Tim Worstall wrote:
As has been pointed out by a number of people, not limited to myself,
on this and other newsgroups, fisheries are simply the Tragedy of the
Commons writ large. Check out some of the other recent threads to see
the full arguments. But at root, that is the primary cause, not the
proximate, it is the economic structure of the industry that is at
fault. Until that is changed there will be no lasting solution.
I would also note that two countries have lasting solutions : Iceland
and Norway. And they´ve done it by making the fishermen own the fish
directly. Just as Hardin said in his original essay, one can have
either private or social solutions to the overuse of a Commons
resource. Yet at present, fisheries are still run as commons. Absurd.

The Soviet Union also managed to manage salmon stocks in the NW
(The practice was older, the Soviets just didn't disrupt it). There
they simply banned capture of salmon at sea. By the time the salmon
reach the rivers you could put up nets capturing most salmon and
letting enough of them pass for reproduction. Since salmon come back
to the same river it's ideal for local management. This was really
neither a capitalist or a propertly communist solution but one that
predated both.

And most fisheries are not run as commons today, but are (inefficiently)
managed by governments. If you happen to have a link to how Norway and
Iceland manage their fisheries I'd appreciate it. My impression isn't
quite as rose as yours.