Posted by Jonathan Adler: Good News for Fish: http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_05_10-2009_05_16.shtml#1242149439
Fish may not get much attention, but fishery depletion is one of the more serious environmental problems facing the world today. A shocking percentage of the world's fisheries are overfished. Protecting fishery resources requires keeping fish catches to sustainable levels. The most effective way to do this is through so-called "catch-share" policies, a property-based conservation regime often called "IFQs" or (as some now say) "cap-and-trade for fish," which allocate tradeable shares of the catch among fishery participants. I've written more about this approach to fishery management for NRO [1]here (and discussed how property-based regimes may emerge through private ordering [2]here, [3]here, and [4]here). The Bush Administration talked a good game about property-based fishery management, but failed to devote much effort to the enterprise. The 2006 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens fishery law ended the moratorium on adopting catch-share management schemes, and the Bush Administration did [5]expanded ocean protected areas, but it could -- and should -- have done much more. Instead, the Administration focused its environmental energies to a series of business-oriented air pollution regulatory reforms, the bulk of which were struck down in court. A major opportunity for market-oriented environmental reform was squandered, and our fisheries are much the worse for it. There is hope the Obama Administration will push ahead with greater fishery reforms. [6]Greenwire reports that the Administration's budget request for NOAA includes a dramatic increase in funding for catch-share management. According to Greenwire, the request "indicates a major push from the administration" to push the adoption of catch-share systems in the nation's fisheries. If so, this will be very good news for fish, and a significant step toward sustainable management of marine resources. References 1. http://www.nationalreview.com/adler/adler052103.asp 2. http://ssrn.com/abstract=436481 3. http://law.case.edu/faculty/adler_jonathan/publications/legal_obstacles_to_private_ordering.pdf 4. http://ssrn.com/abstract=654523 5. http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/environment/2009/jan/Largest-Ever-Marine-Conservation-Effort-Boosts-Bush-s-Controversial-Legacy.html 6. http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/05/11/11greenwire-obama-admin-proposes-major-spending-for-fisher-12208.html _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
