Public Trust Doctrine: Too Broad

Abstract

In their Policy Forum (“Legal bedrock for rebuilding America's ocean ecosystems,” 10 April, p. [183][1]), M. Turnipseed et al. claim that extending the “public trust doctrine” to all U.S. ocean waters would more effectively promote cooperation in ocean governance than the “failing status quo.” However, the authors fail to consider viable nonregulatory solutions to ocean management, such as long-term leases, second-bid auctions, and other public-private contractual arrangements—alternative governance mechanisms that are now commonly used to manage a wide variety of common-pool natural resources, including public lands, fisheries, and water resources ([ 1 ][2]). In addition to conservation goals, federal ocean agencies must balance an array of competing uses of ocean resources, including energy, fishing, shipping, tourism, and military. With so many competing stakeholders in play, the public trust doctrine is too broad to provide effective guidance in ocean management. Instead of a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach, Congress should confer on U.S. ocean agencies the legal authority to experiment with alternative mechanisms to determine which solutions best promote efficiency and equity among these myriad competing uses. 1. [↵][3]1. R. Grafton 2. et al ., J. Law Econ. 43, 679 (2000). [OpenUrl][4][CrossRef][5][Web of Science][6] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1170889 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [4]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DJ.%2BLaw%2BEcon.%26rft.volume%253D43%26rft.spage%253D679%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1086%252F467469%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [5]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1086/467469&link_type=DOI [6]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=000165134600013&link_type=ISI