Okaloosa County got lucky with the net ban. When, in 1994, Florida voters approved a state constitutional amendment outlawing fishing nets larger than 500 square feet, critics warned it would wallop the fishing industry. It did, but commercial fishermen either persevered or found other ways to make a living. That says more about the resilience of fishermen, though, than it does about the wisdom of the net ban. Read the rest here 11:29
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
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