Property rights to the world’s (linear) ocean fisheries in customary international law

Scott Barrett

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: I model the ocean as an array of lines set within a two-dimensional frame and show how the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) emerged as an equilibrium in customary international law. I find that custom codifies the efficient Nash equilibrium of enclosure for nearshore fisheries. For highly migratory and offshore fisheries, enclosure is inefficient, and customary law supports a more efficient " free sea” regime. The model also identifies the trigger for changes in property rights and the reason choice of a particular limit, like the current 200-mile zone, is arbitrary. In an asymmetric, regional sea, I find that the scope of the EEZ is determined by the relative power of coastal and distant water states, and need not be efficient. Finally, I find that proposals to nationalize the seas or ban fishing on the high seas are neither efficient nor supportable as equilibria in customary law.

Keywords: closure of high seas; customary international law; exclusive economic zone; ocean fisheries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F50 K33 Q22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2024-05-31
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Published in Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 31, May, 2024, 11(3), pp. 689 - 718. ISSN: 2333-5955

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