Monbiot on Fishing

I don't often say this about George Monbiot pieces but this is really rather good today. Yes, fisheries are in an awful state, yes, just about everything that governments do about them makes things worse and yes, there is a better way. (This blog post has hints as to what that better way is).

Just one little point though:

Why does every representative of a fishing region believe he must defend his constituents' right to ensure that their children have nothing to inherit?

Quite true: the solution though is for the right to the fish being the property of the fishermen and thus being something which they can hand on to their children, as farmers can their land and as we know, that does indeed aid in combatting the basic problem, the Tragedy of the Commons.

One more little point: the number of fish in a fishery (and yes, you do have to have restricted access for this to be true) being run for optimal profit is in fact higher than the minimum sustainable population. Yes, if fishermen were allowed to own the asset for the long term, there would be more fish in the sea.

Perhaps that shouldn't really surprise us: farmers do indeed tend to have more animals, a higher crop yield, upon their land than the same land would without their ownership and stewardship, don't they?