ABSTRACT

In this chapter we shall analyse the cropping of biological resources that are self-reproductive. As a typical example we have chosen fishing, although our analysis could equally well apply to such resources as forests and herds of animals. An important distinction exists between resources to which a person may have property rights, for example, a forest, and resources where this does not apply (for example, pelagic or ocean fish-ing). In the last-mentioned case, too, a conflict may easily arise between social and private exploitation of resources on account of the ‘l/n effect’, see Chapter 5, section 5.2