Ocean privatization is the sale of the

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

s to private individuals or companies. ''

The Market for Liberty ''The Market for Liberty'' is a significant anarcho-capitalist book written by Linda and Morris Tannehill. It was preceded by the self-published ''Liberty via the Market'' in 1969. The work challenges statutory law and advocates natural law as t ...

'', published in 1970, stated that "as companies drilling for off-shore oil have proved, there is no reason why a piece of land cannot be owned and used simply because it is covered by water." In proposing privatization,

Walter Block Walter Edward Block (born August 21, 1941) is an American Austrian School economist and anarcho-capitalist theorist. He currently holds the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Economics at the School of Business at Loyola Universit ...

stated that "there are vast areas of human existence where private property rights play no role at all: oceans, seas, rivers and other bodies of water. But why should we expect that there would be any better results from such 'water socialism' than we have experienced from

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

on land?"

Murray Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian m ...

's ''

For a New Liberty ''For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto'' (1973; second edition 1978; third edition 1985) is a book by American economist and historian Murray Rothbard, in which the author promotes anarcho-capitalism. The work has been credited as an infl ...

'' likewise notes, "Anyone can capture fish in the ocean, or extract its resources, but only on the run, only as

hunters and gatherers A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

. No one can farm the ocean, no one can engage in

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

. In this way we are deprived of the use of the immense fish and mineral resources of the seas...Even now there is a simple but effective technique that could be used for increasing fish productivity: parts of the ocean could be fenced off electronically, and through this readily available electronic fencing, fish could be segregated by size. By preventing big fish from eating smaller fish, the production of fish could be increased enormously." Mary Ruwart's '' Healing Our World'' states, "Owners would also be more likely to invest in

artificial reef An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many re ...

s to bolster the fish population.

Whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

s could operate only with the permission of the owners, much as hunters must request permission to stalk deer on privately owned land. Ocean owners profit most by making sure that the valuable species in their region are not hunted to extinction." Much as ownership of land also, under the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

, included ownership of all the airspace above him upward indefinitely unto the heavens and downward into the center of the earth, and causing polluted air to enter another person's airspace would constitute

aggression Aggression is overt or covert, often harmful, social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or other harm upon another individual; although it can be channeled into creative and practical outlets for some. It may occur either reacti ...

, causing polluted water to enter waters owned by another person would constitute aggression that would be legally treated as such, under an

anarcho-capitalist Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enforce ...

system. In 2009 George Mason University professor Peter T. Leeson has suggested that ocean privatization could help combat Somalian piracy. Ršgnvaldur Hannesson's book ''The Privatization of the Oceans'' argues that privatization will help alleviate

the tragedy of the commons ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. Donald R. Leal's ''Let's Homestead the Oceans'' argues that regulation has failed and that individual transferable quotas, which guarantee each fisher a specific share of the total allowable catch before the season begins, should be established, or preferably, fullfledged property rights either to fishing areas or to the fish themselves should be created. The article argues that the more secure the property rights, the healthier fish populations and fishing communities will be. Some questions that arise in reference to

water privatization Water privatization is short for private sector participations in the provision of Water supply, water services and sanitation. Water privatization has a variable history in which its popularity and favorability has fluctuated in the market and p ...

are what areas are to be privatized exactly; how it can be ensured that the general public interest is not corrupted by private corporations acting alone or with government collusion to destroy these once-public resources; what would be a fair price to privatize oceanic tracts; how to hand over title to private firms to manage water resources; and how to manage any future transfers from one private institution to another.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocean Privatization Privatization

Privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

Water and politics

See also

References