Quote:
Originally Posted by MakoMike
The fallacy of your statement can be demonstrated by one statistic, the U.S. IMPORTS 70% of our seafood. No matter what the NMFS did, it wouldn't lower prices to the consumer.
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Uhhhhh, no, Mike, all that statistic shows is how closed your mind is to the reality of what is going on.
First, isn't most imported seafood is Asian farmed shrimp, Canadian lobster, and farmed salmon? Codfish may compete with the latter, but not very much the first two. Secondly, it says a lot about how bad fishery management is when imported salmon is cheaper than native codfish.
Obviously if the NMFS managed cod fish for the interest of the general public, rather than commercial fisheries and local political constituencies, there would be far less need and demand to import finfish for consumption, and those who choose to eat finfish could do so more cheaply. This would result in increased consumer surplus.......a major goal of national economic policies. The 99.99% of people commercial fishermen are "serving" would have more money left in their pocket after eating to spend on other things. You think they prefer it the way it is?
Codfish once were a hugely important national source of cheap protein. Now they are a luxury item. Fisherman can still make a living catching them since market price is high, but the consumers in this country subsidize this and get screwed doing so.