The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently launched a programme that will entitle the nation’s USD 4 billion fishing industry with far-reaching privileges through the allocation of “catch shares” to private fishing businesses and individuals, warns a green group.
Ecotrust believes these programmes favour the fishing practices that caused overfishing to begin with and, additionally, threaten the income of fishing communities.
According to the environmental group, oceans are about to become one of the largest government handouts of a public resource to private interests. Although historically the exclusive use of valuable public resources — like grasslands, forests, oil and mineral deposits and airwaves— produces substantial public revenues from the auctioning and leasing of these privileges, the fishing industry is not anticipated to pay for its new entitlement, Ecotrust argues.
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