically outperform fisheries under traditional management in terms of preventing overfishing. [Their most recent commentary](http://www.rff.org/Publications/WPC/Pages/09_05_18_Can_Catch_Shares_Save_Fisheries.aspx) discusses how catch shares can be customized to meet specific goals of a fishery and to address particular concerns. It also looks at how catch shares might be made more effective by, for instance, combining them with protected areas.