It is now clear that when President Obama talks about creating or saving jobs, he is not talking about those of this region's fishermen.
Obama's choice to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jane Lubchenco, has demonstrated since her appointment in early 2009 that her goal is the opposite — to destroy fishermen's jobs. Earlier this month, the Obama administration formalized its support for the national implementation of the so-called "catch share" policy that Lubchenco has said she hopes would reduce the Massachusetts fishing fleet by a "sizable fraction."
Indeed, that is what catch shares have done in most of the two dozen American fisheries where it is already in place. Instead of spreading the wealth, it consolidates it into the hands of fewer, larger players. The system encourages fishermen to sell or trade their shares of a catch limit to other fishermen or to outside corporations or investors and makes a mockery of the administration's mantra of standing up for the middle class.
And according to a number of marine scientists, it doesn't do that much for the conservation of the resource — which is presumably the prime purpose of regulation.
Read the complete editorial from The Salem News.