Mat 24, 2012 – If there are no fish at the docks, it is not because there are no fish in the sea.
It is because National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regulations prevent catching them.
The rationale for these regulations is to prevent overfishing and to assure rebuilding presumably depleted stocks. How valid are these assumptions?
Let us look back at the facts in full perspective. The fisheries have been self-regulating for thousands of years. Yet, ever since NOAA's rules and regulations have been enforced with greater and greater stringency during the last 20 or so years, we have witnessed one crisis after another.
No, the technology used by the fishermen has not changed that drastically during this time; if anything, the technology has become more sensitive to the ecology of the oceans— bottom trawl nets now have rollers that prevent their scraping the ocean floor.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times.