Alternative Management Regimes for Multiple Species Fisheries

Abstract

The lack of an efficient property rights structure is widely recognized as the

prime impediment to higher profitability of the fishing industry and to the

prevention of overexploitation. Under open, i. e. , free and unrestricted access

to fishery resources, the potential economic rent tends to be dissipated by overfishing.

(l) While the need for replacing the open access regime by a legalinstitutional

structure which restricts access is now widely accepted, biologists

and economists differ on the choice of the appropriate criteria to be used in

fishery management. In addition, aside from theoretical consideration, the practicality

of either management criterion is an open question.