Open Sea Fishing
The Prisoner's Dilemma in the Classroom

You are a fisherman in waters to which no one has title, so it is an "open-access" area. You can fish by simple methods, in season, taking a reasonable harvest so that the fish population is sustainable. Or, you can outfit yourself with high-tech equipment and trawl for the maximum harvest right away, although continuing to trawl will destroy the population. Your Pair Member represents the other fishermen in this area.

• If you choose a "Trawl" policy, and the other fishermen do too, you will destroy the fish population but have high income in the short run.
  
  
• If you choose a "Small Harvest" policy, and the other fishermen do too, you will earn a sustainable, but not high, income.
  
  
• If you "Trawl," and other group doesn't, you will get a very high income while destroying the fish population; the other fishermen will have much smaller incomes in the short run, and none in the long run.
  
  
• If they "Trawl," and you don't, you will have a smaller income in the short run, and none in the long run; they will have a very high income in the short run while destroying the fish population.
  
  
• Note that "Very Big Temporary Income, No Long-Run Income" > "Sustainable Income" > "Big Temporary Income, No Long-Run Income" > "Low Temporary Income, No Long-Run Income,"
  and "Sustainable Income" > average of "Very Big Temporary Income, No Long-Run Income" and "Low Temporary Income, No Long-Run Income"