The Biggest Giveaway of All Time: Privatizing the Ocean

A Study in Contrasts

They call it "the tragedy of the commons".

Its the assumption that anything of value not owned by anyone will be pillaged by everyone. It was the excuse for carving up English commonlands and handing them over to the nobility.

What a great system that was: the kind and wise Earl of Inbreedingham watching over the happy little serfs laboring like Oompa Loompas for a chance to continue to cling to the surface of the planet.

The tragedy of the commons theory assumes two things.
First that the average human is a ravaging beast.
The second is that systems for managing common assets are always corrupt and ineffective (asuumably because they are run by the ravaging beasts).

OK lets save the first for another day. The second is patently false. State and federal governments around the world manage forests and watersheds and airwaves for the benefit of their citizens. The idea that you would throw your hands up and just divvy these assets out for free to the last people who used them is ludicrous.

But that's how we would manage our oceans. Give them away.

On the east coast they are hatching a plan for fishermen to divide up into private clubs. These clubs are made up of people and companies who have "history", or who have fished in the past. These clubs then trade that 'history for ownership of the future fish. All the future fish. Forever.

Taufen's take, always enlightening:

Fishery Councils Coordinate March to Catch Share Systems

Here is a thoughtful look at ocean privatization, done by a professor and read by dozens followed by a cartoon analysis done by a journalist and read by millions. Guess which one will drive policy.

TOWARD RESPONSIBLE FISHERlES POLICY
Daniel W. Bromley
Anderson-Bascom Professor of Applied Economics
University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA



Privatize the Seas