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Efforts growing to control the smaller fish of the seas |
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WARRENTON, Ore. – Perhaps you've had salmon, tuna or swordfish for dinner recently. Or maybe it's on the menu tonight. Every big fish that lands on your plate got that big by eating lots and lots of little fish. If you don't have abundant small fish in the ocean, you won't have the big fish. That's why some scientists, fishery managers and advocacy groups are paying more attention to the small prey in the sea. Commercial fisherman Ryan Kapp of Bellingham argues the West Coast sardine, anchovy and herring fisheries are already quite conservatively managed. "Seeing that none of these stocks are overfished or even approaching overfishing, I just a soon leave it alone. We have enough regulations to keep track of as it is," Kapp said. Environmentalists worry rising global demand for seafood and fish meal will put pressure on Pacific bait fish. At the Pew Environment Group, Paul Shively invokes the precautionary principal.
Read the complete story from NPR's Seattle affiliate KPLU
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Monterey Bay's historic "wetfish" industry is under attack by extremist groups who claim overfishing is occurring. Touting studies with faulty calculations, activists are lobbying federal regulators to massively limit fishing, if not ban these fisheries outright. Apparently the facts don’t matter to groups with an anti-fishing agenda
