Example

Collapse of the Grand Banks Cod Fishery

For 300 years, the Grand Banks cod fishery was a cornerstone for US and Canadian fishing communities, but it collapsed in 1992 after decades of large-scale commercial fishing. This event exemplifies resource depletion driven by a key economic flaw: individual fishing firms had no incentive to conserve the cod stocks. Any fish one crew left to preserve the population would be caught by competitors, making conservation an act that would reduce one's own profits. This dynamic, combined with market prices that did not reflect the cost of depleting the cod population, created a rational 'race to fish' that led to the fishery's ruin.

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Updated 2025-09-29

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