Fish on the range: the perils of crossing conceptual boundaries in naturalresource policy

This paper examines the recurring theme that fisheries management ought to emulate the institutional arrangements governing other natural resources, s uch as public rangelands. Overly facile comparisons between fisheries and r ange have been based on a misguided vision of range policy and an obsession with the structure of property rights. The result has been a condition of "structural narcosis" that obscures obvious but important differences betwe en range and fisheries and obstructs more productive and sophisticated atte mpts at comparative inquiry. This paper provides a more detailed contrast b etween past range and current fisheries policy in the United States, in pur suit of more realistic lessons for policy makers. Range management, the pap er concludes, is evolving in directions that are instructive for fisheries, but the crossing of conceptual boundaries between these two resources must be undertaken with care and greater attention,to detail. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.