Science Magazine prints the Obvious: Property rights work to prevent overfishing problems

I agree with Hilborn that there is nothing surprising here, but at least Science magazine and the New York Times are finally beginning to catch on to something this obvious.

Giving people ownership rights in marine fisheries can halt or even reverse catastrophic declines in commercial stocks, researchers in California and Hawaii are reporting.

The idea goes against the grain among people who believe that anyone with grit and skill should be able to get in a boat, put to sea and make a living fishing. But that approach, even with licensing requirements and other restrictions, has produced fishing efforts so intense that by some estimates, the world’s commercial stocks will collapse in a few decades.

By contrast, the researchers write in Friday’s issue of the journal Science, allocating ownership shares of a particular fishery to individuals, cooperatives, communities or other entities gives them a reason to nurture the stock. In this arrangement, scientists set acceptable catch levels, and other authorities allocate shares, species by species, region by region. . . . .

Ray Hilborn, a fisheries expert at the University of Washington, praised the new work but said: “There is nothing surprising in it. A lot of us have been arguing that various forms of catch shares or dedicated access is essential.”