The tragedy of the commons is a great launching point for understanding this problem. Managing fish populations is one of the best examples.

For further reading, I suggest folks check out Elinor Ostrom, an economist who spent time developing regulatory solutions for managing fish populations. She was even able to implement a few!

Yes. Author highlights the critical metric:

> ... 87 populations were found to be in the “very bad” category, with biomass levels at less than 20 per cent of what is needed to maximize sustainable fishery catches

The “Tragedy of the Commons” is a straw man fallacy. The commons have historically always been collectively managed by the villagers grazing their animals on it. What you should be complaining about is the tragedy of an unmanaged (or in other words unregulated) commons.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2008/angus250808.html

That the oceans, a common resource, are not sufficiently regulated, suggests we need better global governance.

I hear Iceland and New Zealand have sustainable ownership based systems.