About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

18 Regulation 73 (1995)
Fishing for Markets: Regulation and Ocean Farming

handle is hein.journals/rcatorbg18 and id is 259 raw text is: Fishing for Markets Regulation and Ocean Farming Michael Markels Jr. Although three-quarters of the Earth's sur- face is covered with water, most produc- tive activities involve exploitation of land resources. A plan to fertilize the oceans and har- vest the resulting exploding population of fish would face more than technical problems. A political and economic obstacle, the lack of pri- vate property rights, could be equally daunting. Ocean farming of the Gulf Stream along the Atlantic Coast of the United States could increase that area's phytoplankton, the base of the food chain, by a factor of about one thousand-to a bil- lion tons per year by bringing the productivity up to the level that occurs naturally off the coast of Peru. That could increase the fish catch by a factor of 400-from 125,000 to 50 million tons per year. At 400 a pound for fish, that would be worth $40 bil- lion per year. On a sustained basis, such a revolu- tion in ocean agriculture could provide half a mil- lion new jobs, revitalize a declining industry, and generate high-quality protein and industrial fish meal for domestic consumption and export. The atmospheric carbon dioxide absorbed initially by the oceans could exceed carbon dioxide production from the burning of fossil fuels in the United States. Michael Markels Jr. is the founder of a national environmental company, Versar Inc., as well as the founder, president and CEO of a new company, Ocean Farming Inc., organized to commercialize his new, patented technology for enhancing the productivity of the oceans. All the ocean farming would take place within America's 200-mile exclusive economic zone, and all the impact would be within U.S. waters, assuring that the benefits from the increased fish production would be reaped by our fishing industry. The cost (principally for fertilizer) of the productivity enhancement program is esti- mated to be about $100 million per year. The program would provide over $400 million per year in additional tax revenues at the state and national levels. When the benefits from ocean farming have been demonstrated, they can be applied to the other U.S. coasts and to similar ocean currents around the world. But this plan or any similar plan to make use of the sea's resources would run into a funda- mental problem. Since the ocean is a commons- that is, an area not owned by specific individuals or entrepreneurs-investment by private industry may not be possible. Some kind of private prop- erty rights need to be created so that those who bear the costs of farming can reap the rewards. The only other option is for the U.S. government, the owner of the resource, to become the ocean farmer. This is a role ill suited to government and the political process-especially under the cur- rent political climate of cost-cutting and decen- tralizing. Background The earliest history of the human race shows REGULATION, 1995 NUMBER 3 73

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most