Welcome to Rye Country Day's Economic Blog. Here you will find perspectives by students taking Economics at Rye Country Day School. It is meant to be a forum where students can openly express their ideas and take positions on relevant economic issues. I urge everyone to participate in presenting their own ideas in an open manner so that we can all learn from each other. Regardless of whether you are currently taking Economics, everyone is invited and encouraged to comment on articles and get involved. Feel free to e-mail me, Alex Osborne at alexander_osborne@rcds.rye.ny.us , with comments or suggestions.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Featured Entry - Over Fishing of Salmon in Russia

The over fishing of salmon near Russia is becoming a serious problem. Fish are being hunted so quickly and effectively that they are unable to spawn at a fast enough rate to maintain the population. The over demand for salmon for an under supply of fish is causing prices to go higher. So how do we solve this problem of over fishing? Tax both the fish, and the licenses needed to fish the salmon. Tax for selling salmon, and then tax buying salmon. Though this would probably hurt the economy and the fisherman, it is important to stop this problem.

-Alex Buckingham

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think that if you tax the fisherman and the salmon the people will find a way to not pay those taxes for selling the fish. Plus, most of the fish that is caught in Russia is caught by unlicensed fisherman so taxing the licenses would just make everyone be unlicensed. Eventually, the salmon business will probably become like the ikra business is right now. Where ikra is being sold that hasn't been sanitation tested because the people that are selling the ikra are not licensed fisherman. Ikra is also a luxory which is why it is very expensive, if their are not enough salmon then salmon prices will also rise because it will also come to be known as a luxory like ikra. So personally, I would try to avoid taxing someone yet, Russia is not America.

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

We talked a lot about over fishing in my environmental class. It is a huge issue both for the economy and the environment. Since the ocean is a common area and can be used by anyone it is often an exploited resource. We don't really have the power to control what goes on in the fish industry because so much of it takes place out of the US. The US has tried making laws for fisheries, limiting the number of permits, shortening the seasons, lower quotas, only allowing the capture of fish of certain sizes but just having the US do this doesn't solve the problem because countries like Japan (huge fish industry) won't necessarily adapt or follow our laws. In order for the environmental issue to be solved the entire fishery industry needs to come together. From an economic standpoint the lack of fish that is caused by over-fishing is really hurting the industry. Fishermen are spending more time at sea catching a smaller number of fish, and smaller sizes. Fishermen are in big trouble because they aren't able to make the same amount of money they did a few years ago because since fishing became so efficient there is nothing left to fish. Before the economic issue can be tackled I think the environmental issue needs to be dealt with.