Fisheries and Conservation
To Share or Not to Share? Problems with International Conservation
Protecting fisheries and endangered species is a difficult chore. Common goods such as water, and migrant fish transcend international boundaries and are in danger.
The problem with international common goods is that these things are non-excludable, meaning nobody can put restrictions on things such as air and water at the international level. At the national level, politicians create protective policies, such as the Clean Air Act or the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. While these are a good start to making sure that the environment is protected at the national level, the environment is really an international entity that can't be protected and managed wthin national borders.
Free-Rider Problem
A Free-Rider is a person that reaps the benefit of a good without contributing anything to the good. If a person listens to public radio or public television and has never donated to the services is a free rider. He or she knows that as long as there are donors, the service will exist and can enjoy it with no cost. In the international scene, China is a free rider when it comes to fisheries. The U.S. has many strict and theoretically efficient policies that aim to protect and sustain certain fisheries. However, the fish don't get that they are only protected so long as they stay within the continental U.S. There are some fish species, such as certain species of tuna and white sharks, that spend part of their life in the U.S. waters, then head west to China where they are legally fished. While there isn't anything wrong with fishing them, China doesn't have conservation policies for their fish. Whatever is in their waters is fair game.
Why International Policy Does Not Work for the Environment
- Lack of enforcement is the first problem.
- The second problem is discounting the future and trying to sell long term benefits in a short term oriented society.
- The third problem is that common goods are multilateral, and require everyone to participate in negotiations.
Some countries may not want to agree on an issue because of national interests, or cultural beliefs. For example, it is in China's best interest to preserve fish stock for long term sustainability, but they continue to overfish at great rates. In turn they jeopardize U.S. fish stocks that flow back, but not forth, between the U.S. and China. Thus the U.S. is simply maintaining a fish stock for the Chinese. As long as the U.S. pays with strict fishery policy, the Chinese will reap the benefit. But if the U.S. stops caring, then certain species may become extinct altogether. It is a race to the bottom when nations stop caring about the environment.
