Abstract:  This study examines the economic costs and benefits of countries attempting to unilaterally manage transboundary resources. Using the case of sea turtle bycatch interactions with the US longline fleet, the results show that unilateral conservation (by shutting down the highly regulated US fleet) not only reduces the producer and consumer benefits (e.g. By getting frozen instead of fresh seafood) but also induces increased mortality of the animal that is supposed to be saved because imports replace locally caught production and foreigners kill more of the animal. These results are consistent with the pollution haven hypothesis. This is the first full cost benefit analysis of any such situation and of the US Endangered Species Act.  The findings raise important issues for Australia about conserving not only animals but carbon and other forms of pollution that are transboundary, showing that unilateral conservation is ineffective and that conservation must be multilateral.

Biography: Dale Squires is Senior Scientist at NOAA Fisheries in La Jolla, California, Adjunct Professor of Economics at the University of California San Diego, on the Scientific Advisory Committees of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation and the International Pole and Line Foundation, on the social science group of CLIOTOP, and is a Handling Editor at Conservation Biology. He has worked with national governments across the globe, taught at universities in Australia, Asia, Europe, and North America, worked with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, WorldFish Center, FAO, OECD, and Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, and served on various fishery management teams of the Pacific Fishery Management Council. He is the author of about ninety peer-reviewed journal articles and co-author or co-editor of eight books and monographs. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in resource economics from the University of California Berkeley and a Ph.D. from Cornell University and studied at the American University of Beirut.