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
-
Lobstermen in Maine’s historically open Zone C vote to close their waters to newcomers
-
With fish stocks rebounding, Congress mulls steps to ease catch limits
-
Pacific Fishery Management Council slash’s sardine harvest along West Coast
-
Search called off for missing Nova Scotia fishermen
-
Exposing the wind industry genocide
-
Scientists test water to narrow down what’s killing herring, sea creatures at St. Marys Bay
-
Working Waterfronts: Development threatens Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River fishing industry
-
Fewer fish, or fishy science? Commercial fishers, biologists at odds over the state of Lake Winnipeg’s walleye
-
Family feud erupts over iPhone recovered in search for Fla. teen fishermen
-
There’s No Crying on a Fishing Boat by Stephanie Boudreau.
-
‘We don’t want fish farms here,’ says St. Marys Bay lobster fisherman
-
North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for December 13, 2019
-
This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – L.O.S.T
-
Halibut fishery kicks off in Bristol Bay
-
Orange, yellow, blue, and even ‘Halloween’: The rarest lobster colors, explained
-
Fishing Boat Captain Pays $22,300 To Settle Federal Fisheries Case With NOAA
-
Kevin Kelly – scallop counter for the Maine Department of Marine Resources
-
Monterey Bay salmon fishermen report record prices, disappointing harvest in the early season.
-
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 38′ Northern Bay Lobster/Tuna, 6 Cylinder Iveco,
-
Rep. Zeldin Slams ASMFC Black Sea Bass Allocation, Calls for Equitable Fishing Quotas
-
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: Aluminum 48′ Purse Seiner, (2) 425HP John Deere Diesels, 16 KW Generator
-
Sipekne’katik fisherman’s protest dumping of lobster ‘not acceptable,’ chief says
-
Sipekne’katik First Nation, federal government to begin mediation in effort to settle fishing dispute
-
WESMAR rolling out its largest group of trawl sonar options in its 50-year history at Pacific Marine Expo November 20-22
-
Divers seek lost crab pots in Washington waters
-
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?