Ocean zoning, first possession and Coasean contracts

Governments are being asked to integrate uses of ocean resources and space by developing comprehensive zoning plans. The current, sectoral practice establishes individual areas, such as marine protected areas, that satisfy constituents’ first-possession strategies to claim de facto ownership, but the zones are not integrated. Also, the emphasis on exclusive-use zoning to minimize spillovers in both approaches is costly when the value of excluded production is greater than spillover damages. Alternatively, property rights could be allocated to claimants and exchanged in contracts that internalize spillovers, account for all sources of value, and result in an optimal pattern of mixed-use and exclusive-use zones.