Question

Consider the fishermen dilemma we studied in Section 5. Suppose that the lake in which Aram and Bina go fishing is part of a small city called Lake Town. The mayor of Lake Town is worried about over-fishing, which may progressively deplete the stock of fish. She knows that you are now an expert in the microeconomics of Common Pool Resources, so she decides to hire you as a consultant. She wants you to write a brief report explaining in your own words (and in simple words, because she never studied microeconomics) what possible solutions they could adopt to address the problem of over-fishing. You should also give your informed opinion on which of these solutions Lake Town should go for.

Answer 1

Following solutions can be opted to solve the problem of over fishing:

• Strict regulations and policies should be enforced which should put ban on over fishing. Persons found as defaulters should be punished severely either with fine or any other suitable punishment.
• Providing an alternative source of employment to the local people apart from catching fish so that they can earn their livelihood and depletion of fish stock is avoided.
• Stop Trawling. Due to trawling a large part of aquatic wild life is caught in the net. Some of these aquatic animals are not even required for purpose of food and dead fish is returned to ocean resulting in loss of precious animals of water.
• Deciding the percentage of catch share. According to some statistics and data a catch share is allocated to the fishermen, which tells them how much of each sea species they are allowed to catch. This helps to replenish the depleting fish stock and also put a check on further fall in stock of fish.
• Educate the local people and consumers and create awareness among them about depleting fish stocks.
• Some local level campaigns can be launched to create awareness about saving fish stock. Also, some organizations can be formed with the main objective of saving fish and increasing their population.
• Avoid catching the fish whose count has reached below the danger level to avoid their complete extinction.
• Consumers should be made aware to eat more of fish which are plenty in number so that the burden on the category of fishes facing danger of extinction is reduced.
• Eating more of sustainable sea food like lion fish. Sustainable sea food is caught in such a way that plenty of fish remains in water for present and future use due to effective and responsible management. Consumers should buy seafood that has the Marine Stewardship Council sustainable seafood seal of approval.