Regional Ocean Governance: The Perils of Multiple-Use Management and the Promise of Agency Diversity

Abstract

"Two high-level committees--the United States Commission on Ocean Policy (U.S. Commission) and the Pew Oceans Commission (Pew Commission)--have recently issued reports expressing grave concerns about the condition of America's oceans. These committees identified the large number of 'overfished' American fisheries as an important problem. When a fishery is overfished and the size of the fish population is reduced to a suboptimal level, the result is economic harm to both fishermen and consumers. Excessive fishing also results in harder-to-price damage to marine ecosystems. Both the U.S. and Pew Commissions note the declining health of the ocean environment, as measured in terms of stability, productivity, and diversity. Recent studies show that the number of endangered species is increasing, with long-term damage to ocean habitats, dramatic shifts in the structure of marine food webs, and a decrease in the capacity of fish populations to recover from historic overfishing. While the economic costs of these impacts are more difficult to measure than the direct costs of overfishing, there is reason to believe they are significant."