Free Market Fishing?

I just read an interesting article in the New York Times about managing the fish populations in the oceans.

The basic point of the article was that the fish populations are dwindling (almost to the point of extinction) for many types of fish and the Obama Administration wants to do something about it.

I've often had a problem with people who say we should just allow the "free market" to determine how fishing is done. I think this is why we are in our current situation.

I would hope that fishing companies would look out for the long-term interests by not taking too many fish in an unsustainable way, but the track record is not good. The market tells fisherman that they can make a lot of money by bringing in a lot of fish. Many fisherman and companies have not looked beyond this short term consideration.

To combat this issue, local fishing councils were established. Some of these were organized by fishing companies and some were organized through government agencies. So far, the council system has not been working. Fishermen are ignoring the rules or they are being led into bad decisions by trying to catch a lot of fish quickly while still following the rules of fishing only on limited days.

The new idea from the Obama Administration is to give a certain amount of "shares" to fishermen and fishing companies. The idea is that shareholders would be allowed to catch the percentage of shares they owned. If the fish stocks rise and become more sustainable, the amount of fish people are allowed to catch will also rise. Similar to the proposed cap and trade program for CO2 emmissions, this would be a "market" solution that would end the "free market" practices that are damaging the environment.

I like the basic theory of this new plan, except I wonder how the initial shares will be distributed. I also wonder how new companies will be able to enter the market. Do they just buy a certain amount of shares from an existing company?

Hopefully the new system will be transparent and accountable so things can be changed if they are not working. It is in all of our best interest to have sustainable fishing of our oceans. Right now, the type of fishing being done in the oceans is not sustainable.