World Aquacluture Magazine - September 2020

28 SEP TEMBER 2020 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S.ORG (VAP L ) to the point where it equals the average cost (AC) of labor such that rent drops to zero. The solution proposed by resource econo- mists was restricting access by means such as fishing quotas and li- censing. Reducing L, i.e. employment, is the solution. Compensation is something that must be paid to avoid a political crisis. An example is the government ban of pot fish fishing in Bermuda (Butler et al . 1993). Fishermen who lost their livelihoods were compensated $10,000 to $75,000 for relinquishing their fish pots. Researchers sought to work out alternative scenarios to rent dissipation. One approach is to rely on altruism or communal cooperation, which leans on the work of Ostrom (2000, 2008) that relies on a game theory framework. Government controls and informal, community-level controls can lead to successful resource management outcomes (Smith and Berkes 1991). Kraak (2011) used the mixed fishery for crabs and demersal fish off south Devon, UK (after Hart 1993, 2003) as an empirical example of how humans are not only motivated by purely immediate economic incentives, but also by social ones. Galappaththi and Berkes (2015) reported how small- scale shrimp aquaculture in northwestern Sri Lanka successfully applied collective action design principles in tune with Ostrom et al . (1999) to solve a commons problem. Many scholars, stressing localized successes, appear not to be aware of the global collapse in ocean fisheries related to the aggressive fishing behavior of some countries. McWhinnie (2009) pointed out that limiting international entry into the fishery through The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea’s declaration on the 200 nautical mile extension of the Exclusive Economic Zone has not resolved the tragedy of the commons. Analyzing a unique dataset on a panel of species from around the globe, data which included newly available catch and price information on more than 200 fish stocks, as well as data on exploitation status and biological and economic data, McWhinnie (2009) found that international sharing is a detrimental force affecting stock status. The more countries a fish stock is shared among, the more likely it is to be overexploited or depleted. Curiously though, fish farming has been adopted for more than a millennium in Asia as a long-established solution to open access fisheries. Neither Hardin nor the neo-classical resource economists were interested in this or even aware of the existence of aquaculture or its policy implications as their interest remains in ocean fisheries (Scott 1993). The promotion of Coasian neo-institutional economics (Coase 1960) by Cheung (1970a, 1970b), which influenced such scholars as Agnello and Donnelley (1975), Adler (2002), Edwards (2002) and his students, altered the landscape of fisheries research as a matter of property rights and innovations (Lai 1993, Lai and Yu 1995, Lai et al. 2005). Cressey (2009) stressed that future fish is farmed fish. The world’s population is projected to exceed 8 billion people by 2030 and the only way to meet increasing demand for fish is through aquaculture because around half of all fish stocks have been deemed by the FAO as “fully exploited” and around 30 percent are deemed “overexploited, depleted or recovering.” Aquaculture is now interpreted as a means of not just constrain- ing rent dissipation along the quantity dimension of fish harvest but also improving the quality and diversity of fish production and foster- ing the development of a live seafood market. All these are enabled by various Schumpeterian innovations that confer some entitlements to fisheries resources. Aquaculture does not simply enable rent maxi- mization by curbing fishing labor and hence reducing employment by equating the marginal cost of labor (MC) with the value of marginal product of labor (VMP L ), but shifts whole sets of VAP and VMP curves upwards so that both employment and rent can increase, at- taining sustainable development of both (Lai 1993, Yu et al . 2000). This is not to say that aquaculture is always and everywhere sustainable, as it is a matter of proper and responsible management. Iizuka and Katz (2011) presented Chilean salmon farming as an example of the “tragedy of the commons.” The industry grew for more than 20 years at amazing double-digit rates and successfully attained production efficiency. However, this rapid expansion came at the expense of sanitary and environmental deterioration, which led to the outbreak of infectious salmon anemia (ISA), a viral disease that decimated the salmon industry in 2008. This disaster is not really an example of the tragedy of the commons but more a case of bad management. The industry has recovered and concerns with ecology are being addressed (Quiñones et al . 2019). In any event, governance of fisheries that includes aquaculture is a management science with public health and food security dimensions (Bueno et al . 2007). Espinosa-Romero et al . (2014) analyzed the role of non- governmental organizations (NGOs) in the multi-scale governance of Mexican small-scale fisheries (SSF). NGOs in the Gulf of California region have significantly influenced the following key attributes of multi-scale governance: institutional-scale representation, cooperative management, collective action, match with ecological scales, horizontal and vertical information sharing, co-production of knowledge, social learning and institutional interplay. However, the participation of NGOs in promoting polycentric management was not so effective. Galappaththi et al . (2016) examined the role of community cooperatives on information sharing and its effects on supply chain management in community-based shrimp aquaculture in northwestern Sri Lanka. An efficient information sharing network is important for the community’s socio-economic well-being and social- ecological sustainability. Sri Lankan shrimp aquaculture is advanced as an example of the commons management approach integrated into supply chain management. Importance of Research and Development in Aquaculture Researchers have noted the importance of research and development of firms in aquaculture (De Silva 2001, Güttler et al . 2011). Martins et al . (2010) reviewed the most recent developments in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) that have contributed to the environmental sustainability of the European aquaculture sector. Feed, fish production and waste and energy are the principal components explaining the ecological impact of RAS. Ongoing development in RAS focus on technical improvements in the recirculation loop and recycling of nutrients through integrated farming. Both contribute to improve the environmental sustainability of RAS. Gardner Pinfold Consultants, Inc. (2019) suggested that Canada should nurture R&D in various modes of aquaculture of salmon, including RAS, getting cooperation of government, industry and academia. The cases reported here show in this context that universities have not simply generated new ideas and interpretations but also fostered R&D that tackles the tragedy of the commons. The indoor RAS culture of the giant grouper using tap water by a single private firm in Hong Kong (Lorne and Lai, in press) involves