Hi!
I’ve read a very interesting article on the Economist about applying tradeable permits as a solution to the old tragedy of the commons problem in commercial fisheries across the word. You can find it here and the information is available on many other news websites. Good to have different perspectives.
The article argues, based on the conclusions of a trio of scientists, that permits may just be the solution for many fisheries, although they are very much unused at the moment (out of about 11,000 fisheris only 121 use them). Here’s where you can find more about the scientists themselves, just in case you want background information or connected articles: Cristopher Costello; John Lynham; Steven Gaines.
Of course, the system is not bulletproof – by far – and the most important obstacles to implenting it successfully seem to be fishery diversity (in terms of catch variety and unequal distribution of the catch), as well as people: first of all, assuaging their fears or convicing them there’s long-term profit in it, provided they care about long term profit, and second, the politics and bureaucracy of implementing and policing the systems. Most of the articles have a few words on these challenges, but as far as I’ve seen, the one on BBC gives my favorite account of the issues.
I’ve always been skeptical about market-based, market-driven environmental instruments, but for “race to the bottom” situations, this seems an interesting alternative by providing people with solid incentives to stop exhausting resources – something that overall quotas have failed to do so far. One thing that pops into my mind right now is that communities would definitely gain out of longer, less intense fishing seasons: people get a more stable source of income and even if salaries are lower than the one-shot premiums of intense seasons, they amount to more per annum; safety is increased and less people die or disappear on the sea, which contributes to healthy, better provided families; and an increased interest in providing stewardship for the seas can be a good starting point for people to realize that they can improve their community in other ways too, through collective behaviour.
Do give the article a read, it’s really interesting, and let me know what you think.
