Societies in many developed nations are exhibiting strong preferences, through domestic legislation and international conventions, for the protection of marine mammals and endangered marine species. The effectiveness of these policies is unclear given that other parts of the world, notably the developing countries and Japan, have quite different valuations for these global environmental resources relative to income. The consequences of effective protection policies are also not well understood. Policies that protect these species at the expense of considerable restrictions on the commercial harvest of fish have secondary implications. Substitution to terrestrial-based protein sources can have severe environmental effects. Additionally, many developing countries rely heavily on fish for protein and foreign exchange. Restrictions in their harvests could have serious welfare implications for poor coastal nations. This project has two objectives. The first is a qualitative assessment of the effectiveness of U. S. and international policies regarding marine mammals and endangered marine species that ultimately restrict commercial fishing for other non threatened species, with the objective of determining the impact both on the protected species and on commercial harvests. The second is a quantitative analysis of consumption and international trade in commercial fishery products potentially affected by the above policies, and their interrelation with consumption and trade in substitute protein sources. The purpose of this analysis is to determine the magnitude of the secondary effects on the environment and the welfare of poor coastal nations.
