Diane Regas’s Posts

• Fishing for compromise

  Is the debate over? 3

  Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago

  In the current issue of Science, twenty-one leading ocean scientists declared a truce. The paper was authored by many of the biggest names on all sides of the debate on ending overfishing--Boris Worm, Ray Hilborn, Andy Rosenberg and Chris Costello. So what are the terms?

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  I am glad to see Prof. Bratspies focus on what catch shares can do--it helps with the debate of how to solve this global, intergenerational, massive problem humans are creating. Catch shares can help stop the worldwide collapse of fisheries that we started to notice in the 1970's. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDgneuJ8mkQ) But, lots of people assume that the only reason catch shares work is by creating private property out of our common ocean inheritance--nothing could be further from the truth. First, catch shares aren't private property in the United States: several legal provisions make that absolutely clear AND the courts have upheld it. What's really interesting though is that far from letting go of the public trust, catch shares are the one regulatory approach that holds individual fishermen directly accountable for how much they catch. Other regulations--like shutting the season when limits are met--legally allow fishermen to grab as much fish as they can as fast at they can, as long as they stay within the rules of the game. This approach usually leads the fishery to bust the limits, and do lots of damage along the way. Some still believe that catch shares also give an incentive for fishermen to take better care so they will have more fish the next year. The data are still coming in on that--and will certainly debated for years to come--probably on Grist.

  On Privatize the seas? If only solving overfishing were so easy posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago 16 Responses