The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet
NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?
While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here
-
Recent Posts
-
Douglas Ward Wickens fell off a fishdragger. If Ward had been wearing a PFD…
-
In Depth: Rose de Cascia
-
‘Bluefin Blowout’? You mean Bluefin Blowoff! – Everyone showed up but the tuna
-
Putting safety at sea first with man-overboard drills
-
P.E.I. Lobster fishermen are going to some extreme lengths to keep the crustaceans cold
-
Maine’s scallop season looks strong, is over for 2015
-
Cabinet members Gina McCarthy, Sally Jewell tackle controversies in Alaska
-
Lean year forecast for southern Labrador shellfish crews
-
NMFS Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program Request for Proposals – Revisions to the Butterfish Mortality Cap in the Longfin Squid Fishery
-
Coast Guard crews tow fishing boat from 100 miles off Boston, Editorializes owner responsibility.
-
MAIB ‘Safety Lessons’ published one year after the tragic death of two Teignmouth fishermen
-
Family members upset over Newburyport fishermen monument
-
Compass: Protect Bristol Bay and Bering Sea fisheries for keeps – Karen Gillis, Executive Director for Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association
-
Judge rules BP’s reckless conduct caused Gulf oil spill
-
Flooding 60-foot F/V Endeavor contact Coast Guard for assistance at 09:15 this morning, tied up 12:20 this afteroon
-
Washington State loses major legal battle, might pay up to $2B to save salmon
-
Gillnet fishermen work to reduce porpoise bycatch, are continuing to make concerted, proactive choices
-
At annual Stonington blessing, fishermen add one more to ranks of those who have died at sea
-
Experiment: Converting the American Samoa Longline fishery into the Science fishery – audio
-
Lobster industry blasts proposed regulations intended to protect whales
-
Woman shot on fishing vessel in Port of Cape May
-
Port Saunders fisherman Conway Caines says survey discriminated against him because of his job
-
Best boot? A commercial fisherman’s likes and dislikes.
-
N.C.Commercial fishing advocate Janice Smith’s legacy
-
Demystifying Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management
-
Quick run and tell Henny Penny, the sky is falling the sky is falling
To think todays top fishing vessels with their state of the art electronics and best captains available teaming up with spotter planes with no consequence for catching the wrong size menhaden or “bycatch” without a reported quota could not hurt the population of an easily spotted surface feeder like the menhaden in their primary breeding grounds is ignorant and irresponsible. There is money on both sides of this equation, with one side far more short sighted than the other. What is worth more, an outdated company trying to promote products in an outdated way using slash and burn methods or the trickle down effect into the multitude of fisheries that would benefit from a more robust harvest given an improved forage base?
I agree ,Swampdog! The ENGO’s are far more shortsighted and narrow minded!
But that’s why they get paid the Big Oil Buck’s and recieve that Foundation funding.
so the answer then is to continue to harvest an environmentally or otherwise depleted species without any regulation? come on now, lets stick to the topic and stop getting caught up in the politics of it all.
The topic of the article is Pew.
It’s so much bigger that the menhaden issue.
ENGO’s and NGO’s get paid to advance their agenda so of course can be shortsighted. i am a fisherman and have fished aboard gillnetters and draggers from Virginia Beach up to Maine. it’s not about who is more shortsighted here it’s about the health of the fishery and putting a cap on what is pulled out so that future generations of watermen can provide for their families. only people making good money off menhaden now are higher ups at Omega Protein.
Then how do you explain the fact that the scientists at the ASMFC have concluded that environmental factors are responsible for the poor recruitment the species has had over the past couple of years?