"It appears to many that we are rushing to put into place a major revision of the way we manage our resources — a revision that affects communities, jobs, our economy, welfare — without the analysis, the planning, the budgetary considerations, the costs and benefits, the statements of conservation consequences that typically accompanies federal actions of this magnitude." –Brian Rothschild
Brian Rothschild, a nationally influential research biologist revered in most New England's ports, has proposed a one-year moratorium in the regional imposition of catch shares, a re-engineering of the fishing industry that is to start May 1 when cooperatives will begin working off allocations.
The catch share system, innovated and championed by the Environmental Defense Fund and made the Obama administration's panacea for the ails of the fishing industry, gives fishermen catching rights and encourages the development of an investor-strengthened commodities market, but also has a track record in American and foreign fisheries of bringing about radical consolidation — fewer big businesses supplanting the large numbers of small boats that for centuries have made up the New England industry.
"Many of our fishermen feel that the catch share system will not be economically viable," Rothschild said. "They feel that various sectors will become bankrupt in a relatively short period of time because the quotas of fish assigned to the sectors are too small to be economically feasible.
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.