In her national pitch for catch shares, oceans administrator Jane Lubchenco lauded the rights-based system for its capacity to transform fishing-based economic systems in chronic decline.
There are "many in a downward spiral," she said.
Lubchenco did not elaborate in her hour-long teleconference last week.
But yesterday, in response to an inquiry, Monica Allen, a public affairs specialist with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, said the "downward spiral" phrase was not meant to describe the ocean ecosystems that are harvested, but rather the communities that do the harvesting.
Allen cited New England as one of the regions suffering from a chronic economic downward spiral.