Team 6: October 29th

Establishing a law that requires all fishing vessels to have a GPS tracking device on board will make the regulation of fishermen and fishing companies much simpler and more effective. It will allow regulating bodies to know which fleets are in the water and whether or not they are within legal boundaries. For fishermen, it is an simple way to determine which closed areas are in effect. For all fishing vessels currently in operation, the cost of the tracking devices can be subsidized.

Establishing a fish tax will put the cost of depleting fisheries on the consumer. Similar to gasoline tax and cigarette taxes, a fish tax will increase the cost of any fish products sold on the market. Currently there is a very high demand for fish, and if we are to keep a sustainable global fish population, we cannot catch the number of fish needed to meet this demand. An increase in fish prices will not only discourage consumers from buying more fish, thus lowering the demand, but it will make them aware of the crisis in our oceans today.

Issues: poor people now cannot afford fish (but in America there are substitutes)

Other ideas:
*Subsidizing fishing is NOT a solution.
*Fish tax vs. tariffs?
*what if countries aren't allowed to fish in each others waters at all? (make distant water fleets illegal) then the only way to get fish would be through imports and exports, which is easier to regulate than flaghopping
*set international standards for nitrates/phosphates (<-- algae)

Todd: October 28th

Let's start expanding the outline by adding questions and topics that need to be addressed under each section of the outline. If you make changes please sign them with your name and date. Substantial restructing of the outline is probably best left in the hands of the executive committee. Possibly we could also use this page to keep track of work assignments, but I would like to discuss that in class first. The page will look better if it is edited in Wiki Markup language. It's not hard to do. If you would like to alter, object, or otherwise comment on any of these suggestions, please contact me.
Todd Mooring 10/28

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