Guided by an invisible harpoon? Market approach to saving the whales
Vernon Rive . 12/01/2012 11:26:22 a.m.
An article in Nature magazine out today has received a bit of press, including this article in the Herald, and this one in the Guardian.
The authors argue for a new market approach to whale conservation:
"We
propose an alternative path forward that could break the deadlock:
quotas that can be bought and sold, creating a market that would be
economically, ecologically and socially viable for whalers and whales
alike. Because conservationists could bid for quotas, whalers could
profit from whales even without harvesting the animals. A market would
therefore open the door to reducing mortality without needing to battle
over whether whaling is honourable or shameful."
It's an interesting idea. But I can't help thinking that the authors fundamentally misconceive the underlying motivations for much of the whaling activity currently taking place. Nations such as Japan whale not for economic reasons, but to assert their standing and place in the international community.
Because economics has little to do with the drivers for whaling, market mechanisms don't offer much of a solution. As I've suggested in an earlier post, it's going to take a groundswell of public opinion, crucially from young people from whaling nations such as Japan and Norway, to create a social and political environment where whaling is not seen as acceptable. Sea Shepherds' antics in the Southern Ocean won't do much there. Nor, I reckon, will the theoretically attractive, but basically flawed proposal from Costello, Gerber and Gaines for a tradeable permit system in whale meat.
By Vernon Rive on 12/01/2012 11:26:22 a.m. | Comments (0) | Print |
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