Robert Williamson

Robert Williamson, Scotland's inspector of salmon and freshwater fisheries, believes that property rights can be a powerful conservation tool.
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"That was promoted by the salmon fishery owners in order to protect their asset and they persuaded Parliament that it should be passed and it was passed," Williamson says.

Robert Williamson, Scotland's inspector of salmon and freshwater fisheries, believes that property rights can be a powerful conservation tool."The salmon is a migratory fish, and its movements are predictable.Because it returns to rivers, it comes to places where it's easily accessible and as a consequence it can be relatively easily caught.The right to fish for salmon was particularly valuable.If access to a renewable resource is private property, then the proper, long-term management of that renewable resource is in the direct and immediate interests of those who have the right of access to it.Where there is a history and a natural development of private ownership of fishing rights, then there could be advantages in ensuring that you don't lose it, or in making it work as well as you can."

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"That was promoted by the salmon fishery owners in order to protect their asset and they persuaded Parliament that it should be passed and it was passed," Williamson says.