New Regulations Crush New England Fisheries
According to the New York Times, while the scientists claim the fish are in worse shape than thought, the men who actually catch the fish are seeing more, and there are conflicting studies as well:
Federal regulators are considering the unthinkable in New England: severely restricting — maybe even shutting down — cod fishing in the Gulf of Maine, from north of Cape Cod clear up to Canada. New data suggest that the status of the humble fish that has sustained the region for centuries is much worse than previously thought.
Fishermen insist that there are plenty of cod and that the real problem is fuzzy science. They say the data are grossly inconsistent, pointing to a 2008 federal report that concluded that Gulf of Maine cod, though historically overfished, were well on the way to recovery.
The man in charge of the catch-share program who was responsible for the devastation to the Northeastern fishing fleet, Dale Jones, was abruptly reassigned back in 2010 amid bipartisan pressure. While no official reason for his departure as the head of NOAA’s law enforcement has been given, it apparently had something to do with a document-shredding scandal.
According to an editorial in the Salem Times, everyone from Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown (R) to Representative Barney Frank (D) are dumbfounded by fishing policy at NOAA. They quoted Brown as saying:
Just a few weeks ago, Administrator Lubchenco told us at a hearing in Boston that the fishing industry is on the rebound. That incredible statement demonstrated a total lack of understanding of the situation in Gloucester, New Bedford and across New England. I hoped that she would stick around to get the real facts from the fishermen and scientists assembled to testify after her. Instead, she left early.
The editorial continued:
[Brown’s] statement echoes the sentiments expressed by his Democratic colleagues, Sen. John Kerry and Congressmen John Tierney of Salem and Barney Frank, along with many others in this region.
According to a letter obtained by PJ Media, Reps John Tierney (D-MA) and Elijah Cummings (D-MD) are both trying to find out exactly why Jones was reassigned:
“In 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reassigned Dale Jones, the former head of the Office for Law Enforcement. We are writing to request a briefing regarding the rationale for this decision. Although the Privacy Act may prevent the Department from releasing some of this information publicly, the Department is authorized to release such information to Congress.”
PJ Media attempted to contact staffers for Tierney and his committee without success.
Once again, political and ideological agendas are driving policy within this administration. Environmentalist activists appointed to positions for which they have no background are deliberately destroying an industry and a way of life in order to further their own agendas. They are using the administration’s favorite tool, regulation, to do it.
Mr. Richardson, as you know, unfortunately the, ‘Leaders’ at NOAA/NCDC (Lubchenco, Medina) are enviro-Nazis, Pew lackies to their very core.
Like Obama these ladies have NO IDEA what actual results, private sector expectation means.
Ms. Lubchenco provided a vanilla-like statement regarding ‘NOAA’s work’ in ‘helping’ New England’s fisheries disaster this past October.
Lubchenco part of/served on many Mother Gaia organizations:
http://www.noaa.gov/lubchenco.html
Pathetic organization(s)
I just saw a Biography Asia Channel program about Ferdinand Marcos. He was not able to serve as President due to term limits in the Constitution. So, he passed a law (Proclamation No. 1081) and became a brutal Dictator. He used torture to silence foes, and made night time arrest sweeps of activist homes. Have any of you read NDAA (signed by Obama during, the New Years Eve partying), or checked out You Tube videos of those who have? Please read my blog post today. Share it. Time for American free speech is running out. I am an expat American, in Cebu City. Thank you.
I have no pity for these New England scum.
This is what they wanted. This is who they had their liberal Democrat scum pimps appoint to these jobs. This is what they got. They deserve it. All of it.
Now they can choke on it.
Second that. Those mofos created the monster that now devours them.
You guys are both so articulate and well-spoken, maybe you should run the show.
Well, maybe it’s not your fault that you appear so dim. It’s probably the conservative assault on education that destroyed your local schools.
‘Conservative assault on education’??? You think the NEA is a conservative organization???
You must be an intern from Obama’s Office of the Director of Progressive Media and Online Response.
Tim:
F off. How’s that for articulate? We’re way articulate, thanks. We’re just dumbing it down for liberals.
Like you.
Be easy on Tim. Working conditions in the White House basement are not very good, and he probably even has to clean up after BO.
Hmm. Much of the fishing communities in N.E. are Conservatives, not Liberals. Not their fault.
Perhaps you should consider facts such as those, before posting further tired screeds about your unreasoning regional hatreds.
Facts not in evidence. Regardless of their politics, the NE states are overwhelmingly liberal and so their fishermen are being hurt by their fellow NEers. NEers voted in libturds like Franks and now they can suck eggs.
So you’re basically saying, if you happen to be a Conservative from N.E., F’you?
Yes, the path to losing the White House in 2012. Way to go, Bucko, all Conservatives in NE can get F’ed.
A month or two ago a Massachusetts fisherman caught an 800+ pound Tuna, and the Feds met the fisherman at the dock and impounded his prize catch. Does anyone know what ever became of that fish?
It was delicious.
I read it was sold and the money was forfeit to the Fed Govt.
Ahhh, the joys of bureaucratic central planning. Remember people, they are smarter than you. They have degrees and stuff, so you should just shut up. It may seem like your industry is being destroyed, but your just too small minded to see the bigger picture. Now here’s your “unemployment” check and food stamps.
Socialist unofficial doctrine is based on their mindset that it’s easier to control a few large buffalo than to control a thousand cats.
In practice, this leads to destruction of small independent minded companies, resulting in the survival of only the larger companies. With large companies, government types can wheel and deal over regulations and tax breaks in return for contributions that small operators would make.
That actually sounds alot like Mussolini’s strategy. Bedding the largest corporations with the government, and driving the smaller independant business out. Of course Mussolini was a socialist, so its not suprising. Welcome to the modern American facism.
Jacob hit the nail on head. The Washington bureaucrats are moving in on what was a nice little corrupt local industry. They want to drive the smaller outfits out because it is easier to collect payola from 1 or 2 big operations beholden to them than the numerous small operators beholden to the local gangster / politicians. Don’t feel sorry for any of them though and make no mistake, they have raped the ocean and have already destroyed the fishery. These fights are the jackals fighting over the rancid carcass of fishery with few edible scraps of flesh left on it. May they all go bankrupt.
You are buying into the eco-propaganda. The fisheries are not destroyed. Most are sound. And the vast majority of those who make their living there will do what they must to ensure that, including abiding by catch limits. Yes, there are those who don’t follow the rules, but most do because it is in their best interest to do so. Don’t be so quick to believe what the NOAA is saying now. The woman who heads it up, while being highly educated, is not a fisheries biologist. Plus she is in bed with the Environmental Defense Fund. It doesn’t get any more eco-fascist than that. Her agenda is not sustainable fisheries, it is the destruction of commercial fishing. Looks like she is well on her way to accomplishing that. Don’t help her by repeating the propaganda.
After Lenin died, the Communists in charge tried to run everything; but those Communists hadn’t a clue what they were doing. It was all ideologically based. To make a long story short: when things didn’t go their way, they resorted to killing people. Lots of people. But it started with the government instigating class conflict.
When do we stop pointing out this insane regulation over here and that destructive policy over there, realize we are being systematically weakened as a nation and do something to confront it ?
All I sense is a powerlessness and a countrywide shoulder shrug while we all say “there go those silly meddling politicians and beaurocracies — what are you gonna do ?”
The elections are a good start but nowhere near enough to fundamentally re-transform America back to Constitutional-based governance.
You are right. Nobody does anything about anything. Where were the Republicans last week when Obama did a recess appointment when Congress wasn’t formally in recess? Obama is acting like a dictator and nothing is done about it.
We’re like sheep being led to the slaughter. This must be what it was like in Germany, Russia, China, Cambodia, Uganda, Cuba, Venezuela. There were people who saw what was happening, but nothing was done, maybe because of fear, or the number of people who were opposed wasn’t great enough to successfully resist?
The American people better wake up.
Big government benefits the Republicans too. They are more concerned about their cushy jobs, than the country. They don’t want to kill the goose that laid their golden egg.
Your comment reminds me of the famous picture of one Chinese protester standing in front of a Red Army tank in Tienanmen Square. He was unbelievably lucky to remain alive, given that some 3000 other people lost their lives that day. When things get really nasty anywhere, it is each man for himself (and his family). Only a relative moment of calm permits opposition to develop. We still have time in America to come back.
With regard to the fishery problem, I would prefer the predation of individual fisherman and local corrupt officials to the predation of the Federal Government with which there is no compromise and no truth other than what they proffer.
And remember, Obama just started his ‘bring jobs home’ campaign.
Patrick, could you please provide some detail about how a genuine property-rights-based catch-shares program would differ from this thing?
From the comments, I see that I’m not the only one alarmed about this effort to shut down small fishermen and consolidate the industry into being run by a few big-wig companies. This is how the nationalization of all American industry will happen. This is Obama’s goal. We are heading for communism, folks. The Soviets took over everything and didn’t know how to run anything. And people died because of it.
Obama is proving that a lot of damage can be done in a short time. God help us if he has four more years in office.
When I see polls that say that Obama’s popularity is still near 50 percent, I get sick. It’s hard to believe that this country has so many stupid people walking around breathing–and voting.
You’re watching ACORN in action.
It happened to farming and now fishing, shameful.
It didn’t take a conspiracy to eliminate the single family farm. In fact, the Democrats/Populists/Left generally tried to keep the family farm functioning and much of the farm subsidy and regulation regime we have today had its origins in that effort. Fundamentally, a single family farm can do little more than provide subsistence to a family and even the younger children must move on because the farm will not support them as adults. As soon as the automobile and the paved farm to market road came into being, ALL the kids left and they never came back because you simply could not afford to participate in the burgeoning consumer economy that began in the late 19th Century off the earnings of the single family farm or single section ranch.
Hello Art, I can see where my comment was not clear, I realize the family farm is long gone. Your point about kids leaving the farm is spot on, students studying Ag in college is dropping and I expect that trend will continue. What is troubling to me is the large consolidation that has taken place, just a few major companies essentially control the food supply. The Food Modernization Act really bothered me, the devil is always in the details and there are some items of concern in that law. Hedge Funds (of course, Soros is one) are buying land, does that bother anyone?
All industries are headed towards the few that control ________ fill in the blank, in this post it is the fishing industry. For some industries, it doesn’t bother me as much but with the food supply, it does.
Keep in mind that the single family farm does exist and does much more than provide subsistence. Of course it’s generally much larger in nature than 40 acres these days. Often enough a corporation in it’s own right.
That being said, the consolidation of business in a few well-connected hands should concern us all no matter the industry. We’re breeding an oligarchy and new landed aristocracy and we’re allowing the leftists in the government to do it for us.
Farm subsidies just as an example are not really helping small independent farmers so much as they are the major farm corps like Monsanto, and it’s turning states like Kansas into corporate latifundia — albeit slowly.
Good comment Patrick, my travels take me through areas of small farms 40-100 acres are common and I make a point to always buy local when I can to support them. As to consolidated industries, the erosion of the small community bank is alarming, the financial sector is now a handful of banks, who knows how much EU debt they carry, the nationalization of banks is more than worrisome. Healthcare, tech – Google has too much power,and we could list more to support your point. Large companies like Nike don’t raise the spidy senses like the others do (Monsanto). I see trouble when companies see themselves as global enterprises first and American companies second.
“We’re breeding an oligarchy and new landed aristocracy and we’re allowing the leftists in the government to do it for us.” Yes, the progressives on the Left and Right are taking us down from within, too many people are still asleep at the wheel. I am grateful for sites like this one where I can read and learn. Keep posting, I find the commenters at PJM thought provoking.
Didn’t say I liked it; just trying to explain it. In my youth there were four or five “dry goods” stores, a couple of hardware stores, two or three five and dimes, two or three grocery stores, two or three barber shops, and a couple of decent hotels and their restaurants on the courthouse square in my little county seat town. Today there are government offices, junk stores, excuse me, antique shops, whitewashed windows, and a big WalMart SuperCenter on the outskirts of town.
The people who owned the stores on the Courthouse Square fifty years ago participated in the civic and cultural life of that town and gave it a much richer civic and cultural life than it has today with government transfer payments and a little corporate charity. The WalMart manager with the clip-on tie just bideing time until he can get promoted out of that little hole ain’t much on that civic stuff. The branch manager of the big regional or National bank doesn’t give a shit whether you live or die and has no idea about your family’s ties to the community or your credit, character, and capacity except as expressed by your “credit score,” whatever the Hell that means.
Fundamentally, big is bad; we’ve become too big. Republican democracy doesn’t work very well with people who don’t know each other. Your move for an answer.
First of all; When you cite the New York Times as a source for data, I know the data to be false and misleading because the NYT ALWAYS HAS AN AGENDA TO PROPAGATE.
Second; What do you expect with the regime now in the White House?
The Obama Regime is just getting started. Until, and when they are totally crushed, you will be subject to more of the same.
America is involved in a marriage that will destroy all parties before it’s over.
P.S.
More evidence of the NYT propaganda here:
http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2012/01/06/page-one/
Isn’t it obvious by now, that the job of the Obama administration, is to shut down America, in every way possible?
Just another “unexpected” (Or was it?) result of the insane green cabal of business destroying Agency Mandates killing individualism, prosperity, and entrepreneurial spirit. Humans are evil and must be forced into sacrificing to the Environmentalism Earth God.
This is a moving target.
I was a U.S. Coast Guard boarding officer in the mid 1980s on the USCG Cutter Vigilant. At that time, American ground-fishermen (i.e., bottom trawlers) over-fished the North Atlantic fishing grounds. They were just trying to feed their families, I know, but some, especially from Gloucester (a personal recollection), cheated by using nets with mesh below legal limits and by using belly bands (creating an artificial “cod end” of the net by strapping a band higher up the net where the mesh was smaller. And if the smaller fish weren’t killed by wrenching them up from the sea bottom to the surface quickly, they weren’t helped by being impaled and tossed over by a guy with a 2-foot wooden broom handle with a large nail in the far end. NFS tried to manage the fishery but there were too many boats, and the administrative judges gave a lot of latitude on most violations, recognizing that these people were earning a livelihood.
The sad result was that the groundfish fishery was destroyed. During the later stages of its decline when I was there, we found violations (we had to work hard to catch them because some boat captains put a lot of thought and energy into cheating), we put case packages together for prosecution. Some stuck, some didn’t.
The groundfish stock is returning, it is said. That’s great, but the old problems still remain, and there are new ones.
On one hand, the fishermen, their agencies and their politicians are not going to articulate the honest facts. I don’t see anything that has changed on their side, except that it appears there is more opportunity for crony capitalism with fewer, more powerful owners. This is bound to make the real view of the fishermen more precise and polished, but less accurate.
On the other side, there is the inertia of government in general, tending to make needed changes, “too little, too late.” However, there is a new problem here also. I believe radical environmentalists have infiltrated the Administration through political appointees, and thus it is hard to tell if present restrictions on groundfishing are due to real science in service of a sustainable fishery, or if science is being used as a tool to return the ocean to the year 1550, fisheries be damned. I have no data on any individual agency, but I think that the civil service workers are generally trying to do the right thing. How many radicals have “burrowed in” by becoming senior civil service workers after the Administration changed hands, I don’t know. But between burrowers and current political appointees, there is the possibility of a lot of mischief going on. The now-naked scientific fraud of the global warmers doesn’t add any credibility to the side of “science”.
The best bet is a series of Congressional hearings under oath, where Congressmen do not entirely defer to Congressmen and women with vested interests in those states with fisheries, and ask hard questions of Administration policy makers. And then punish perjury with jail time. In other words, let Congress do its job with competence.
should be “Congressmen and women do not entirely defer to Congressmen and women …”
I was in a lecture in the 80s by Dr Tim Ball, climatologist. He predicted the end of the Grand Banks fisheries off of Newfoundland ,because the water temperature was declining. His scientists were recording water temps off the east coast for years and were noticing the decline. That was during the global cooling scare. The scientist was very popular at the global cooling meetings. I wonder what the temps are doing now.
These regulations are not just impacting NE, all of the fishing industry is feeling the pain, many small businesses have gone under, others are hanging on. I remember seeing a special many months ago or even perhaps a year ago by Fox Business called something like regulation nation, they interviewed fishermen up and down the East Coast and even interviewed Barney Frank.
Each time I go to the coast, I always make a point of buying local seafood, they need our support.
The New England fishery is barely even relevant to the industry unless you happen to be a New England fisherman. The Fishery Industry is in and off Alaska which dominates the trade in size and value of catch. We’ve had limited entry to the salmon fishery since the ’70s, which has kept the fishery alive and relatively healthy despite the best efforts of the fish farmers and greenies. We’ve had Individual Fishing Quotas (IFQs) for some years and whether they’re good or not depends on whether you own one or not, and what they’re worth depends on what the total catch allowance is. Here most of that is set by a joint US-Canadian fishery board. Of course, the allowance is never enough, and there is always conflict between the sport and commercial fishing interests.
As somebody pointed out above, the net effect on the big fisheries is to dramatically reduce the number of boats and put the industry in the hands of a few powerful, and very political, interests. Tyson Foods and a couple of others completely control the groundfish industry. When you deal with greenies and government “scientists,” the first liar doesn’t have a chance, but it is clear that there is considerable damage done to the marine econsystem by gear damage and by the dumping of bycatch. Large quanties of dead and dying bycatch being dumped into an area depletes the oxygen resulting in large “dead zones” on the ocean floor. Also, significant quantities of other desirable species are often destroyed as bycatch by the big factory trawlers. So, it is clear that the Industry doesn’t have clean hands, but to greenies lies are better than truth if you can get someone to believe them, so effective, fact and science based management is hard to achieve.
Whether we like it or not, the individual fishing boat is as obsolete and uneconomic as the family farm. Both could only provide a subsistence income and a subsistence income will not keep the kids on the farm or the boat, so the individual fishing boat can only stay in business with government protections and subsidies, as was the case with the subsistence family farm. Here in Alaska we’ve done a good enough job of “branding” wild Alaska salmon to keep the price above the commodity level of the farmed fish, so for awhile there remains an economically viable small business salmon fishery, but it is the only one left that isn’t essentially corporate industrial fishing.
And finally, the big flaw in most of the fishery management schemes whether based on good science or greenie fantasies is the fact that the US and Canada don’t control the oceans. We here in Alaska have gone to great lengths to strengthen our salmon runs, but we can only protect the fish out to the 200 mile limit while the salmon in its multi-year run at sea goes hundreds or even thousands of miles out to sea. And just outside that 200 mile limit lies the Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and other fleets just waiting to pounce on those fish, and they don’t give a damn about the health of the Alaska salmon stocks. The same is true offshore New England. When I was chartering I used to sit in the salty watering holes near the marinas where you could always find a gaggle of fishermen bitching about competition from the sport fishers and mid-ocean interception. My reply usually was that they should go to charm school, put some paint and teak on their boats and charter fish for $3-500/pound rather than commercial fish for for $1/pound, but just like the farmers, it is a way of life to them and they won’t give it up easily.
Nice to see this but as with everything else “government” today, the damage is done; your piece is a day late and a dollar short. The Pew Foundation moved into government, issued a bunch of directives citing their own “science” and “studies’ as justification, sent around some henchmen and hactchetmen (John Kerry’s brother is one) to bully vocal opponents, and now Jane Lubchenko and her crowd of aparatchicks thumb their noses at procedings intended to at least expose their actions. Fishing fleets are NOT disappearing at an alarming rate, as you state, they’re GONE.
This is just the fishing chapter of completely failed government in the US. I seriously doubt the damage of the past fifty years can ever be undone.
Sorry “Art Chance” but New Bedford Mass., is the top fishing port in the USA in value of fish landed each year. And Gloucester is usually in the top 10. So in reality, the New England fishery is very relevant.
The fishermen typically haven’t been politically active, I’d hardly mock them because of the sheeple that continue to enjoy 1 party rule.
Catch Shares has imposed an individual quota system, all without a vote of approval by the New England Fishermen. Why? Because they would have rejected the plan!
The Catch Shares scam is all about the 25% that are winners in the scam. And many of the 25% winners sit on the powerful Council, and act as the puppets for the big green mafia.
As noted in The Obama Timeline, one of Lubchenco’s stated goals is to see a “significant fraction of the [fishing] vessels …removed.”
Jane Lubchenco’ represents a microcosm of the American society. Her entire life has been in academia, college professor, lab, national science academy, and government service. She heads a $5.5 billion national oceanic and atmospheric agency, circa 7,000 employees. Unsurprisingly, she is a liberal and foresees, “stimulating the economy, creating new jobs and improving the health and security of Americans.”. This will be done her way; she has recently created seven high level directors, not to study, but to implement climate change planning, “to establish a climate service.” As noted in the article, her decisions have destroyed an industry, the Northeast fishing fleet, on the bases of science. More industries will follow, die under her enforcement.
American science, and industry, have two types of life styles: people who have cradle to grave jobs, with no personal risk, and those who are never sure they will return to port. (Note: I exclude a few score NOAA employees who sail or fly into hellish storms.) If, or when NOAA suffers the percentage of lost jobs, that the New England fishermen have suffered, would our science change? It should not. But if a NOAA scientist came out of the closet and denied climate change, or fish population declines, or environmental degradations, that employee would be in real danger of losing their position. America has a bifurcated society, government funded environmentalists, and private industry. Both are broke. The next election will determine who has any hope of making a future living.
It is now impossible that both will survive.
I am a marine biologist who came to the Texas coast when commercial fishermen were being forced out by claims of what is now called overfishing. The main demon was the severe drought, now perhaps repeating. Gordon Gunter, who had a NOAA ship named after him, told me once that the profession would be damaged when Sea Grant started, now celebrating its 40th year, by attracting too many not trained as marine biologists. He was correct, except some did adapt and added greatly to the field.
Such examples in the current crop of government leading “marine scientists” like Lubchenco, also reminded me of a tedious book on the history of biology I recently read that noted the great amount of corruption in the science of 1690, a period of great advances in marine science, especially cartography and navigation. Current celebrity types predicting doom from the oil spill may not have read the early papers on bacterial degradation published before they were born.
The last administration also incorrectly adopted the application of the “science” I originally saw about the same red drum a half century ago.
I went to Nova Scotia twice in the 1990′s and found out easily that there was no crisis as the press had alleged. Of course there was rape and pillage from the point of view of the cod, but those who seem to be the advocates of the fragility of the oceans have never been subjected to its furor or have read the scientific literature about climate change, ocean acidity, etc. Cod have survived despite their lack of reading skills. Some who can read have thought advocacy necessary.
The great scientist Lavoisier was beheaded, perhaps from being too much into politics. Nowadays it is been more subtle except they more recently burned classic wooden fishing boats in Europe. Some of you will live to see the outcome of what is now clearly another threat to the quality of science.