February 25-26, 2014 – New England Fishery Management Council Meeting at Double Tree Hotel 50 Ferncroft Road, Danvers, MA 01923 Phone: 978/777-2500 ; Fax: 978/750-7959 Read the agenda here Webinar Registration here 06:43
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
Why would anyone expect that the NEFMC meeting would have its sound quality optimized following months of complaints? Another EPIC FAIL.
This is typical of the intent of NOAA and the council to actually communicate and encourage participation.
Plenty of money for Aquaculture start-ups, but not enough for a decent audio system? Pathetic!
Also, participation and “Transparency” in this ridiculuously and unnecessarily complicated management proces could be helped to a great degree by simply eliminating the use of acronyms, i.e. speaking in WORDS not in Abbreviation Tongues.
Consider the tens of thousands of words expended at a Council meeting, how much more effort would be needed to say: Catch Per Unit Effort instead of CPUE? The “extra” effort would pay off greatly in terms of “audience participation”.
If there is any serious intent to actually include the people who are most directly and drastically affected by this absurd undertaking of micro-managing the fish in the sea, the communication at the council meetings then cannot be lost in the garbled noise of cheap microphones, of meaningless acronyms and legally defensive jargon, Power Point presentations, obscure computer models and statistical formulae, and days spent bogged down in parliamentary procedure trying to figure out when to have a meeting to start a discussion about when to start the discussion about when to have a meeting.
The Magnuson Stevens Act has to be re-written and the basic goals and validity of management must be discussed in a non-agenda driven and intelligent way before any effective benefit can be realized for the fish or the fishermen.
This is hardly an open meeting the decisions have already been made. The dress rehearsal will be held in the PEW hospitality Suite.
It’s time to reveal how filthy the donated Money really is. Look at the Pollution caused by the Donators throughout the World. Sam Walton’s Walmart with Chinese made Products and other imports. Look at the DEATHS being caused by the Samsung Semiconductor Fab,s. Speaking of Semiconductors how are those Hewitt’s doing. Same Products do you think their Hands are any cleaner? I could go on on does Hippocrates come to mind?
The Fisheries are being destroyed by the Three Wise Monkeys. The Meeting will be the time to send in the Clowns