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Property rights to the world’s (linear) ocean fisheries in customary international law

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  • Barrett, Scott

Abstract

I model the ocean as an array of lines set within a two-dimensional frame and show how the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) emerged as an equilibrium in customary international law. I find that custom codifies the efficient Nash equilibrium of enclosure for nearshore fisheries. For highly migratory and offshore fisheries, enclosure is inefficient, and customary law supports a more efficient " free sea” regime. The model also identifies the trigger for changes in property rights and the reason choice of a particular limit, like the current 200-mile zone, is arbitrary. In an asymmetric, regional sea, I find that the scope of the EEZ is determined by the relative power of coastal and distant water states, and need not be efficient. Finally, I find that proposals to nationalize the seas or ban fishing on the high seas are neither efficient nor supportable as equilibria in customary law.

Suggested Citation

  • Barrett, Scott, 2024. "Property rights to the world’s (linear) ocean fisheries in customary international law," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125568, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:125568
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/125568/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. By Michael Finus & Raoul Schneider, 2015. "Scope and compatibility of measures in international fisheries agreements," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 67(4), pages 865-888.
    2. H. Scott Gordon, 1954. "The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Chennat Gopalakrishnan (ed.), Classic Papers in Natural Resource Economics, chapter 9, pages 178-203, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Hannesson, Rögnvaldur, 2011. "Rights based fishing on the high seas: Is it possible?," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 667-674, September.
    4. Sanchirico, James N. & Wilen, James E., 1999. "Bioeconomics of Spatial Exploitation in a Patchy Environment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 129-150, March.
    5. H. Scott Gordon, 1954. "The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(2), pages 124-124.
    6. Dale Squires & Niels Vestergaard, 2013. "Technical Change and The Commons," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1769-1787, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    closure of high seas; customary international law; exclusive economic zone; ocean fisheries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F50 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - General
    • K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law
    • Q22 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Fishery

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