The purpose of this article is to explore a premise that fishery management at the federal level would be more effective if the U.S. government simply charged for the privilege to commercially harvest fish. This argument is supported by a mix of historical fact-finding and legal precedent, brought together in an attempt to identify a basic economic principle of property rights. The goal is to allow both practitioners and policy makers an opportunity to view fishery management options through a lens of government property rights, and show how a rational distribution of those rights through advancing market mechanisms may provide for a more sustainable fisheries management scheme.