| Summary: | "At the time of downfall of the Roman empire, fish had become so scarce that 'a fish costs more than an oxen' and only the very rich could afford it. This was not the effect of health campaigns, but the results of erosion of the finely tuned institutional mechanisms that provided a steady flow of fresh fish to the imperial metropolises. Both the sustained yield from convenient fishing grounds and the supply to the consumer of this most perishable of goods required well functioning logistics, appropriate technology and trustworthy institutions. Even with coldchains and satellite navigation, fisheries are still dependent on institutional arrangements for its very existence. As such it can to some extent serve as an "indicator-organism" of how well the institutions of a particular community, of a nation-state or of a region are functioning."
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