Fisheries regulation: A survey of the literature on uncertainty, compliance behavior and asymmetric information

Economists normally claim that a stock externality arises within fisheries because each individual fisherman does not take the effect on stock size into account when making harvest decisions. Due to the stock externality, it is commonly argued that fisheries regulation is necessary, but regulatory decisions are complicated by a tremendous amount of uncertainty and asymmetric information. This paper provides an overview of selected parts of the literature on the regulation of fisheries under uncertainty and asymmetric information, and possible areas for future research are identified. Specifically, three main topics are covered. First, the issue of choosing regulatory instruments under uncertainty is discussed. Second, compliance and enforcement problems caused by fisheries regulation are investigated. Third, alternatives to a traditional enforcement policy are presented.