MUST GOVERNMENT GO FISHING?

The depletion of fish stocks around the UK presents serious problems for the UK, and in particular the Scottish, fishing industry. This is a classic 'tragedy of the commons', repeatedly occurring in fisheries, where open access to a limited resource leads to serious depletion and may ultimately wipe out that resource. A recent report by the Royal Society of Edinburgh endorses the scientific basis for drastic cuts in fishing quotas under the Common Fisheries Policy to conserve stocks, and the necessary regulation and restriction of fishing effort in the UK. But it further recommends government-led initiatives to reorganise and finance the industry. Fishing in the UK is a successful entrepreneurial business and no such intervention by government is required. Government must concentrate on devising methods of regulation which, through the extension of tradable property rights in fishing, would encourage the best economic return from this important public resource.