VANCOUVER, Wash. — A draft of an ecological plan that applies to West Coast fisheries has emphasized the need for management of so-called forage fish to improve salmon runs. Advocates have welcomed the plan and its broad appr
oach to Northwest ecosystems. The Pew Charitable Trusts’ environmental arm has recently pushed to raise awareness of forage fish and their importance to the marine food web. 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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