At issue is the state’s newly lucrative elver fishery, which over the past two years has become one of the most valuable commercial fisheries in Maine, second only to the state’s $339 million lobster industry. But last spring, more than six weeks into the 10-week elver season, the Passamaquoddy Tribe caught state officials and others off guard when it issued 236 licenses to its members. Read more
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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