Quote:
Originally Posted by numbskull
In my lifetime (50 years) I have seen swordfish disappear from Nomans, school tuna disappear from the Hooter, codfish disappear from SW shoal and Middleground, pollack disappear from Gay Head, white marlin disappear from the star, big bass disappear from the beach, menhaden disappear from Buzzards Bay, weakfish disappear from the harbors, and winter flounder disappear from the estuaries. ANYONE who defends the system that lead to this is below contempt.
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HERE HERE! This is no exaggeration. You forgot lobsters in southern New England and the loss of scallops and shellfish, even the herring, mullet, and sandeels ...the list is long. This has really happened and it has been under the current management that this has occurred. I can not support them, it is time for a total change of policy, one that is not in bed with commercial interests.
Marine fisheries managers have some difficult decisions to make because of their past failures. Yes, failures. One just needs to look at the codfish population over time to see how well their management philosophy has been. They need to stop indiscriminatory fishing methods and not have a by-kill and stop blaming other agencies. They are all in bed together. But they can't, they are addicted to these crude cheap methods and for the last few decades think quotas are the cure-all to their woes. Well, it isn't.
Fishery managers need to go. There is too much history to fix, we need new blood, better ideas.