Topical Problems in Fishery Economics: An Introduction‪.‬

This special issue contains a selection of papers presented at the 2005 North American Association of Fisheries Economics (NAAFE) Forum, which took place on May 25-27 at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/IIFET/NAAFE/2005Forum.html). In all, six peer-reviewed papers were accepted for this issue. They cover a variety of issues in fisheries economics, and together, represent recent developments to help address some of the difficult problems plaguing fishery management in the 21st century. Crothers and Nelson (this issue) look at the important problem of managing high-seas fisheries. Many of the fisheries in crisis today are inshore and within Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). The fisheries in the high seas, which constitute about 56% of the entire world's ocean area, have yet to reach the same state. Nevertheless, there is ample evidence of overfishing of the high seas, as excess capacity spills offshore. The challenge facing the global community is avoiding an international "Tragedy of the Commons" (Hardin 1968), where nations claim the right to participate freely and unhindered in utilizing the resources of the high seas.