We could just pay fishermen to not fish, just like we pay farmers for fallow land.
If you wanted to fix this for all time, the US should buy the entire island nation of Kiribati, resettle the current occupants someplace where they can continue with a similar culture (maybe somewhere on the Texas coast), and then turn the Kiribati EEZ into an MOA for the US Navy. Tell the Chinese and Taiwanese that subs will be letting of torpedos there, or that there are mines to keep them out. That would give highly migratory species like tuna a safe area to rebuild their numbers.
I've always thought the fundamental problem here is that I cannot pay to not have a fish caught. Maybe there are in fact ways around this?
However if the would-be fisherman owns a fishing boat that could be used but isn't, then perhaps a lot of would-be fishing boats would suddenly be constructed so would-be fishers would be paid for their would-be fish catching.
No, they are rewarded for playing along with whatever scheme's currently running. Stop trying to demonize them.
> When our government says "we must help the farmers", it means "we must help the 0.1%". Most of the land here is owned by exceedingly wealthy people. Some of them are millionaires from elsewhere: sheikhs, oligarchs and mining magnates who own vast estates in this country. Although they might pay no taxes in the UK, they receive millions in farm subsidies.[0]
> Farm subsidies, which remain limitless as a result of the Westminster government’s lobbying, ensure that every household in Britain hands £245 a year to the richest people in the land.[1]
[0]: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/01/farm-s...
[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/03/landow...