For years environmentalists have been prescribing mountains of new regulations on the fishing industry in an effort to protect fish populations. But their drive to micromanage the industry has not helped revive fish populations. Now, a study in Science finds that a market based approach the defines property rights, called Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs), is succeeding where command and control regulation failed. The Economist reports: Most fisheries have an annual quota of what can be caught and other restrictions, such as the length of the season or the type of …
