Molly Benjamin`s article from CCT

[Skitterpop]

April 2, 2006
Murky Maine decision
By MOLLY BENJAMIN
Readers might have seen a recent article on the small-boat Maine fishermen who have traveled to Cape Cod waters seeking scallops, which are abundant and fetch a good price. Without this fishery, the Maine gang would be waiting in welfare lines.
That's because they haven't been able to fish for cod or flounder off Maine for a couple of years due to a colossal mistake by federal managers.
Here's what happened: Fish managers were worried about stocks on Georges Bank, so they shut down hundreds of square miles. But they kept inshore Maine waters open, where fish stocks were in decent shape. Since offshore waters were closed, the big, beefy boats built for 14-day trips came streaming toward the Maine coast. The federal fish managers squeezed them into one area - even they were warned that such an approach was dangerous.
Imagine the crowd of boats off Maine. It was like directing everyone in Gillette Stadium - home of our beloved Patriots - out of their seats and squeezing them into one locker room. Or making everyone use one hot dog vendor. Pretty soon, the hot dog guy is gonna be flat out of doggies, and there won't be a sausage within miles of the joint.
Which is why Maine's inshore waters are now closed to fishing. Federal management saw to it that the place was scooped clean.
In the same vein, some scallop grounds are now closed and some are open. Since everybody and their brother is now scalloping (it's one of the few fisheries still open and vaguely profitable) we now have a mess o' scallop boats all concentrated in the same places - again. Do you think the people who become fish managers are rotated from desks at FEMA?

[likwid]

The people running the fisheries show only care about profit.
Bottom line.

Most of them are ex fishermen but they'll happily cut the throats of the guys still fishing.

[Slipknot]

[JohnR]

Yeh, but how much were the scientists ignored or wrong on occasion or basing decisions on innaccurate data? How many times did some fisheries managers bend but not break and give in only to have Teddy, John, or Olivia step in on their behalf and and apply a political squeeze?

When the general public hears the plight of the lo fisherman they understandably want to help the guys out. But the general public gets filtered info in the paper and does not get as much skinny as we do. Shheeeet, as a group we probably have 90% more and better info than Joe NonAngler aand we can't even agree on WTH to do

I'm shutting up for at least a few hours, I wore a hole in my ^#$**# soap box...

[clambelly]

what that article says to me, is that the feds have no clue how to solve our fishery problems. instead of making difficult decisions that would hurt at first but be better for everyone (including the fish) in the long run, they just shift the problems to another area where more small boat fisherman will be hurt.