SOLVING THE “COMMONS TRAGEDIES” WITH RIGHTS BASED MANAGEMENT.

ABSTRACT Recently, the Pew Environment Group released a study that finds that E. U. fisheries have failed to reduce fleet capacity thus exerting fishing pressure on stocks at two time sustainable levels. Overcapacity and overcapitalisation was identified as the principal failure of the Common Fisheries Policy. The study highlights that member-states failed to take environmental and social concerns into consideration when allocating public funding. This conclusion may be important in the CFP reform (2012) and put the discussion about the tools to get sustainable management. The idea of creating markets for fishing rights as a means of internalising the externalities derived from the common property nature of fisheries have received considerable attention by the founding fathers of Law and Economics and Fisheries Economics. The solution is to create a market of individual transferable quotas (ITQs) and confide in the self-regulation of such a system to conduct fisheries to economic efficiency and promote inter-temporal sustainable use. Rights Based Management schemes have already been experimented in specific fisheries and localizations. These experiences have teaching results about good practices of sustainable management and the limitations of these tools. The conclusions are fundamental to explore the feasibility of these tools as instruments of conservation in the CFP. The purpose of this communication is to enter this debate. Key Words: Fisheries, Individual Transferable Quotas Rights Based Management