The tragedy of the commons can be used to explain how the exploitation of resources leads to its subsequent depletion (Hardin, 1968). This concept is related to overfishing and the unfortunate loss of marine life and biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean is a common pool that is plentiful of resources, thus providing opportunity for economic gain to those able to take advantage. Unfortunately, there is a significant drawback with this behaviour: since it’s a common pool, individuals have little incentives to monitor their behaviours. They act upon self-interest and short-term personal gain, since they aren’t personally affected by the cost of their usage until the resource has begun to deplete. In fact, there are a set of factors that discourage people from limiting their use. In the instance where individuals limit their exploitation, they will incur an economic loss from not taking advantage of the resources available. They would also come to realise that self-monitoring doesn’t influence others’ behaviours, who will ultimately take the resource being freed up. This means, in turn, that individuals will have suffered a loss without accomplishing what they had set out to. Fishing companies have been long exploiting the resources the Mediterranean has to offer, which has led to the depletion of marine life. This consequently affects biodiversity, the overall balance of the ecosystem and will end up affecting the services offered by the Mediterranean. However, this process can be significantly impacted through collective effort and intervention, by means  of environmentally friendly governments and communities that create incentives and create policies to diminish overexploitation.

Next: Interventions 

Useful: Governmental management