NORTH PACIFIC FISHERIES ENVIRONMENT - INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

The extension of economic jurisdiction to 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zones or Fishing Limits enabled coastal and island nations to add vast wealth to their exclusively owned natural resource portfolio s. Simultaneously, the rights of nations to distant water fisheries we re, at best, reduced to privileges. The motives for enclosure were eco nomic, political, and strategic. However, simple economic theory sugge sts certain potential outcomes. First, if fishery stocks remained cons tant, restrictions and charges would make fishing in foreign zones rel atively more costly, fishing in the remaining high seas less costly, a nd fishing in the domestic zone possibly less costly. Relative costs a lso may favor exploitation of coastal and fresh water regions for aqua culture. Second, because stacks do not remain constant depletion in so me areas will alter relative costs. Investments in conservation will b e limited to claimed areas, where investors capture the benefits. Thir d, wherever maritime claims overlap or otherwise are unsettled, intern ational tension will mount. The analysis here demonstrates that these expectations have become reality in the North Pacific.