CPR Member Scholar Rebecca Bratspies has a piece on the Atlantic’s food website today — “Saving Seafood From Extinction” — on how the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is making a last-ditch effort to overhaul the nation’s devastated fisheries. The agency’s new regulations — including lower catch limites — have faced some opposition, but the choice is clear, writes Bratspies:
Allowing this overfishing to continue means abandoning all hope of either stock recovery or a healthy fishery. Such a tactic doesn’t do anybody any favors. Overfishing is disastrous not only for the fish but also for broader marine ecosystems, and ultimately for the fishing communities themselves. Those communities are already hurting, and the new restrictions will definitely cause more pain. But, business as usual is simply not an option. Current management practices have not only failed to restore fish stocks to sustainable levels but have often allowed them to deteriorate further. We have to do something or this generation of fisherfolk will be the last–because there won’t be any more fish.
