Fishing Permits in the Venice Lagoon

Fishing in the Venice lagoon has always been subject to strict rules due to a history of overfishing. During the 1970s, overfishing created an extremely low fish population. They tried to help the situation in 1983 by introducing the Asian clam. This clam can be harvested all year round and can provide a fisherman with a decent income. At the same time, it harms the biodiversity of the lagoon and is contributing to erosion because of the way it needs to be harvested. In order to prevent these issues from continuing, the harvesting will be limited to certain areas which means the number of fishermen also needs to be limited. 

One way to allocate fishing permits is to use a system of ‘grandfathering’. People who have fished in the lagoon the longest will be the first to receive permits under this system. This type of system is actually quite inefficient. The alternative would be to auction off the 500 permits for clam fishing. This is seen as more efficient and a more equitable distribution of permits. Options for different kinds of auctions include sealed bid, English (ascending bid), Dutch (descending bid), or second price (winner pays amount of second highest bid). Each kind of auction caters to a different priority. A sealed bid might get more participants, a Dutch auction might avoid collusion, and repeating an English auction 500 times will take a huge amount of time. The best auction to choose will be the one that has the best mix of costs and benefits and considers the priorities of the sale. For example, if the organizers want the least complicated auction, an English auction might be the best to choose because it is the type most people are familiar with. 

Our group traveled to the southern end of the Venice Lagoon to the town of Chioggia to visit the fish market. While there, we were able to watch that day’s catch get auctioned off to wholesale buyers. Buyers would whisper their bid to the middleman in charge of that sale and he would choose the highest bidder. Sometimes one buyer would buy all of the catch or other times it would get divided up among multiple buyers. This type of auction is quite similar to a sealed bid auction. After the market, we were walking through the town with one of the men from the fish market. He pointed out what was likely an illegal fishing boat because it had a very large motor and a poor attempt at hiding illegal fishing equipment. Unfortunately, illegal fishing is widespread and a lot more than just fishing permits are needed to solve the issue. Even if they found a way to fairly distribute fishing permits, illegal fishing would remain an issue. 

The first picture shows the scene at the fish market and the second shows some of the fish for sale.