Viewpoints
Management of Fisheries
by Cathy Benediktsson
April 11, 2004
Sunday
I lived in AK for 17 years, and recently moved to California
Bay Area. There is a commercial fishery for herring here (many
Alaskan boats can be seen). I thought California would be different,
that the Fish and Game folks here were somehow more environmentally
sound in their management of the herring.
Alas, it is no different here than in Ketchikan and Juneau. The
San Francisco Bay used to have a thriving COD fishery. None
now exists. The Bay used to have a SHRIMP fishery. None now
exists. The Monterey Bay used to have a TUNA fishery. None
now. It is the same old story. This year for the first time
the herring were so low in "biomass" that the fishery
was closed early.
I have heard the COD fishery in the Grand Banks still hasn't
come back, and that has been 60 years or more. Some say they
fished the older ones and the small fry don't know they need
to migrate to out there, so they stay in shore. Whatever the
details, it is a deplorable situation. I think Iceland does
a better job, perhaps the best in the world at managing their
fishery, as that's all they have, and if it goes, so goes the
country. More at stake.
Cathy Benediktsson
Tiburon, CA - USA
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