Robert Baines, a lobsterman from South Thomaston and chairman of the Lobster Advisory Council, said it is usually difficult to unite lobstermen on a single issue, but they see no other way forward. “Our industry certainly needs some help and this is the only way we think we can do it,” Baines said. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the Downeast Lobstermen’s Association and other stakeholder groups agreed. 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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