Issues This Week

1
(No Transcript)
2
Issues This Week

• The marine environment fisheries, ocean
  pollution.
• Resource economics.
• Open Access Resources and why they get
  over-exploited
• What are some open access resources?
• Depletable and Non-depletable resources
• Your use does / does not diminish my use
• Examples?
• Tragedy of the Commons

There will be terminology and math-like stuff, do
not PANIC
3
Five great things to do this week

• Study for midterm exams
• Study for midterm exams
• Study for midterm exams
• Study for midterm exams
• Eat the rest of that chocolate

Bring 1 of these Friday
Chapters 7, 9, 10, 12, 16
4
(No Transcript)
5
Southwestern Pacific (Australia)
These numbers are suspect
Western Pacific (China)
6
(No Transcript)
7
National Standards of the Magnuson-Stevens
Act Conservation and management measures
shall 1. Prevent overfishing while achieving
optimum yield. 2. Be based upon the best
scientific information available. 3. Manage
individual stocks as a unit throughout their
range, to the extent practicable interrelated
stocks shall be managed as a unit or in close
coordination. 4. Not discriminate between
residents of different states any allocation of
privileges must be fair and equitable. 5. Where
practicable, promote efficiency, except that no
such measure shall have economic allocation as
its sole purpose. 6. Take into account and
allow for variations among and contingencies in
fisheries, fishery resources, and catches. 7.
Minimize costs and avoid duplications, where
practicable. 8. Take into account the
importance of fishery resources to fishing
communities to provide for the sustained
participation of, and minimize adverse impacts
to, such communities (consistent with
conservation requirements). 9. Minimize bycatch
or mortality from bycatch. 10. Promote safety
of human life at sea. (http//www.nmfs.noaa.gov/
) (http//www.pcouncil.org/guide/Guide-part1.htm
l)
US Exclusive Economic zone 3 - 200 miles offshore
1976-Magnuson-Stevens Act
8
Aquaculture
Done? Done? Food for aquaculture
A mixed blessing
1. Pollution issues. 2. Remove lower trophic
levels from ecosystem.
9
Fishing

• Most methods are very general and catch stuff not
  intended for harvest.
• Some types of fishing are physically harmful to
  the environment as well (scraping the ocean floor
  of organisms (bottom trawling).

10
BY-CATCH

• Stuff that fisherman catch, but dont want
• Excessive by-catch prompted Florida to adopt
  mandatory Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) so as to
  release sea turtles
• Loss of efficiency for fishing industry
• Shrimp
• Highest by-catch rates and habitat destruction
  rates

11
(No Transcript)
12
http//www.coml.org/medres/hmap7a.htm
13
(No Transcript)
14
(No Transcript)
15
Any surprise that the environment is in trouble?
16
(No Transcript)
17
The Tragedy of the Commons
Why can't we manage ocean resources?
A
B
Garrett Hardin. 1968.
Loosely based on the idea of feudal or tribal
commons. Why open access resources are
over-exploited
C
D
18
Four households share a common area that supports
(can sustain indefinitely) 20 cows. Each
household has 5 cows.
A
B
C
D
19
Households continue to add more cows until the
benefit gained by them individually is equal to
the cost in reduced vigor of cows.
.25 - .25
A
B
C
D
20
Too bad for you
A
The system eventually collapses from
over-exploitation
B

• Believing this, we have 3 options.
• Privatize ownership so that the landowner has
  control and a long term interest in sustaining a
  livelihood.
• Create Cooperative Institutions that allow joint
  ownership for long-term care.
• Legislate restraint

C
D
21

• How do fisheries rules work?
• Regulate catch ( of fish)
• Regulate effort (fishing season, days, boats,
  etc.
• Regulate size limits (restrict catching
  reproductive individuals
• Restrict where you can fish (marine reserves)

22
Quotas
23
PRIVATIZE the SEA?
24
(No Transcript)
25
The Economists Take

• In the case of natural resources, it is human
  nature to overexploit resources when
• The GAIN is to the individual harvesting the
  resource
• The COST of providing the resource is borne by
  the whole of society, not the individual
• The cost of supplying a public good often does
  not include the cost of the good itself, only the
  labor and tools to extract the good. Thus, they
  are cheaper than comparable private goods.

26
Option 1 Resource Economics
If the cost of harvesting the fish does not
include growing the fish, then the price of the
fish on the market is artificially low (Pp).
This results in quantities supplied (Qp)
relative to an equilibrium amount Qs). The
solution increase the price on the market
through tariffs. In this case, fisherman license
fees. Problem Has not limited take to
sustainable levels.
Price
Ps
Pp
Qs
Qp
Quantity
27
Government Intervention 1 Increase COSTS of
open access goods through license fees
Price
Reduce harvest to sustainable levels through
license fees for resource extraction, increasing
the cost of harvest so that it equilibrates with
demand at a sustainable level.
Ps
Pp
Where does this work sport-fishing,
hunting, Not commercial fishing. It also does
not often incorporate option value of society.
Qs
Qp
Quantity
Option value the value society places on NOT
harvesting a resource
28
Government Intervention 2 RESTRICT ACCESS to
open access goods through licensing
Price
Reduce harvest to sustainable levels by
restricting access to resources (limiting the
number of boats fishing). Example the number of
taxi cabs in NYC is limited making it possible
for individual cab drivers to make a living. Cabs
go 24/7
Ps
Pp
Unfortunately, frequently does not work.
Fishermen can work more time, or more efficiently
to increase harvest effort. Drives technological
improvements to increase efficiency of catch.
Qs
Qp
Quantity
29
Government Intervention 3 PRIVATIZE open
access goods so that owners are vested in
long-term stability
Price
Privatizing resources has the effect of the
owner bears the cost of over-exploitation in
reduced long-term or resale value. Example
Logging company ownership of forests
Problem owners arent always interested in
conservation, and may find it financially
preferable to over-harvest (discounting).
Ps
Pp
Privatizing option 2 give ownership to a
cooperative and not to an individual. Example
Alaska groundfish
Qs
Qp
Quantity
30
Discounting the future
The problem with privatizing

• Imagine a fisherman, who owns access to a
  resource.
• This fisherman has 2 options.
• (A) Fish them all out this year and earn 100,000
• (B) Fish in moderation and make 10,000 / year in
  perpetuity.
• If the fisherman is confident of being able to
  earn 10 on invested money, then choose option
  (A).
• Lots of work in year 1, then early retirement
• Add uncertainty to harvest, and it is often
  better to choose (A).
• Thus, privatized resources are often
  over-exploited by choice
• This might be fine if it really is a private
  good, but not so much when it is a societal good

31
(No Transcript)
32
(No Transcript)
33
Fisheries management
Problems with setting limits (either through
increasing costs, or licensing)

• The emphasis has often focused on using science
  to set sustained yield targets.
• Monitoring of population
• Set quotas of take
• Limit boats limit catches per boat
• But, there has been an alarming failure rate as
  fisheries continue to close or collapse.
• WHY?

34
SUSTAINED MAXIMUM YIELD (SMY)2. Harvest a
constant proportion
H1 Over-exploiting resource, growth H2 maximally-exploiting resource,
growth harvest - SMY
Population Growth Rate, or Harvest Rate
H3 harvest conservatively
Population Size
35
Maximum Yield Management
Setting the Allowable catch

• Best efforts to manage fisheries using population
  biology fail because
• Nature is difficult to assess It is difficult to
  accurately predict population growth lots of
  error
• Environmental variation variation in weather can
  drive populations to the bad side of the curve
• Political Pressure There is constant pressure to
  manage close to the MSY (higher harvest). The
  closer you get, the higher the risk of moving
  into the unstable zone where populations spiral
  to collapse.

36
Marine Sanctuaries An alternative approach to
restricted access

• Marine Management Areas
• Closed Areas
• Sensitive Sea Areas (eg, coral reefs)
• Marine Sanctuaries
• Integrated Management Areas
• Marine Biosphere Reserves

Agardy, T.S. 1997. Marine Protected Areas and
Ocean Conservation.EIU.
37
Case StudyPhilippine Coral Reef Sanctuaries

• Apo and Sumilon marine reserves were established
  in the mid 1970s
• Community support has been strong and consistent
  at Apo
• Community based management
• Community support has fluctuated and enforcement
  variable at Sumilon

Russ and Alcala. 1999. Coral Reefs 18307-319.
38
Sumilon1973-1998

• The community, 2 towns on nearby islands, set the
  rules with University help
• In 1980 new mayors were elected with ties to
  commercial fishing on the basis of giving the
  island back to fishermen
• The national government took control of
  management in 1980.
• Enforcement has varied through time

39
(No Transcript)
40
Apo1976-1998

• The community set the rules
• The community enforces the rules
• The community is on the island
• The community understands that maintaining the
  reef helps everyone

41
Results SUMILON APO
42
Global Assessment of Marine Reserves

• 1306 marine reserves world-wide
• 80 million hectares (160 mil acres)
• 50 of the area is encompassed by 3
• Galapagos, Great Barrier Reef, North Sea
• Management known for only 383 (29)
• 70 had low to moderate management effectiveness
• 117 had levels of protection classified as high
• (Kelleher et al. 1995. World Bank.)

43
Marine Sanctuaries The US

• 1972 Nixon National Marine Sanctuaries
• Resource protection is a major purpose of the
  sanctuaries and as a rule drilling, mining,
  dredging, dumping waste or removing artifacts is
  prohibited,
• But shipping, commercial fishing, sport fishing,
  boating and other recreational activity is
  generally allowed.

44
Fishing Permanently Banned Around the Channel
Islands A reserve, encompassing 175 square
miles, takes effect Jan. 1 and is one of the
largest in the U.S.
2003
SANTA BARBARA -- The California Fish and Game
Commission on Wednesday permanently banned
fishing from 175 square miles of ocean around the
Channel Islands, approving one of the largest
marine reserves in U.S. waters.The decision
culminated four years of scientific and public
study and debate over the wisdom of substituting
traditional fishing restrictions, such as size
and catch limits on selected fish, with a reserve
system that protects all forms of marine
life."California once again is in the vanguard
of environmental protection," said Fish and Game
Commissioner Bob Hattoy. "This is good for the
fish, good for the fishermen and good for future
generations."Hundreds of angry,
placard-carrying fishermen said the decision
would cut into their livelihoods as well as put
some of their favorite fishing grounds off
limits."We pay a lot of dollars in fishing
license fees to the Department of Fish and Game
for the management of fisheries," said Tom
Raftican, president of United Anglers of Southern
California. "I have a very difficult time paying
for an area I cannot fish."
45
(No Transcript)
46
(No Transcript)
47
(No Transcript)
48
(No Transcript)