Ocean Resource Privatization
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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
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Recent Posts
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Aleutian Spray extends Starbound to produce high grade surimi, fishmeal, fish oil
Partially in response to a weak pollock market, US-based Aleutian Spray Fisheries has decided to add a 60-foot midsection to its pollock factory trawler Starbound for a new fishmeal Read More » -
Eco Based Management Failure: Otter battleground – Fishermen lose lawsuit in battle against sea otter; supporters relieved
If you’re out surfing or walking along the beach, take a peek toward the Channel Islands. Among the seals, dolphins or rare whales, you might once Read More » -
‘It’s so sad’: Acadian Peninsula mourns deaths of 2 lobster fishermen
New Brunswick’s Acadian Peninsula is in mourning after two local fishermen died Saturday on the first day of the lobster season in the area. The fishermen Read More » -
Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission bans inshore lobstering during whale migration
Meeting via webinar, the MFAC overwhelmingly approved five of the six recommendations presented by the state Division of Marine Fisheries, setting the stage for a hectic Read More » -
Idalia emerges as threat to Florida with potential as category 3 hurricane
The National Weather Service warned on Monday that Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to intensify into a major category 3 hurricane by Wednesday. As of 8 a.m. Read More » -
Fishing vessel aground near St Aubin
A fishing boat ran aground south west of St Aubin’s Fort, in the early hours of this morning (Thursday 14 May) Jersey Police say the two Read More » -
Thousands of tuna crabs invade San Diego’s beaches, El Niño could be the culprit
Thousands reddish-orange tuna crabs have been washing ashore along San Diego’s beaches. It’s thought the unusual sight is because of warmer-than-normal waters in the Pacific Ocean Read More » -
Fisheries bill: Changes would allow small vessels to spend more days at sea and land more catch
Fishing rights should be redrawn to give a higher quota to smaller vessels after Brexit, the Labour party is to propose in an amendment to the Read More » -
Sonar revealing more river herring in Choptank River than expected
Scientists have a powerful new tool to help them “see” fish in the Chesapeake Bay’s murky tributaries, and it’s yielding some surprisingly good news about two Read More » -
Experts say BC salmon stocks not diminished by sea lice outbreak for now
The price of salmon has shot up more than 15 per cent over the last three months, thanks to fish stocks being hit worldwide by an Read More » -
Murphy Tagged $1 Billion of Ratepayer Subsidies to Bailout Failed Foreign Wind Energy Corporation
Senator Michael Testa recently addressed the withdrawal of Ørsted, a Danish wind energy company, from the Ocean Wind 1 & 2 offshore wind farm projects in Read More » -
Fears of corporate takeover as SA Government seeks to put quotas on fisheries
Converting commercial fishing into a quota system could leave the industry open to corporate takeover, industry stakeholders fear, as the State Government seeks to tighten the Read More » -
‘Wicked Tuna’ rivalry gives way to cooperation
The coronavirus pandemic’s tidal wave of challenges made its way to the high seas, and viewers of “Wicked Tuna” will see a new dynamic when the Read More » -
Spot prawn fleet agrees to voluntarily avoid nine prehistoric reefs in the Strait of Georgia
B.C.’s commercial spot prawn fishermen have, for the first time, agreed to voluntarily avoid nine prehistoric glass-sponge reefs in the Strait of Georgia during this year’s Read More » -
Ipswich Clammers, officials discuss solutions for devastating green crabs
They’ve been in the ocean here since the late 1800s, but there is a growing concern about the continued invasion of green crabs and their impact Read More » -
Snuffy the Seal Returns to the Sea!
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The CLFer’s just can’t get it right! Saving Seafood’s crew set’s ’em straight. AGAIN!!!
– May 13, 2013 — The Conservation Law Foundation’s (CLF) blog post, “Top Ten Reasons to Protect New England’s Closed Areas,” argues that Framework Adjustment 48,,,,,,,,,Top Read More » -
‘We are holding three million prawns for which there is no market’; Cork fishermen facing nightmare situation
John Nolan, Managing Director of Castletownbere Fishermen’s Co-op, was blunt and direct in the past week when he said that sectors of the French fishing industry Read More » -
Matt Kenseth will take another lobster, thank you very much, after win in New Hampshire 301
Matt Kenseth will take another lobster, thank you very much, as he wins Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race and claims the unique trophy that comes Read More » -
Coho salmon closures on tap for Southeast commercial trollers
Commercial salmon trollers in Southeast can expect a region-wide fishing closure for coho salmon in August. One part of the region is already being shut down Read More » -
Investigation launched into capsize of Peterhead-based trawler
An investigation is under way into the capsize of a Peterhead-based trawler, where one crew member died and three others were taken to hospital. The 78ft Read More » -
Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources denies request for 1-mile menhaden fishing limit
The Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources denied Jackson County’s request to limit menhaden fishing to at least a mile off the county’s mainland. The vote was Read More » -
Obituary: Alaska – Commercial Fisherman Larry Miller
On Friday, April 16, Larry Miller, loving brother, uncle and friend passed away at his home. He was 66 years old. Larry was born in North Read More » -
Lobstermen take break from industry worries to race and ‘raise some hell’
Harpswell’s annual lobster boat race returns this Sunday, when Maine lobstermen and fishermen compete in a mile-long, full-throttle boat race for a chance to win a Read More » -
Fishermen catch 2 billionth sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay this year, since record-keeping began
This year, during the fishery’s second largest harvest on record, Bristol Bay commercial fishermen hit another historic number: the 2 billionth sockeye salmon caught by commercial Read More »
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Topmost problem = the USA does not OWN the fish, it has Stewardship rights and responsibilities, which are to be met by the regulatory frameworks. The nation does not own the fish, and has no right to give it away as property rights.
Proponents of Catch Shares are not free market advocates. They are advocates of using public relations language to call the ownership system “market-based solutions.” That is a cooked up economic mishmash. The doublespeak of saying Catch Shares offer exclusive access quickly belies the fact that this is anything but free market.
CSs do not bring economic efficiency – as the definition of EE is consumer oriented and quality and product form determined, as to which combination of end products from what quality of limited quantity inputs (bundle of resources – total allowable catch) will bring the best combination of economic wealth and needs satisfactions. What EDF really means and CSs really go for is productive efficiency or cost cutting, which means job cutting, less investment in fishing vessels, and consolidation.
The CSs in Alaska are said to go to “harvesters” – but that should mean those who harvest, those who fish – i.e. the active participants, mainly captains and crewmen, not non-participants. CSs were sold on “an overcapitalized industry” but in truth the system of Asset Commodification and the Privatization into Quota Shares attracted billions of dollars of new capital, overcapitalizing a once privileged-based public fishery, in favor of the new carpetbagging bankster and private equity/hedge fund investor who never brought a single pound of fish across the rail.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act etc. – our nations Fishery Laws – have no definitions for “fishermen”, “harvesters”, etc., let alone for something euphemistically called “catch shares”. It is NOT sharing, it is anti-free market, restraint of trade, government sponsored monopolization – akin to socialist stronghold theories of industrial planning and control. Prices are no longer determined at arm’s length. Suppliers – fishermen – lose their bargaining power for ex-vessel prices when the buyers (like Japan’s, Korea’s and other transnational firms) hold “processor quotas” that fishermen quotas must match up to.
Reauthorization of MSA should foremost concentrate on good definitions. Regional fishery management councils should be made by the Secretary of Commerce and Congress to follow the Due Process of using Lay Share laws, complying with those statutes, first – so captains and crews maintain their historical shares.
But, top line and bottom line – the USA does not OWN the fish!! and if we do, it is a public resources. We cannot give away what we do not own. Shades of when the British tried to industrialize and privatize salt in India and met Ghandi’s satyagraha fight for the rights of the people to the commons’ wealth of resources.
Worst of all is Alaska’s fisheries which serve foreign interests over domestic ones, violate World Trade Agreement and other treaty rights, by allowing Japan-based and Korea-based etc. MNEs (multinational enterprises) to lie and cheat about the export values, pay little to no USA taxes, product launder the profits offshore, even free from foreign taxes usually. This is an Economic Treason, and resource exploitation warfare against the USA – and that is where the legal battle and Congressional powers must work to eliminate these illicit practices and the CS regimes.
Congress (and Alaska’s chief legislators and governor) knows all about the ABUSIVE TRANSFER PRICING and the global tax evasion crimes, and must begin to stop these illicit schemes in fisheries, timber and other resources. Alaska waters have already seen an estimated $50 billion loss since the passage of the FCMA in 1976. For other regions of the nation to follow the quota regime privatization is tragically wrong, too.
Groundswell Fishery Movement – Stephen Taufen
catch shares in the northeast are the biggest ripoff that ever came down the pike! after the council destroyed the industry by dividing up your catch from 1996-2006,then divide by 10 left us reeling in. one of those years codfish limits were 35pounds! per day. then reduce what ever scraps you got by 78%(cod). now you can catch cod ,if you can afford $2 per# .to lease it tru your sector that charges a fee per landed # a fee to the coalition too. after expences who in the hell would go fishing??? as i keep saying,our new warm&fuzzy transparent administration must love us poor fishermen,because he keeps making them.over n out