"From Another Perspective"
A monthly column in National Fisherman by Nils E. Stolpe
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Subject
(February, 2009)
A dissection of one of the latest anti-fishing screeds, this one The American Prospect, a self described "authoritive magazine of liberal ideas."
Now is time for broad, national effort
(January, 2009)
With a new administration about to take over in Washington, the commercial fishing industry in the US should be giving serious consideration to building up our relations before they are poisoned by the foundation-funded fisheries crisis mongers.
(December, 2008)
What resource crisis? If the New England fleet was allowed to harvest a reasonable amount of the overly-abundant spiny dogfish, Acadian redfish and haddock, US commercial landings would be right around the average of what they've been for the last 50 plus years.
A discussion of a mini-furor in the media involving a supposed high level of dissatisfaction of gov't. fisheries scientists and the funding linkages behind it.
A critique of a PBS treatment of a BBC documentary and of Leon Panetta's "expert" commentary on it.
A comparison of terristrial and marine protein production amd a discussion of the realism of "zero ecosystem impacts" of seafood harvesting.
A somewhat tongue-in-cheek consideration of imposing the same level of scrutiny on all public resource users.
With all of the factors - both anthropogenis and natural - that impact fisheries, why does commercial fishing get all of the attention, and why are commercial fishermen blamed for all of the problems.
An examination of agenda driven science as it's being forced upon the commercial fishing industry.
Various species, while enjoying government protection, are wreaking havoc with fish stocks. Guess who's paying the price?
Anti-fishing groups and individuals are getting farther and farther away from science-based arguments.
Fisheries science is tremendously imprecise. Oceans are tremendously unpredictable. Fish stocks respond to many factors other than fishing. Yet fishing is all we're managing.
The government - at a number of levels - is encouraging recreational fishing and is supporting a myriad of projects to increase recreational fishing access. When is the last time you heard of a Fed encouraging more commercial fishing?
A tribute to Nelson Beideman, the founding Executive Director of Blue Water Fishermen's Association and it's heart and mind since its inception.
They are facing a host of challenges that could collectively lead to the demise of many of our commercial and recreational fishing ports.
The ridiculous rebuilding requirements supported by anti-fishing activists and how they are playing out in the mid-Atlantic summer flounder fishery.
An examination of several assaults on the commercial fishing industry and/or its representatives that are as far from being factual as they could possibly be. Yet they typify the the rhetoric increasingly employed by the anti-fishing claque.
Recreational and commercial fishermen have many things in common. Foremost among those is a common enemy - anti-fishing activists posing as "conservationists."
How the National Marine Fisheries Service views commercial fishermen; as exemplified by the contrast between the treatment extended by that agency to a commercial fishermen and a NMFS contractor were treated for breaking the rules.
The anti-fishing activists would have it that "the short term pain they are inflicting on fishing communities will result in long term gains to those communities. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Marine Fish Conservation Network, among the leaders of anti-fishing activism, is far from what it claims to be.
The recent spate of vessel sinkings and an argument to consider these tragedies in their proper context.
Learn to discriminate between real, objective science and the "sky is falling" pseudo-science being sold as objective research.
Recent press reports blaming a decline of bay scallops on shark overfishing are based on more of the same old advocacy science, carefully selected and woefully meager data.
Working, when appropriate, with recreational fishing interests would be the worst thing that could happen tio the foundation-funded anti-fishing activists. It's not surprising that they're not willing to sit back and let it happen.
With no superhero waiting in the wings, it's up to every member of the commercial fishng industry to go on the offensive about the false or misleading information that has become so prevalent in the print and broadcast media.
Legislation is once again introduced that wuld prevent consumers from enjoying real striped bass, a species that is bountiful and deleciuous.
Cooperative research, where actual fishermen get directly involved in the process, is well worth the effort.
Using monkfish as an example, getting involved in the stock assessment process is something that no fishery can do without.
So-called conservationist organizations spend tens of millions of foundation dollars on lawsuits, PR and literature reviews proving that commercial fishing is bad, but are seriously avers to spending anything on science that would improve fisheries management.
Recent actions by the Bush whithouse and Congress to subvert the federal fisheries management system point up the need for commercial, party/charter and recreational fishermen need to work cooperatively for the good of their collective futures.
Led by Congressmen Barney Frank (Massachusetts) and Walter Jones (North Carolina), House members are supporting legislation that would restore some much-needed flexibility to federal fisheries management.
"Stocks are increasing, effort is declining and gear is becoming more selective, yet the anti-fishing efforts of the anti-fishing activists haven’t abated a bit" describes a reality cascade, as described by ohn Tierney in a NY Times column on New Years Day.
It appears as if sector-based management is being forced upon New England groundfish fishermen for no reason other than it seems a better idea to the anagers - and the so-called "conservationist" community - than anything that's been tried before.
It's about time that members of the commercial fiashing industry realize that when they don't solve their problems internally - that's within the industry - any "solutions" they get are likely going to be worse than the original problem.
Texas off target with a menhaden fishing ban / Greenpeace enmeshed in an anti-eating vendetta? / Manterey Bay Aquarium "consumers guide" woefully wrong on seafood
The latest ploy by anti-fishing activists is to impugn the integrity of the regional fisheries management councils by pushing the prtemise that they are controlled by fishermen. An analysis of the ciurrent council makeup and past trends indicates that imbalance does exist, but the imbalance isn't in favor of the commercial fishing industry.
Commercial fishermen, like everyone else, are suffering from the recent historic increases in the price of fuel. However, there are management-related actions that could be taken to reduce the impact on fishermen that no one seems to be addressing.
Setting the record straight on an article in the Gloucester Times regarding the xtremely controversial marine sanctuary on Stellwagen Bank.
Phil was one of the most effective leaders that the commercial fishing industry has had, though that was a "job" he neither sought nor felt he was doing. He was lost when his vessel, Seabreeze, sank off Cape May, New Jersey on July 23.
New England groundfish landings have been in a steady state of decline for almost 30 years, but the only thing that NMFS can do is continue the same old management philsophy, managing for the weakest species in the groundfish complex, that has been such an abject failure for another two years.