Transcript Property Rights, Economics, and the Environment

Fisheries Collapse
Fisheries Collapse
The EU is the world's
largest seafood market,
taking in 40 percent of all
imported fish, with a large
chunk coming from
developing countries.
Spaniards consume a
hundred pounds (45
kilograms) of seafood a year
per person, nearly double
the European average and
exceeded only by
Lithuanians and
Portuguese.
Thresher sharks in Mexico's Gulf of California will be
sold locally for food; their fins will be cut off and likely shipped to
Hong Kong, where shark-fin soup is a prized dish. The global fin
trade alone claims an estimated 40 million sharks a year,
devastating stocks of a fish that is generally slow growing and
slow to reproduce. Many countries, including the U.S., Brazil,
South Africa, and Australia, have banned shark-finning, but
consumers' tastes have yet to change.
Now banned in many countries, deep trawling with nets
held open by heavy doors bulldozes the seabed and catches sea
life indiscriminately—more than 50 percent of all discarded
species.
Everything surrounding a Mexican trawlerman's
hands will go to waste; he will sell only the shrimp.
With competition intensifying to supply mostly European markets, fishing
grounds off West Africa are going the way of Europe's: toward depletion. These
Senegalese, who had hoped to catch desirable export species such as shrimp or
sole, will throw away the fish in their nets—wasting valuable protein for Africa.
Hooked without a permit, a dorado—sold as mahi-mahi—was caught on
an illegal longline off Mexico. With thousands of baited hooks, longlines extend
for miles, often snaring fish unintentionally, notably sharks, as well as hundreds
of thousands of sea turtles, marine mammals, and seabirds every year. In
longline fishing, eventually discarded bycatch makes up nearly 30 percent of the
take.
Guitarfish, rays, and other bycatch are tossed from a
shrimp boat in the Gulf of California. During the past decade,
efforts to reduce bycatch have begun to pay off with better net and
hook designs, pingers on nets to repel marine mammals, and
streamers behind boats to frighten away seabirds.
A reef off Indonesia—laid bare to supply restaurants with
live fish—now attracts divers searching for lobsters, the last
remaining valuable species. Many species of global importance
are captured using cyanide, traps, or dynamite.
Northern Spain: whether children of fishing families
will choose to make their living through fishing is, for the
first time, an open question.
Oceans and Seas
The fate of a global commons
Structure of Lecture



Define the resource
Track its distribution in the world
Review the History of the resource
 History
of use
 Conservation History


This section includes policy considerations
Explore its political dimensions
 Stakeholders
 Property
issues
Structure of Lecture



Define the resource
Track its distribution in the world
Review the History of the resource
 History
of use
 Conservation History


This section includes policy considerations
Explore its political dimensions
 Stakeholders
 Property
issues
What is the resource?



Fish for
consumption
Biodiversity
Hydropower, esp
wave-powered
turbines
Fishery
An area with an associated fish or aquatic
population which is harvested for its value
(commercial, recreational, subsistence). It can
be saltwater or freshwater, wild or farmed.
Marine vs. Freshwater




Marine means salt water
Marine refers to “the sea”, which includes
oceans
From Latin marinus
Fresh water (or “Inland fisheries”) refers to nonsalty waters – rivers, lakes, streams.
Tuna and other large fish
Shellfish
Crustaceans
Large Mammals
Trout and other Fresh water species
Harvesting Methods
Industrial Fishing (Shrimp Trawling)
Trawling for fish
Deep Trawling
Purse Seine Fishing
Longline Fishing
“Indigenous” or Small Scale Fishing
Fisheries – a global resource


Food fish accounts for about 20% of animal
proteins in the global diet.
99% of all fish come from coastal areas
Structure of Lecture



Define the resource
Track its distribution in the world
Review the History of the resource
 History
of use
 Conservation History


This section includes policy considerations
Explore its political dimensions
 Stakeholders
 Property
issues
But first…a quick law lesson

th
17
century to early
th
20 :
“freedom of the sea”
 Considered
a three-mile belt along national coast
lines to be sovereign territory

1945: US extended control out to the continental
shelf. Other nations followed.
 Protected
natural resources
 Protected fisheries
 Allowed better pollution control
Law lesson (con’t)


1945-1973: Many complicated laws hashing out
claims to the sea and its resources
1973-1994: United Nations Conference on the
Law of the Sea
 Established
Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs),
extends 200 miles from nations’ coasts
 Established “territorial waters” – 12 miles out, where
nations can set laws and regulations
 Established the UN as the site for negotiation over
competing claims
Image Credit: Global Education Project
Data: UN FAO
What is the trend shown in this graph?
Why do you think the trend exists?
What might this trend mean for the future of fisheries? For
global economic relations?
General Trends to Notice





World capture rates have leveled out in the last decade
(excluding China), while the growth of aquaculture has
made up for population growth
China is the largest producer of captured fish and
aquaculture
China produces twice as much fish per capita than the
global average
Most productive fisheries are located in coastal areas
within Exclusive Economic Zones
Bu there has been a rise in open sea fishing, especially
for deep sea species
Spike in deep water fishing

Causes:
Technological
improvements
Increasingly restricted fishing zones
Decreasing resources in coastal zones
•
•
What possible impact could this have to marine
organisms?
What possible solutions might be worked out?
Inland Fisheries
Structure of Lecture



Define the resource
Track its distribution in the world
Review the History of the resource
 History
of use
 Conservation History


This section includes policy considerations
Explore its political dimensions
 Stakeholders
 Property
issues
Global Fishing Zones
99% of fish catches are in upwelling zones or coastal zones.
Coastal zones are the most susceptible to transformation from landward activities.
Fish Stocks as Stress Indicators


What are some fishing practices that deplete
fish resources?
How do they contribute to the decline of
fisheries?
Now banned in many countries, deep trawling with nets held open
by heavy doors bulldozes the seabed and catches sea life
indiscriminately—more than 50 percent of all discarded species.
A reef off Indonesia—laid bare to supply restaurants with live
fish—now attracts divers searching for lobsters, the last remaining
valuable species. Many species of global importance are captured
using cyanide, traps, or dynamite.
Thresher sharks in Mexico's Gulf of California will be sold
locally for food; their fins will be cut off and likely shipped to Hong
Kong, where shark-fin soup is a prized dish. The global fin trade
alone claims an estimated 40 million sharks a year, devastating
stocks of a fish that is generally slow growing and slow to
reproduce. Many countries, including the U.S., Brazil, South
Africa, and Australia, have banned shark-finning, but consumers'
tastes have yet to change.
Hooked without a permit, a dorado—sold as mahi-mahi—was caught on an
illegal longline off Mexico. With thousands of baited hooks, longlines extend for
miles, often snaring fish unintentionally, notably sharks, as well as hundreds of
thousands of sea turtles, marine mammals, and seabirds every year. In longline
fishing, eventually discarded bycatch makes up nearly 30 percent of the take.
Everything surrounding a Mexican trawlerman's hands will
go to waste; he will sell only the shrimp.
With competition intensifying to supply mostly European markets, fishing
grounds off West Africa are going the way of Europe's: toward depletion. These
Senegalese, who had hoped to catch desirable export species such as shrimp or sole,
will throw away the fish in their nets—wasting valuable protein for Africa.
Guitarfish, rays, and other bycatch are tossed from a shrimp boat in
the Gulf of California. During the past decade, efforts to reduce
bycatch have begun to pay off with better net and hook designs,
pingers on nets to repel marine mammals, and streamers behind boats
to frighten away seabirds.
Areas of Concern
for Over-fishing
Reduction in Shark Species, 1986-2000
Decline in Northeastern US Fish Harvests (1982-1996
Collapse of the Northeastern Cod Fishery
Collapse of the Pacific Sardine Catch
Reduction in Northwest Atlantic Large
Fish Biomass, 1900-1999
1900
(in metric tons per km sq)
1950
Examples of “large fish” are
cod, halibut and tuna
1975
1999
Fish Stock Depletion (North Atlantic)
Fisheries Impact: Intrinsic v. Extrinsic Yields
Beyond this point,
fish harvest exceeds
fish production


How do property rights in the sea relate to the
decline of fisheries?
How might property rights be configured
differently to change the ending of the
degradation story?
Conservation Efforts



Catch limits
Restriction of fishing licenses
Lessening demand on wild fish stocks through
aquaculture
Aquaculture:
Risk and Promise
Image Credit: Global Education Project
Data: UN FAO
Aquaculture now at 43% of total world fish
production (2005)
 Chinese aquaculture accounts for nearly 70% of
the world total


What are some of the benefits of aquaculture
over wild fish catching?
Image credit: Pew Trusts
A Healthy Coral Reef Ecosystem
Reefs grow in the warm euphotic zone
Coral Reef Stressors
Thermal stress is a principal cause of reef die-off. Additional stressors
are mostly physical, including:
•Damage from dredging and excavation
•Trampling by divers
•Fracturing due to removal of sponges and fish
•Blocking of photosynthesis by sediments
Excavating a Coral Reef for an Airport Development
Trampling of Coral Reefs by Divers
Catching Tropical Fish on a Reef
Creating an
Artificial Reef
(offshore New Jersey)
Reef-building or dumping?
Retired New York City subway cars dumped off Cape May,
New Jersey in 2003 to form an artificial reef
An Ecological Parable


Changes in economic processes and behaviors
are the most dramatic cause of ecosystem
transformation
Focusing on species and small-scale practices
often literally misses the forest for the trees, or
the ocean for the fish
Bycatch
How do local conditions change as
the result of changes at other scales
(national, global, etc)?
What conditions local conditions?
Resources consulted for this lecture
Cutter, Susan L. and William H. Renwick (1999) Exploitation Conservation Preservation.
John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York.
Hardin, Garrett (1968) "The Tragedy of the Commons," Science, no. 162: 1243-48.
MacPherson, C. B. (1978) "The Meaning of Property," in Property, University of Toronto
Press, Toronto.
McCay, B. (2000) ”Property Rights, the Commons, and Natural Resource Management” in
Kaplowitz, M. D., Property Rights, Economics, and the Environment. Stanford, CT: JAI
Press
McCay, Bonnie J. (2006). "Oyster Wars, Public Trust, and the Law in New Jersey," in New
Jersey's Environments: Past, Present, and Future, ed. Neil M Maher, Rutgers University
Press, New Brunswick, NJ.
Ostrom, Elinor and the National Research Council (2002). The Drama of the Commons:
Committee on the human dimensions of global change, National Academies Press.