2. Commentary Article

Overfishing Threatens Key Species in Mexico,

Greenpeace Says

 

16.02.2010

From Latin American Herald Tribune

 

MEXICO CITY – The species of fish and shellfish most consumed in Mexico "are at risk" due to overfishing, according to Greenpeace, which presented Tuesday a list of the ones that are most endangered.

Red snapper, shrimp, sardines, sharks, rays, tuna and groupers from the Gulf of Mexico, salmon from the Atlantic and grey mullet are all on the Red List prepared by the environmental organization.

"We Mexicans want to continue eating fish and shellfish, and we should not wait for their populations to be exhausted," Alejandro Olivera, coordinator of the oceans-and-coasts campaign for Greenpeace Mexico, said in a communique.

He blamed the National Fisheries Commission, or Conapesca, for the overfishing, since the current fishing policy has put "many" populations at risk and has impoverished the fishing sector by having more and more people working in it while undersea resources are disappearing.

Olivera demanded that Conapesca put order in the industry and said that his organization is not against fishing, "but we have to give the oceans a little breathing space."

Greenpeace proposes banning "predatory" fishing methods, such as trawling, "which clears out the sea bottom," and drift netting, "which catches turtles and marine mammals and other endangered species."

Other recommendations include avoiding the capture of young specimens that have not reproduced, "as happens in the case of sharks," according to Olivera.

"The big distributors and the fishing industry can and should also employ sustainable purchasing policies and stop buying species that are included in this document," he said. EFE

 

http://laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=352435&CategoryId=14091

Commentary 2

Silvia Dieter

IB Economics

04.03.2010

Commentary 2

Overfishing Threatens Key Species in Mexico,

Greenpeace Says

March 4^th 2010

From Latin American Herald Tribune

Syllabus: Market failure, negative externalities of production, permits, MPC, MSC, MSB, government tax

Words: 737

Fish and shellfish are most consumed in Mexico. This is due to the overfishing. More and more people are working in the fish industry for the reason that the production through "predatory" methods, such as trawling and drift netting, is fairly cheap and the demand is high. However, through these fishing methods, the fish population is disappearing. Also, the high demand for fish encourages the fishers to continue the mass-production. The article says that 'Current fishing policies has put "many" populations at risk'. Yet, the government has not taken actions in order to reduce the overfishing.

A market failure exists when there is an over/under allocation of resources to a certain good. Overfishing is a market failure because it is an overproduction of fish. This means that the production of fish is faster than the replication of the fish population. Fish is a scarce resource since it is a highly desired but limited and unregulated good. At the same time it is a negative externality of production. This means that production of fish has a negative effect on a third party. In this case there will be negative ecological consequences since the animals that eat these fish won't have anything to eat because of the exhaustion of the population. The diagram on the right side shows the negative externalities of the fish production. MSB is the marginal social benefit; the amount of output demanded by the society at different prices. Fish is a merit good, which means that they are underprovided and beneficial to society. Eating fish is healthier than for example fast food. MSC stands for marginal social cost; the cost the production externalizes and consequently the society has to face. MPC represents the marginal private cost; the producer externalizes some of its cost. Qe/Pe represents the quantity and price being in equilibrium. Qso/Pso stands for the social optimum level. Regarding the diagram, there is a misallocation of fish resources; too much fish is being produced at a too low price. Therefore there is a dead weight loss (yellow shaded area); the cost the society has to face by the inefficiency in the fish industry.

In order to prevent overfishing and reduce its quantity demanded the markets prices have to rise. Due to the tragedy of commons this shows the phenomena of arrival good being unregulated. Releasing negative advertisement about fishing methods (i.e. drift netting) and the negative consequences on the environment might be a solution for decreasing the demand for fish: the society stops buying fish which were being caught through these methods. Also, opening people's eyes by explaining the long term consequences, for example that the fish will become extinct, might help decreasing the demand.

To facilitate the decrease in supply and correct the marker failure, the government could set taxes on the fish industry. However, it is difficult to determine the right amount of tax.

As shown on the diagram, due to the tax, the price for the product will rise. As result there is a lower quantity demanded. When taxing the fish industry, the government receives a tax revenue (consumer burden + producer burden).

Another way of decreasing the overfishing is by setting permits. Establishing permits means that each producer has a certain fishinglimit. Hence the fish population is able to survive before it's exhausted. Therefore the overfishing is automatically limited. Furthermore, when the demand rises (Dfp (fish population) shifts to the right D1), fishing is more expensive for the fishermen (from P1 to P2). This is an incentive for fishers to regulate the fishing. Another option for them is to sell their permits in order to gain profit without fishing. This would probably be the most efficient market-based solution against overfishing.

In the article it says "We Mexicans want to continue eating fish and shellfish, and we should not wait for their population to be exhausted". In my opinion, the society should take over responsibility to their actions. If they want to continue eating fish then they have to fight against the overfishing and the disappearance of their environment. If transparent functioning permits system would deffenatly be a step in the right direction. I think that overfishing is a very important matter which on one hand has many negative consequences and on the other hand needs to be fought for our utility.