The Economics of Fishing in the Venice Lagoon

Fishing has been a part of the Venetian culture ever since its origin. From an economic standpoint, tourism is now a much larger part of the economy, but fishing is no less a part of the local culture. Today though, the greater part of the fishing community now faces more regulations and cutbacks from biologists than have been experienced in the past. Preventing the use of illegal nets and "ghost fishing" (a practice where the net is left at the bottom of the lagoon when the fishermen are done using it) are now more commonly in practice to prevent the devastation of certain types of species fish and crustaceans from going extinct. The need to have a balanced ecosystem is critical in the Venice lagoon today, especially with the amount of fish that are harvested today.

Today the Italian fish farmers from the Venice area farm anything from clams and mussels to crabs and shrimp. To catch different species of water creatures, unique nets and tackles are needed to bring in these various types of seafood. This incudes putting vibrating rakes into use, which destroys the ecosystem and distributes toxic pollutants in the sediment throughout the lagoon. When our group visited Chiogga, we met a biologist that mentioned that there were certain places that fishermen were not supposed to go, because they would disturb industrial pollution that has collected at the bottom of the lagoon over time. With so many diverse types of fishing tools and techniques, the fishing industry wreaks havoc on the marine system, so a question then arises: Is there an ideal amount of fishing that should be done in the Venice lagoon? 
In the fishing market today, we also saw the use of "whisper auctioning," where buyers could whisper into the auctioneer's ear to let them know the price that they were willing to pay for the fish. The auctioneer would then memorize these numbers, and select the highest price offered for the fish. For the sellers that cannot sell their fish, some will try to have their fish frozen. Unfortunately there is a limited amount of space for these fish, so some fish will typically end up wasted, and will have to be thrown away.

            Venice already benefits from a massive tourism industry, so relying on this fishing industry for added profit is likely not necessary. Looking at the opportunity costs (a benefit that a person could have received, but gave up, to take another course of action) of killing off such a large percentage of the fish and polluting the water compared to keeping a healthy lagoon with a healthy biological system is certainly worth taking into consideration. Venice will likely have to study this problem more closely within the next few years since tourism play such a large role in their economy, and a strong marine life is always appreciated. Only time will tell how the market for Venetian fish will change in the future.