Over-exploited fisheries could become sustainable by using collective community-based rights, according to a professor of economics speaking at a recent conference. "We have a severe problem of over-exploitation of global fish stocks, with the associated damage of marine ecosystems," said Ragnar Arnason of Iceland University, speaking at the annual science conference of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Arnason identified two reasons for recent overexploitation: improvements in fishing fleets' technology and the growth of the human population. "The result is that we are now going far and wide to harvest fish stocks." Arnason said that the decline of fisheries is due to their being treated as common property, and that the only way to rebuild stocks is to install "fisheries management regimes based on individual rights" so that fishers will find it in their best interest to protect fisheries. For the full story, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24209950.