Fish Population Dynamic and Stock Assessment

10.4.3. Principles of Public Action

Almost all public action that involves common property resources embodies three fundamental principles.

1. Every social change produced by an individual, company, or government decision gives an advantage to some person or group and a disadvantage to others. Even when its purpose is to correct a disadvantage, the benefits cannot be assumed to be uniformly distributed.

2. Every ecological change caused by man in his use of water or living resources gives an advantage to some organisms and a disadvantage to others, as long as the changes are within the physical and chemical limits tolerated by some living organisms. The disadvantages are frequently overlooked when action is taken in order to improve conditions for something we value.

3. Advantages and disadvantages to segments of either society or the organisms in the environment seldom become evident simultaneously, a fact that complicates the decision process when either benefit or damage is long postponed.

Another set of practical democratic principles governs the action in regulation of fishing.

1. Most of the people being regulated must agree about the need for regulation, and they must understand how the regulation is supposed to work. This requires knowledge of the resources and a respected forecast of the likely consequences of the obvious alternatives.

2. The regulation must be enforced, or the action of a few violators will destroy any confidence in its effectiveness.

3. Legal authority for the action must be secure and, if more than one political authority is involved, firm cooperation must be the rule. If the stock migrates between political jurisdictions, only joint action will be effective.

When the resource is divided among political entities, the first step toward collective decision making is usually an agreement among them that identifies the problem, specifies goals, and creates an organization with defined responsibilities. Usually the organization’s responsibilities are primarily technical, i.e., they involve determining the facts to be considered and coordinating the negotiations. Authority to make regulatory decisions is usually reserved for the governmental partners in the agreement.

The extension of national authority to 200 mi under the new law of the sea is certain to require many new international fishery agreements. These will involve extension of national boundary lines, allocation of fishing on stocks that are shared by countries, permits for foreign fishing, and investigation of the status of the resources.