Conversion of the commonly held wealth of the seas into a tradable, private commodity and then dividing the whole into "catch shares" was soft-sold with less than full disclosure to the management of New England’s fisheries this week.
"We are a neutral convener, we take no position on catch shares," proclaimed Amy Schick Kenney, the co-leader of the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum, at the start of a two-day workshop on catch shares organized by the New England Fishery Management Council at the Mount Washington Hotel Resort.
But if the forum itself — along with Kenney and its co-facilitators — professed neutrality, the moving force behind the forum and a co-sponsor was the Environmental Defense Fund, the global giant ENGO or environmental non-government organization which has been the signature champion of catch shares for many years.
The forum is a joint operation, merging resources of Duke University’s Nicholas Institute of the Environment and the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University.
Both institutes have absorbed extensive funding and exhibit ties via officers to the Pew Environment Group and the EDF. The Woods Institute is also the home for the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, which was created in 1998 by Jane Lubchenco, then a rising academic scientist, with monies she received as a Pew fellow.