Commercial fishing licences are central to fisheries management systems. They define and allocate harvest rights, place rules upon authorized harvesters and, in some cases, require holders to pay user fees. In this paper, we ask how licences and licensing relate to access, itself a broader concept defined as the opportunity to derive benefits from resources and that draws attention to how institutions and social structures enable and constrain different individuals and groups. Using published literature, reports and publicly available licence data for fisheries off of British Columbia, Canada, we overview licensing history and examine all major commercial licence types in the jurisdiction. Using a network approach, we also describe the diverse suite of licence portfolios held in 2017. Results show that there were 6,563 commercial fishing licences registered by 2,377 unique holders, including a handful that hold ‘access‐rich’ and a much larger number who hold ‘access‐constrained’ portfolios. The literature review and analysis support two broadly applicable conclusions. First, that licensing history shapes access and that limited entry policies continue to influence who benefits from fisheries resources well beyond implementation. Second, that analysing licence holdings suggests business strategies and fishing prospects available to different harvesters and other commercial fisheries participants in a jurisdiction. In response to demand for greater attention to human dimensions and to the perception that indicators are challenging to develop and integrate, we advance conceptual thinking and practical approaches relevant to fisheries research and evaluation.

中文翻译：

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商业捕鱼许可证与准入有何关系？

商业捕鱼许可证是渔业管理系统的核心。他们定义和分配采伐权，对授权采伐者制定规则，在某些情况下，要求持有者支付使用费。在本文中，我们询问许可和许可如何与获取相关联，它本身是一个更广泛的概念，定义为从资源中获取利益的机会，并引起人们对制度和社会结构如何启用和约束不同个人和群体的关注。使用加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省外渔业的已发表文献、报告和公开可用的许可数据，我们概述了许可历史并检查了管辖范围内的所有主要商业许可类型。使用网络方法，我们还描述了 2017 年持有的各种许可证组合。结果显示，有 6 个，2,377 个独特的持有人注册了 563 份商业捕鱼许可证，其中包括少数持有“访问丰富”的人和更多持有“访问受限”投资组合的人。文献综述和分析支持两个广泛适用的结论。首先，许可历史影响获取，而有限的准入政策继续影响渔业资源的受益者，远远超出实施范围。其次，对许可证持有情况的分析为不同收割者和辖区内其他商业渔业参与者提供了商业战略和捕捞前景。为了响应更多关注人类维度的需求以及指标难以制定和整合的看法，我们推进与渔业研究和评估相关的概念思维和实践方法。