Privatizing ocean fisheries

I haven't posted for a while on fishery issues. Such concerns occupied a fair amount of my research time in the early 1980s. This article in The Economist makes the case for imposing individual transferable quotas on ocean fish stocks. 121 of the ocean's fisheries operated under ITQ's are much healthier than those not managed in this way. The specific studies are referenced here.

Ocean fisheries outside national waters are notoriously difficult to police and groups such as the Japanese cheat in dramatic, stupid and self-defeating ways on assigned quotas. But apparently 90% of fish caught are caught in national waters so that these issues of cheating can be overstated. It is, however, true that most of Australia's ocean fisheries are heavily over-exploited. Indeed ocean fisheries generally are expected to collapse by mid-century at current rates of exploitation. This is a crisis situation. Although still reversible the loss of marine biodiversity is one of the major factors reeducing the productivity of the oceans.

I always enjoy showing to students that overexploitation reduces fish yields and increases fish harvest costs. The Japanese are shooting themselves in the foot by cheating on international conservational agreements for such species as Southern bluefin tuna.

Tuna sushi, tinned tuna & fish oils

I like sushi and am a particular fan of bluefin tuna.

An admittedly non-random sample in New York suggests that 25% of this stuff is contaminated with dangerous levels of the extremely toxic liquid metal, mercury. Apparently the red tuna sushi I enjoy most should not be consumed more than once every 3 weeks.

While I don't enjoy it I also eat canned tuna a few times a week on the grounds that I have long-believed the oily cold water fish (like fish and salmon) were particularly good for your heart. Now these products are seen as bad for you too.

I wonder how the Japanese live so long given their affinity for sushi and their high rates of cigarette smoking.

I consume fish oil on a daily basis but have long been told that the health benefits of consumoing this exceed any possible contamination risks. It seems that is correct. Whew!

Where are the meat pies and the beer?

Overfishing

Overfishing comes and goes in the press as a global catastrophe. We should make sure it sticks around since this global problem steadily worsens. This NYT editorial points out that illegal fishing is irreversibly destroying many of the world’s fisheries.

The Europeans have wiped out their local fisheries and are now destroying those of Africa. In fact the industry is geared up to evade regulation – enforcing stringent regulations in certain areas encourages pressure on fish populations elsewhere.

It is an old argument – you cannot partially impose property rights on an open access resource. In addition efforts to promote sustainable aquaculture using costly fish cultivation technologies are undercut by the existence of fish stocks which can be harvested at close to zero cost.

By the way most of Australia's fisheries are overfished or have an uncertain conservation status.