The Obama administration’s recent proposal to lease oil and gas drilling in a swath of the Atlantic Ocean generated the expected mix of cheers and jeers on Capitol Hill, but local reaction was mostly divided along state borders rather than party affiliations. Marylanders are reluctant, while Virginians appear to want to charge ahead, especially if it might mean more cash in their state coffers Read the rest here 16:12
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
Have the profit-seeking VA politicians ever heard of Deepwater Horizon and what that atrocity has done for the Gulf States’ “revenues and profit sharing”?
Do they know the extent of the devastation to the Gulf’s fishing industries and shoreside businesses, or is the prospect of oil company moola a priority that obscures any of those facts?
But, don’t tell me, this is different from Macondo and Valdez, right? “New technology” guarantees safety in offshore drilling now, right?
All the oil company profits and state revenue building won’t mean a thing if we can’t produce our own clean food. Being “Number One” in oil and gas production to supply the world markets won’t mean a thing if we have to rely on antibiotic-laden Tilapia from China or sick shrimp from Viet Nam as a source of protein.
We need to stop degrading our domestic sources of protein production, on land and sea, before we lose the ability to feed ourselves. We need to let go of the bogus oil company marketing slogans of “cheaper gas at the local pump” and “energy independence” (read more obscene oil company profits in a global market) and start to pay attention to cheaper fresh local fish and local farm products at the local market.
There is nothing more essential to the well-being of this nation than food security. It is essential that we protect the integrity of our coastal waters and Outer Continental Shelf. Our politicians need to respect some of the richest and most productive fishing bottom in the world, which is already generating tens of thousands of jobs and $billions in revenue. They need to stop acquiescing to this oil/gas/wind industry ocean-grab.
They think they have the answer to any spills in “COREXIT”. Look at BP’s stellar results “OUT OF SIGHT OUT OFF MIND”… They probably plan to change the NAME of the DEADLY TOXIC SINKER to “Corrects It”!!! FUCK”N IDIOTS…