Fish Havens Pit Fishermen Vs. Activists

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2006/sep/06/090601327.html

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - A plan to create fish refuges off the South Carolina coast sparked a clash between fishermen and conservationists.

More than 30 fishermen and environmentalists attended a public hearing Tuesday to discuss the plan by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council proposal would ban fishing for snapper and grouper, in effect bottom-fishing, along the three reefs offshore. The reefs are as large as 50 square miles, as deep as 600 feet and 50 miles out to sea.

Snapper and grouper are popular seafood and among the most heavily fished species in the Southeast.

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[depakid]

1. The fisheries are classic examples of Garrett Hardin's

Tragedy of the Commons.

There's almost no way- short of patrolling the waters with gunships- to keep people from exploiting the resource until it's so depleted that it won't recover for generations- or with respect to some species (think Whales) maybe forever.

This is also an example of why (technology is a two edged sword. Modern fishing boats can deplete a resource with surprising efficiency, whereas in former days, they could only capture the "flow" from the major fisheries- without destroying the stock that was the source of the flow.

Fishermen- like loggers on public lands- tend to assure their own demise- without any help at all from conservationists (who ironically could keep some of them in business).

[Odin2005]

2. Tragedy of the Commons.

And something that can not be controlled democratically because of all the workers with an interest of keeping thier jobs who would vote against politicians who legislated against them.

[Oerdin]

3. These refuges do work well.

I recall a study in the 1990's about fish abundance off the coast of Southern California. Not surprisingly places where fishing wasn't allowed, like San Clemente Island which is a military reservation, had not only more fish but bigger fish of every species while places where fishing was free to occur ended up with declining fish stocks. The interesting thing is that when commercial fishing was banned in the Channal Islands National Park (off the coast of Santa Barbara) not only did fish stocks quickly recover with in the park but fish catches went up in the coastal areas around the park.

The bottom line is that allowing fish to have safe refuges where they can breed and multiply is simply good policy which results in more fish being found outside of the refuge. These fishermen are being short sighted.