Tragedy Of The Commons

Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, FL
34 42.54 N 081 05.58 W

p.s. I added a new "Search This Blog" feature on the sidebar at the right.  I also added a link to the Marathon City Marina Web Cam.  It is an excellent web cam.  You may be able to see us rowing in, or on the dinghy dock, or near the marina.  Tarwathie is visible in the far distance but you'll never spot her among the other boats.

I assume that you've all heard of The Tragedy Of The Commons.  We heard of a very sad and recent local example of it down here.

It used to be that Marathon was the fishing capital of the country.  Is is no longer.  The story why is sad.  It seems that the commercial fishing industry found out that there were lots of shrimp down here in the Hawk Channel.  They started bottom trawling for shrimp.  The trawl they dragged over the bottom destroyed the sea grass, leaving only pretty but dead white sand.

No sea grass, no shrimp.  No shrimp, no big fish.  That was the end of Marathon as a fishing paradise.

Regular readers know that I'm very libertarian at heart.  There are few things that governments do that I'm not against.   I must confess though that The Tragedy Of The Commons is a conundrum that we libertarians have a hard time resolving.

p.p.s. This morning we ran into a crowd of people who appeared to be running a marathon.  It turned out to be the Ragnar Relay, a 192 mile race from Miami to Key West that must be completed in 24 hours.  WOW!  Quite impressive.