Posted on 10/29/2007 6:55:35 PM PDT by cool2007
Bruce Yandle of Clemson University and George Mason University's Mercatus Center looks at the tragedy of the commons and the various ways that people have avoided the overuse of resources that are held in common. Examples discussed include fisheries, roads, rivers and the air. Yandle talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the historical use of norms, cooperative ventures such as incorporating a river, the common law, and top-down command-and-control regulation to reduce air and water pollution
One thing I bet he doesn’t mention is the creative use of technology to increase the amount of resources available.
For instance, if oceans are being depleted of fish, why not create enormous floating fish hatcheries? They could not only radically increase the numbers of food fish available, but they could also be used to increase the numbers of rare and valuable or endangered fish.
But putting such floating hatcheries out in the ocean away from the coasts, you avoid coastal pollution, your costs are low, as the water is aerated naturally, and fish actually gain slightly more weight than the fish food given them, as they get additional food from the ocean itself.
Such a hatchery the size of a small island could provide much of the fish consumed by an entire nation. Non-profit hatcheries could replenish entire species in just a few years.
A remarkable and ingenious idea, these "off-shore fisheries," you mentioned. Thanks.
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