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EDITORIAL: Fish Tales: A Big-Picture Approach to Managing Fisheries Will Serve Virginia Well

Posted on: Monday, 15 May 2006, 12:05 CDT

By Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

May 15--There are lots of fish in the sea.

Or are there?

Cod fishermen thought so, until they fished their favored catch into near extinction. Likewise the fishermen who thought they could keep on pulling in big dollars along with big blue fin tuna didn't catch on that both are limited, until the tuna's numbers were down 90 percent. And while they're not fish, oysters - once so plentiful in Virginia that their reefs broke through the surface of the water - are now nearly exhausted, as overharvesting was allowed after disease took its toll.

A decade ago, the nation made real progress in its approach to regulating fishing in federal waters - between the states' three-mile limit and the nation's 200-mile line - with legislation that took steps to end overfishing, rebuild depleted populations and protect fish habitat. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act is up for reauthorization this year, and a fight is shaping up.

Commercial fisheries aren't the only ones with a dog in this fight. There are communities with jobs at stake: in fisheries and processing plants or on the recreational side. There are countless sport fishermen whose luck on the water is affected by what industrial fishermen are permitted to do. Anyone who enjoys seafood is affected. Anyone is, really, for fisheries affect the health of the oceans and oceans affect the health of the planet.

The Magnuson-Stevens approach has been a good one. It makes conservation a goal, so fisheries aren't managed for the short-term, to maximize the yield to commercial interests. The need to take this broader, longer-term view seems obvious, but it wasn't the case before the Magnuson-Stevens law came along. The approach isn't perfect: Regulation of fisheries, which falls to multi-state councils, is too often dominated by individuals with a financial stake in the fisheries they oversee. Overfishing still occurs, and many critical fish - including bluefish in this area and grouper to the south - are in trouble.

We've learned the hard way what we need: strategies that support both healthy fisheries and healthy oceans. Among them:

Looking at the big picture - the whole ecosystem - and not just how to manage one species to maximize the catch.

Making science the basis for setting catch limits and making those limits enforceable.

Giving the public a seat at the table where fisheries are managed and making sure that table isn't dominated by commercial interests.

Responding quickly when fish populations become depleted and setting firm dates for restoring them to health. In the absence of deadlines, rebuilding gets put off.

Giving the public access to fisheries data, a vital window through which scientists and independent monitors keep an eye on fisheries and oceans.

As Congress takes up the reauthorization, Virginia has a representative on the front row: Rep. Thelma Drake, who represents parts of southeast Virginia that are home to a lot of recreational fishermen and the scallop boats that put out of Hampton. She's a member of the Committee on Resources that will draft the bill that goes to the House. While there's a better option available - a bill proposed by Maryland Rep. Wayne Gilchrist - it's a good bet the committee will take as its starting point the bill its chairman, Rep. Richard Pombo of California, has been pushing.

Drake will serve all those in her district with an interest in fish, fisheries and the oceans by helping overcome the shortcomings that conservation advocates see in Pombo's bill. Prime among them are that it would make it easier to continue overharvesting depleted fish populations and would bar the public from seeing fisheries data.

Conservationists are also concerned about provisions allowing fisheries to get out from under the National Environmental Policy Act. In dealing with an environment as critical as the ocean, it seems obvious that a way must be found to meet the key requirements of that act: that the environmental impact of proposed actions be evaluated, that alternatives be considered and that the public's input be gathered.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Daily Press

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