Social Costs of Policies That Result in Derby Fishing

Social Costs of policies that result in "derby fishing"

The fishing fleets of the world have depleted and are still depleting the fish stocks on the globe. In the last 10 years the world's fish population has been exploited to the point of near exhaustion.

This devastating development has not only an impact on the fish stocks themselves, but also spills over to related areas. Studies have shown so far, that this development could change, in some areas of the oceans, the entire ecosystem of the seas. Thus, without the needed stock of fish, oceans could lose their natural equilibrium which means that this could result in a chain reaction which could deplete even more marine creatures.

In addition, fish fleets erasing entire fish stock, could not be made liable for their actions at all. The reconstruction of a fish stock gets socialized, i.e. countries pay scientists to rebuild the fish stock.

Even consumers of fish have to pay their price, the scarcity of fish, due to the over fishing in the last years, has raised the prices of fish substantially, and furthermore not every fish is available anymore.

Such problems are not a new development: for 50 years at least, recognition has been given to the need for governments to be aware of the state of their fisheries, to implement effective policies aimed at preventing resource depletion and the wastage of fisheries inputs and, increasingly, to facilitate stock rehabilitation.

The challenge for governments is to manage fisheries in such a way that ensures the optimum and sustainable use of resources as well as economic efficiency and widespread social benefits. Thus governments should develop a system of "fishing shares" which would regulate the fishing and which would protect the fish stocks of depletion. Furthermore, the fishing management should not rest with governments alone but rather be a shared responsibility, involving those operating in the fisheries sector as well as others who consider have an interest in that area.

Subsidizing aquacultures could also be an opportunity for the future. Through aquacultures, the supply of fish would rise again and prices would drop. This would mean that fish fleets would become unprofitable, thus they would stop fishing and the stock of fish would increase again.