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TabGroupShort-sighted governments have razed Canada's forests and depleted her fisheries, demonstrating that they cannot be trusted as custodians of precious resources. Environment Probe's surveys of countries that are protecting their natural resources have found that decentralized holdings – whether community based or privately held – generally serve the environment and the economy well. Environment Probe's campaigns to decentralize natural resource holdings have garnered praise from divers interests, from native forestry activists to Australian fishermen.
Environment Probe's fisheries work has focused on the need to create stronger property rights in fisheries. Conventional fisheries management regimes give fishers incentives to over-fish. In contrast, establishing secure, exclusive, perpetual, transferable rights to fisheries creates incentives to fish sustainably.
Fisheries rights may take many forms. They may be individual or communal. They may be geographic – a fisher may have rights to a particular stretch of a river, or to a particular reef. For many fisheries, the most promising rights are ITQs – individual transferable quotas that give fishers the rights to specific shares of a catch.
TabGroup2
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William Forster Lloyd is not exactly a household name in St. John's, but perhaps he should be. One hundred and seventy years ago, he introduced the notion known to economists as the "tragedy of the commons." In a 1833 book on population, the English mathematician observed that, if everyone had free access to a common resource, that resource would soon be exhausted. read more »
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After decades of mercilessly laying waste to the East Coast cod fisheries, the federal government is poised to shut them down. The government has no choice: There is nothing left to plunder. It didn't have to end like this. read more »
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Six detailed case studies make up the balance of Political Environmentalism. Contributors Dean Lueck, Andrew Morris, Thomas Stratmann, Elizabeth Brubaker, David Gerard, Kurtis Swope, and Daniel Benjamin examine everything from the manipulation of hazardous-waste cleanup funds to the politics of wilderness designations. read more »
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By any reasonable measure the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy, the sickly sibling of its ailing Common Agricultural Policy, has failed. Created in 1971 to increase productivity, promote technical progress, open up access for European fishermen to all Community fishing grounds and "promote a fair standard of living" for fisherman, the CFP has netted the opposite result: Too many fishermen chase too few fish, fishing villages are as poor as inner-city slums, and competition from overseas markets is increasing due to technological advances in fish storage and shipping. read more »
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It appears that by opening the waters to the public, Opération Déclubage has caused, at least partly, the general decline in the quality of fishing in the province of Québec. This paper is an attempt to demonstrate that leaving the waters to the care of unaccountable managers leads to a decline in fish stocks, and that a clear system of private property rights is better suited to ensuring resource conservation – not just in Quebec but everywhere the opportunity exists for private river stewards to improve fisheries management. read more »
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On July 2, 1992, Canada’s fisheries minister banned cod fishing off the northeast coast of Newfoundland and off the southern half of Labrador. The northern cod stock, once one of the richest in the world, had collapsed. The moratorium on northern cod marked an unprecedented disaster for virtually all of Canada’s Atlantic groundfisheries - the fisheries for species that feed near the ocean floor. read more »
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How do fishermen behave? When holding clear rights, do they exploit fisheries recklessly or manage them sustainably? Can we trust them? Such questions are at the heart of the debate over the wisdom of establishing property rights in fish.
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How do fishers behave? When holding clear rights, do they exploit fisheries recklessly or manage them sustainably? Can we trust them? read more »
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We have a serious problem with fisheries in this country. Anyone who has been reading the Ottawa Citizen over the past few weeks will understand a large part of the problem: repeated failures in fisheries management, due in part to a failure by government bureaucrats and politicians to heed scientific advice and to learn from the past — a common tendency of governments, which the late historian, Barbara Tuchman, called "wooden-headedness." read more »
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The current debate over West Coast salmon, focusing on who should catch how many fish, has obscured another threat to salmon: habitat destruction. read more »
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Consider two recent stories from the troubled Atlantic fishery. Frustrated fishermen on New-Brunswick's Acadian Peninsula voted last week to increase the size of the lobster they will keep. They were tired of waiting for Ottawa to act in the best interest of conservation. Lobster landings have decreased by 10 per cent in each of the last two years and the fishermen are concerned enough about their future to demand an increase in the minimum lobster size to help conserve the resource. read more »
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It’s the Robin Hood story, a thousand years old, that’s unfolding these days on the Acadian Peninsula, says John Crosbie, the tart-tongued Newfoundlander who served in the early 1990s as federal minister of fisheries. read more »
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AIMS (Atlantic Institute Market Studies) What do the Derwent anglers club in England, some New Brunswick riparians, a number of Quebec fishing clubs and many New Zealand fishermen have in common? They all have established property rights to the fish they catch. read more »
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I should feel honoured that my article on the environmental benefits of private and communal resource ownership inspired not just one but four columns from a prominent environmentalist. Unfortunately, Janice Harvey's retorts, riddled with fallacies, do no honour to the environmental cause. read more »
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In this final bid to shed light on the issue of privatizing fish resources, it is left for me to propose an alternative. After all, critics may interpret my opposition to private property rights in the fishery as inferring that I support the current system of heavy-handed federal control of the vast resource off our coast. Far from it. read more »
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Environment Probe turned 20 this year. To our surprise and delight, we also learned this year that our foundation maintains Canada's most popular environmental web site. The reason, we suspect, is that the public doesn't like top-down environmentalism, and we have the field of community-based, market-oriented environmentalism pretty well to ourselves. read more »
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In this presentation to Property Rights and the Environment, a student colloquium held in Vancouver in July 2009, Elizabeth Brubaker explains that property rights provide incentives to conserve scarce resources, such as water and fish. read more »
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After decades of mercilessly laying waste to the East Coast cod fisheries, the federal government is poised to shut them down. The government has no choice: There is nothing left to plunder. It didn't have to end like this. read more »
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Earlier this year, several days after a lengthy interview with a writer for a weekly news magazine, I received a puzzled e-mail. "How would you describe yourself politically?" the writer asked. "Do you lean towards the left or the right?" read more »
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A speech prepared for Property Rights, Economics & Environment: Marine Resources, an international conference organised by the Centre d'Analyse Economique and The International Centre for Research on Environmental Issues. The conference took place in Aix-en-Provence, France, on June 21-23, 2000. read more »
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A chapter from Political Environmentalism: Going behind the Green Curtain, a collection of essays edited by Terry Anderson exploring the ways in which politics and environmentalism mix to produce perverse results. In this chapter, Elizabeth Brubaker documents the ways in which politicians, pursuing their short-term interest in putting voters to work, subsidized the expansion of the cod fishery and set catch levels exceeding those recommended by their own scientists.
read more »
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I'm feeling a little nostalgic. It's the tenth anniversary of Environment Probe's founding, and as I look back over my time here, I find my mind wanders less to the small victories we've had from time to time, and more to the rewarding comments I've received from supporters over the years, comments that touched and inspired me and led me to squirrel them away in a special file. I'd like to share several of them with you. read more »
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On July 2, 1992, Canada’s fisheries minister banned cod fishing off the northeast coast of Newfoundland and off the southern half of Labrador. The northern cod stock, once one of the richest in the world, had collapsed. The moratorium on northern cod marked an unprecedented disaster for virtually all of Canada’s Atlantic groundfisheries - the fisheries for species that feed near the ocean floor. read more »
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Politics – not science – drives far too many decisions at the government department in charge of Canada's fisheries. The extent to which the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has become politicized, and the tragic results, have been made frighteningly clear over the course of the past year. read more »
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This summer, we received a letter from an Australian lobster fisher. He had just met a Canadian fisher, who had given him a photocopy of an Environment Probe chapter from a book about the crisis in our Atlantic fisheries. Excited about our ideas, he invited us to speak at a conference of fishers, fisheries managers, and scientists from Australia and New Zealand. read more »
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The keynote address to the Tri-State Rock Lobster Industry Conference, held in Adelaide, Australia, on September 8, 1997. In it, Elizabeth Brubaker argues that governments should put control over fisheries into the hands of fishers. She examines the political pressures and bureaucratic structures that deprive government managers of the incentives and tools necessary to make sustainable decisions. She calls for systems of self-managed ownership that remove decisions about catches and habitat from the political arena. read more »
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How do fishermen behave? When holding clear rights, do they exploit fisheries recklessly or manage them sustainably? Can we trust them? Such questions are at the heart of the debate over the wisdom of establishing property rights in fish.
read more »
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How do fishers behave? When holding clear rights, do they exploit fisheries recklessly or manage them sustainably? Can we trust them? read more »
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The current debate over West Coast salmon, focusing on who should catch how many fish, has obscured another threat to salmon: habitat destruction. read more »
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This paper reviews the agencies and instruments regulating recreational, Aboriginal, and commercial fishing on the Canadian Great Lakes, with a focus on the Individual Transferable Quotas governing Ontario's commercial fisheries. read more »
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TabGroup2Books, Studies and Reports
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A chapter from Political Environmentalism: Going behind the Green Curtain, a collection of essays edited by Terry Anderson exploring the ways in which politics and environmentalism mix to produce perverse results. In this chapter, Elizabeth Brubaker documents the ways in which politicians, pursuing their short-term interest in putting voters to work, subsidized the expansion of the cod fishery and set catch levels exceeding those recommended by their own scientists.
read more »
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This paper reviews the agencies and instruments regulating recreational, Aboriginal, and commercial fishing on the Canadian Great Lakes, with a focus on the Individual Transferable Quotas governing Ontario's commercial fisheries. read more »
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Part One of this paper reviews the ecological transformation that occurred in Lake Ontario after 1750 and the factors - including overfishing, habitat destruction, and the introduction of exotic species - that contributed to it. Part Two examines the institutions - including the open access regime and "progressive" fisheries management - responsible for the transformation. The paper concludes by arguing for new, locally appropriate institutional arrangements that will set Lake Ontario and its fisheries on an ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable course. read more »
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A chapter from Fish or Cut Bait! The Case for Individual Transferable Quotas in the Salmon Fishery of British Columbia, a collection of essays edited by Laura Jones and Michael Walker discussing tradeable fishing rights and their role in solving the West Coast salmon crisis. This chapter, by Elizabeth Brubaker, documents a century of mismanagement of the Pacific salmon fishery and analyses governments' incentives to encourage the overfishing and pollution that threaten stocks. It examines alternative regimes that give fisheries owners both the reasons and the authority to conserve stocks and to protect the habitat on which they depend, and suggests that quotas are only the first step in the evolution of stronger property rights to protect and conserve fisheries.
read more »
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A chapter from Taking Ownership: Property Rights and Fishery Management on the Atlantic Coast, a collection of essays edited by Brian Lee Crowley explaining the theory behind rights-based fishing and reviewing practical experience with tradeable quota systems and community ownership in various jurisdictions. In this chapter, Elizabeth Brubaker examines the ways in which property rights provide individual and community fisheries owners with both the legal tools to fight pollution and the economic incentives to reduce fishing pressures, implement conservation measures, and enhance stocks and their habitats. read more »
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This excerpt from Property Rights in the Defence of Nature reprinted by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, describes the ways in which fisheries owners have used their property rights to protect fish and habitats. read more »
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TabGroup3
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After decades of mercilessly laying waste to the East Coast cod fisheries, the federal government is poised to shut them down. The government has no choice: There is nothing left to plunder. It didn't have to end like this. read more »
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On July 2, 1992, Canada’s fisheries minister banned cod fishing off the northeast coast of Newfoundland and off the southern half of Labrador. The northern cod stock, once one of the richest in the world, had collapsed. The moratorium on northern cod marked an unprecedented disaster for virtually all of Canada’s Atlantic groundfisheries - the fisheries for species that feed near the ocean floor. read more »
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How do fishermen behave? When holding clear rights, do they exploit fisheries recklessly or manage them sustainably? Can we trust them? Such questions are at the heart of the debate over the wisdom of establishing property rights in fish.
read more »
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How do fishers behave? When holding clear rights, do they exploit fisheries recklessly or manage them sustainably? Can we trust them? read more »
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The current debate over West Coast salmon, focusing on who should catch how many fish, has obscured another threat to salmon: habitat destruction. read more »
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I should feel honoured that my article on the environmental benefits of private and communal resource ownership inspired not just one but four columns from a prominent environmentalist. Unfortunately, Janice Harvey's retorts, riddled with fallacies, do no honour to the environmental cause. read more »
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TabGroup4
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In this presentation to Property Rights and the Environment, a student colloquium held in Vancouver in July 2009, Elizabeth Brubaker explains that property rights provide incentives to conserve scarce resources, such as water and fish. read more »
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A speech prepared for Property Rights, Economics & Environment: Marine Resources, an international conference organised by the Centre d'Analyse Economique and The International Centre for Research on Environmental Issues. The conference took place in Aix-en-Provence, France, on June 21-23, 2000. read more »
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The keynote address to the Tri-State Rock Lobster Industry Conference, held in Adelaide, Australia, on September 8, 1997. In it, Elizabeth Brubaker argues that governments should put control over fisheries into the hands of fishers. She examines the political pressures and bureaucratic structures that deprive government managers of the incentives and tools necessary to make sustainable decisions. She calls for systems of self-managed ownership that remove decisions about catches and habitat from the political arena. read more »
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Presentation to Managing a Wasting Resource: Would Quotas Solve the Problems Facing the West Coast Salmon Fishery?, a conference held in Vancouver, BC, in May 1996. read more »
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TabGroup5
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Environment Probe turned 20 this year. To our surprise and delight, we also learned this year that our foundation maintains Canada's most popular environmental web site. The reason, we suspect, is that the public doesn't like top-down environmentalism, and we have the field of community-based, market-oriented environmentalism pretty well to ourselves. read more »
|
|
|
|
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Earlier this year, several days after a lengthy interview with a writer for a weekly news magazine, I received a puzzled e-mail. "How would you describe yourself politically?" the writer asked. "Do you lean towards the left or the right?" read more »
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm feeling a little nostalgic. It's the tenth anniversary of Environment Probe's founding, and as I look back over my time here, I find my mind wanders less to the small victories we've had from time to time, and more to the rewarding comments I've received from supporters over the years, comments that touched and inspired me and led me to squirrel them away in a special file. I'd like to share several of them with you. read more »
|
|
|
|
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|
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Politics – not science – drives far too many decisions at the government department in charge of Canada's fisheries. The extent to which the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has become politicized, and the tragic results, have been made frighteningly clear over the course of the past year. read more »
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This summer, we received a letter from an Australian lobster fisher. He had just met a Canadian fisher, who had given him a photocopy of an Environment Probe chapter from a book about the crisis in our Atlantic fisheries. Excited about our ideas, he invited us to speak at a conference of fishers, fisheries managers, and scientists from Australia and New Zealand. read more »
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Quebec's bureaucrats don't appreciate our findings. They complain that our recent study of sewage pollution in Quebec makes them look like they're incompetent, or not doing their jobs. And no wonder. The study, by Environment Probe researcher Martin Nantel, points out that although Quebec has made considerable progress since the 1970s (when wastewater treatment facilities served less than two per cent of the population), 376 municipalities, representing 1.5 million people, still flush their sewage directly into lakes and rivers. When we released the study early this year, media interest created great consternation in government ranks. The Environment Minister is now demanding explanations from senior bureaucrats, who berate our uncompromising positions. read more »
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Can you imagine a greater example of incompetence than the federal government's stewardship of the east coast fishery, where the cod stocks have been recklessly depleted and entire communities are now on welfare, losing both their economic independence and their dignity? When the welfare runs out in several years, many of the communities will become ghost towns, emptied like the fisheries nearby. read more »
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TabGroup4-
Fisheries and Oceans Canada Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia -
NCPA Debate Central: Resources for 2003-2004 National Forensic League Topic The Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters (CCPFH)
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