AMERICA
Remember
By Jane Blakemore
the
T
HE ICONIC AMERICAN FISHERMAN
Lonely
— the lone, rugged sailor set-
ting his nets while battling off-
shore squalls — is sinking under the
weight of questionable science and
Fisherman?
overbearing federal regulation.
Egged on by controversial studies
that say commercial fi sh stocks could
be exhausted in about 40 years, the
federal government wants to clamp
down now by eliminating most sea-
sonal fi shing and issuing annual
fi sh quotas available only to specially
licensed fi shermen.
The so-called individual fi sh-
ing quotas, or IFQs, are meant to
eliminate free-for-all fi shing, which
researchers contend encourages fi sh-
ermen to harvest as many fi sh as they
can while racing against the end of
the season in an effort to maximize
their profi ts.
The IFQ system is already in place
for some fi sh species in select loca-
tions. Proponents argue that expand-
ing the initiative
will allow fi sher-
Federally imposed quotas on what you can catch have forced
men everywhere
independent fi shermen to abandon their boats, leaving the
to fi sh at any time
of the year to
industry to large commercial conglomerates.
reach their quota,
thus avoiding the inevitable market critics contend. Wealthy, absentee will be left ashore, their livelihoods
gluts caused by seasonal sales. The boat owners will end up holding the gutted, when they fi nd themselves
IFQs also give fi shermen incentive to bulk of the IFQs, giving them sole unable to afford the high-priced IFQs
protect fi sh stocks. power to hire crews and do the fi sh- and related licenses, Alaska Rep. Paul
However, in practice, IFQs favor ing, they say. Seaton tells Newsmax.
large, commercial fi shing conglom- The small fi shermen, much like “IFQs have turned fi shermen into
erates over individual fi shermen, the nation’s independent farmers, sharecroppers,” explains Seaton, him-
THE CASE AGAINST OVERFISHING
THE PUSH TO CREATE MORE INDIVI- IFQs, worldwide, and the study noted that the
dual Fishing Quotas (IFQs) in the nation’s IFQs can halve the depletion of fi sh stocks
fi sheries received a huge boost with the recent through overfi shing.
release of a University of California study that “Rather than having a free-for-all, where
found depletion of fi shery stock can be cut in anyone with a license can catch as much
half by switching to fi shing quotas. fi sh as they want, these select fi sheries have
The study examined catch statistics of scientists determine what the total catch
11,135 fi sheries worldwide, between 1950 and should be in a year and divvy that up among
2003, and discovered that, “Implementation the fi shermen, so fi shermen are guaranteed
of catch [quotas] halts, and even reverses, the a percentage of the catch,” lead researcher to be sustainable, to build up underlying fi sh
global trend toward widespread collapse.” Christopher Costello tells Newsmax. “You get stock so that, in the future, you still get to
To date, 121 fi sheries use catch shares, or that share every year, so you want the fi sheries catch fi sh.” — J.B.
/ISTOCKPHOTO / FISH/© 2008 JUPITERIMAGES CORP.
A
T
BO
24 NEWSMAX / JANUARY 2009
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