Chapter 14 The economics of fisheries management Fishery resources unlike minerals and fossil fuels are renewable in the sense that they are capable of growth. Unlike forests and most other renewable resources fishery resources are difficult to manage effectively because they are with few exceptions a common property. Most fish particularly finfish are very mobile and are not readily observable except upon capture. Consequently it becomes very difficult or very costly to assign rights of exclusive use to individuals or small groups. The importance of the economics of fisheries management has grown substantially over the past years as a consequence of the United Nations Third Conference on the Law of the Sea. The Conference has brought about a near revolution in the management of world fisheries. Fishery resources constitute common property resources with the consequence that fisheries are subject to a market failure. A major development in fisheries economics is the shift away from static to dynamic or capital theoretic analysis. Dynamic considerations in turn lead naturally to a consideration of problems arising from uncertainty.