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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://purl.umn.edu/28123

Title: RENT-SEEKING AND PROPERTY RIGHTS FORMATION IN THE U.S. ATLANTIC SEA SCALLOP FISHERY
Authors: Edwards, Steven F.
Issue Date: 2001
Abstract: This paper chronicles rent-seeking in the U.S. Atlantic sea scallop fishery, including its influence on property rights formation. Decades of lobbying by the U.S. fishing industry against foreign fishing and seafood imports caused Congress to extend federal jurisdiction to 200 miles in 1977. Scallop fishermen initially earned high profits for their efforts, but by about 1990 the overcapitalized fishery was surviving on new year classes. Limited access and a stock rebuilding program were introduced in 1994, but an asymmetric distribution of potential gains in favor of relatively few, multi-permit companies has preoccupied public debate on the transferability and consolidation of fishing rights. Rent-seeking by the limited-access permit holders is now also focused on claims by the growing open-access sector of the scallop fishery, groundfish bycatch limitations, and gear-induced habitat damage, which has drawn lawsuits from environmental organizations.
URI: http://purl.umn.edu/28123
Institution/Association: Marine Resource Economics>Volume 16, Number 4, 2001
Total Pages: 13
Language: English
From Page: 263
To Page: 275
Collections:Volume 16, Number 4, 2001

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