Research Paper On Overfishing

1610 Words4 Pages

Many people agree that overfishing is an important, global, environmental issue. However, when asking my roommates about the issue, I was surprised at how limited their knowledge was on the matter. Two out of the three said, “yeah, it probably is,” and the third said he didn’t have enough information. Of course, this is not an adequate sample of the human population by any means, but I think that it does reflect one of the reasons why overfishing is such a huge ecological problem today. People tend to be most concerned with issues that are closest to them. Therefore, being raised in Nova Scotia, I learned a great deal about overfishing, while it seems that children from other areas where informed more about issues such global warming, pollution …show more content…

Just like in the Tragedy of the Commons, there is a common that fishing companies can utilize to generate revenue. Fish that a corporation doesn’t catch can be viewed as unutilized capital that will just be exploited by a competing company. The problem compounds, and companies start taking more fish than what the population can naturally replenish, leading to a collapse. This is a disaster for not only the species being fished and the fishing companies themselves, but also for other species in the ocean, employed fishermen, seafood restaurants, and many …show more content…

If we can follow Ostrom’s eight principles for managing commons which include clear group boundaries, polycentrism, and rulemaking rights of communities, I think that not just overfishing, but also many other environmental social dilemmas could be resolved (“Tipping the Scale”). The presence of a system like this could help make decisions for necessary changes to our current, harmful fishing practices much more streamlined and effective. Destructive fishing techniques and vessels could be banned and safe quotas could be enforced. This system would be very effective because polycentrism would allow fishing communities to manage safe fishing policies while the larger governments could oversee and ensure that this is being carried out efficiently in collaboration with other

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