Ecological Economics 36 2001 223 – 236
SURVEY
Challenges for economic policy in sustainable management of marine natural resources
Derrin Davis
a,
, Donald F. Gartside
b
a
Graduate Research College, Southern Cross Uni6ersity, PO Box
157
, Lismore, NSW
2480
, Australia
b
Center for Coastal Management, Southern Cross Uni6ersity, Lismore, NSW
2480
, Australia Received 17 April 2000; received in revised form 19 September 2000; accepted 20 September 2000
Abstract
The sustainable management of marine natural resources presents particular challenges to the managers of those resources. While such management has typically been based on biological considerations, it is argued that this has
resulted in overexploitation and destruction of important marine assets in industries such as fishing and tourism. Consequently, it is concluded that other approaches are needed, with the use of economic concepts and management
tools particularly relevant. At the same time, the human welfare outcomes of the application of various policy instruments must be carefully considered. While biological information is critical to the formulation and implementa-
tion of successful management regimes, it is concluded that the application of economic instruments will become more attractive to resource managers, with these instruments underpinned by consideration of property rights and an
appropriate allocation of economic rents. A greater focus on these economic matters will take resource managers further in the direction of sustainable management of increasingly scarce marine resources. The conclusions in the
paper are supported by various case studies from fisheries and tourism. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords
:
Marine natural resources; Sustainable management; Fisheries; Tourism; Economic instruments www.elsevier.comlocateecolecon
1. Introduction
The natural resources of the sea are extremely valuable and, for the most part, are renewable. If
properly managed, they should provide continu- ing returns into the future without diminishing
their productivity. Yet, for many of these re- sources, including those of importance to indus-
tries such as fishing and tourism, efficient management and sustainable exploitation have
been the exception rather than the rule. Resources have been depleted and have collapsed due to
over-exploitation, with severe economic and social consequences for the humans relying on them.
For example, the collapse of cod stocks on the
Corresponding author. Fax: + 61-2-66215386. E-mail address
:
ddavisscu.edu.au D. Davis. 0921-800901 - see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
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banks in the Northwestern Atlantic by the mid- 1990s resulted in more than 40 000 people being
unemployed in the Canadian Maritime Provinces. With Federal Government assistance to these peo-
ple due to expire after 7 years, the fish stocks still have not recovered Kurlansky, 1997. On a
global scale, the magnitude of the problem is illustrated by global marine fish production esti-
mated to cost 124 billion per year to harvest the operating cost of the global fishing fleet, but
returning revenues of only 70 billion Mace, 1997. The 54 billion shortfall is thought to
represent various kinds of government subsidies to fishing that help entrench both the over-ex-
ploitation of resources and the economic ineffi- ciency of the fishing industry.
Although there has been considerable develop- ment of both economic theory and biological
models as they apply to the management of marine natural resources over the past 50 years,
policy development for the marine environment is particularly complicated compared with that for
many land-based resources. Despite development of increasingly sophisticated and complex policy
frameworks, biological, economic and social out- comes often have been poor. Complications range
from wider questions of sovereignty at both inter- national and state levels to the difficulty of defin-
ing ownership of free-ranging or migratory resources like fish stocks. Establishing property
rights in ways that result in the generation and fair distribution of economic rent, along with
sustainable utilization of resources, has proved to be extremely difficult.
Four major areas of economic policy that have emerged as significant issues for the proper man-
agement and development of marine natural re- sources
are discussed
in this
paper: implementation of appropriate economic instru-
ments; establishment of property rights; genera- tion and distribution of rent; and management of
resources for sustainability. While there are obvi- ous overlaps and interactions between these areas,
they are separated to some extent in the following discussion to allow easier consideration of their
characteristics and potential roles in marine re- source management.
2. Economic instruments for managing marine natural resources
