Will spatial property rights lead to ocean conservation? Christopher Costello Bren School – UC Santa Barbara California and the World Ocean September 9, 2010

Connectivity in marine systems A human action in one place affects: 1.Ecosystem service provision 2.Level of service in future 3.Level of service in other places 4.Other services of value I’ll focus on fisheries Movies: “Flow Fish and Fishing” UC Santa Barbara

Marine spatial planning MSP considers – Services & values – Impacts – Ecological interactions How far will MSP go? – Where, who, how much – Devolve decisions locally? Spatial planning in Lesser Sunda, Indonesia Courtesy of The Nature Conservancy

Spatial property rights in ocean? Spatially exclusive areas allocated – Individuals – Communities – Cooperatives Little or no gov’t regulation inside – Co-management Territorial User Right Fisheries (TURFs) TURFs in Chile Castilla (2010)

TURFs for fisheries management Spatial exclusivity: – Align profitability and sustainability – Local actions benefit owners of TURF – Conservation incentive Bioeconomic models predict effects: – Conservation – Profitability of fishery Hypothetical TURFs in S. California Costello & Kaffine (2010)

Spatial externalities with TURFs Models reveal externality: – Harvest in one TURF affects other TURFs – Incentive to overharvest TURF size? – White & Costello (2010) Requires cooperation across TURFs. Red Sea Urchin, California Photo: C. Costello

Cooperatives on TURFs Coordinate harvest across TURFs Ensures against over-harvest Higher profits Higher fish stocks Chignik Cooperative, Alaska FEDECOOP: Baja California, Mexico

“Private” conservation? Models show: – Coordinated TURFs close strategic areas to fishing – “Private MPAs” – Higher profits Global evidence: – TURFs lead to private conservation areas – Japan, Chile, Oceania, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico Optimal MPAs in hypothetical TURF fishery Costello & Kaffine (2010)

Opportunities and challenges Opportunities – Market vs. political process – Easements, parks, marine conservation agreements – Multi-use areas Challenges – Restrictions – Allocation, transferability – Oversight, tenure length – When is “space” right dimension? – Climate change

Conclusions Spatial Property Rights may be next step in practically applying principles of MSP Connectivity induces spatial externality – can be corrected by cooperation In places with TURFs, private-sector conservation results A platform for market-based conservation