Hunting rights and conservation : the Portuguese case

Abstract

Hunting and game-preservation are interrelated. There are two fundamental traditions in the legislation on hunting property rights: the Romanic tradition and the Germanic one, with different consequences in terms of resources use and conservation. The Economic Theory of Common Resources has been applied to provide conclusions about the management and conservation of hunting resources. In this paper, we derive a model of hunting management, adapting the Gordon/Schaefer fisheries model. The conclusions of the model are confronted with Portuguese hunting regulation.