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Marine protected areas in spatial property‐rights fisheries *
Author(s) -
Costello Christopher,
Kaffine Daniel T.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
australian journal of agricultural and resource economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.683
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-8489
pISSN - 1364-985X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8489.2010.00495.x
Subject(s) - marine protected area , spillover effect , externality , business , stewardship (theology) , property rights , fishery , fisheries management , environmental resource management , biological dispersal , habitat , ecology , fishing , economics , microeconomics , biology , politics , political science , law , population , demography , sociology
Marine protected areas (MPAs) and spatial property rights (TURFs) are two seemingly contradictory approaches advocated as solutions to common property failures in fisheries. MPAs limit harvest to certain areas, but may enhance profits outside via spillover. TURFs incentivize local stewardship but may be plagued by spatial externalities when the TURF size is insufficient to capture all dispersal. Within a numerical model parameterized to a California marine species, we explore the economic and ecological effects of imposing MPAs on a TURF‐regulated fishery. Whether MPAs can enhance or diminish profits (or fish abundance) hinges critically on the level of coordination already occurring between TURF owners. If coordination is complete, private MPAs may already emerge in some TURFs; implementing additional MPAs reduces profits. However, to the extent that coordination is incomplete, strategically sited MPAs may be an effective complement to spatial property rights‐based fisheries, increasing both fishery profits and abundance.