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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
Closing any area to trawling is the worst thing that can be done. Bycatch is not the problem. Trawlers have done everything asked to reduce bycatch and they have done so and what has been done has worked. When New River was closed they said it was for a 5 year study. Well it’s been way over 5 years and all that it has done is let the bottom cover with sediment and kill everything around there. So closing any waters in N.C. Is a bad idea but if anywhere is close to trawling then it should be closed to everyone. No hook should be able to touch the water.