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I believe you are mistaken.
If you, your neighbor and I were to buy a piece of property, intending to rent it out, and we did so for a while, but then the two of you decide to evict the tenants and never rent it out again, using the excuse that you don't want the carpet to get dirty, you would owe me for the amount of the use of the property you stole from me.
This is what we did to the shrimper. He had a livelihood, and was a partial owner of the sea, as are we all. By changing the rules, we have harmed him. We stole the use of the property, changing the agreement without bothering with his consent. At the very least, we owe him a cash payout for the amount he has been damaged.
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And, yes, you are using the property, or at least condoning the way it is being used. You choose to leave it undeveloped, or as a turtle hatchery, or whatever. Others are free to use it concurrently as long as they don't interfere with the way you want it used. Just remember that choosing to save a resource for use at a later date, or not at all is just as much of a use as commercially exploiting the the property.
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[ 04-23-2003, 05:56 PM: Message edited by: Thorfinn ]
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