Regulators Should Act on Fishing Study

Regulators Should Act on Fishing Study

A state official put it best: A federal report that documents a continued decline in some species of groundfish despite years of regulation was "extremely frustrating."
After reducing the number of fishing days, staying out of certain areas and using nets with bigger mesh, the stocks of some species have not rebounded as hoped, leading to what are expected to be even stricter limits next fishing season.


For commercial fishermen and the remaining Maine businesses that service them, this is bad news indeed.
That has led to an assault on the scientific basis of the report, and a call for an independent review of the data from all four U.S. Senators from Maine and Massachusetts.


When the stakes are so high, both for the industry and the environment, a review may be worthwhile. But it should be done independently of any action taken in response to these findings. Intervention now would only slow the return of these species and could damage the industry in the long run.


The regulation of fishing should be based on the best science available. There is good reason to believe that is what this report represents.
More than 70 scientists contributed to it and it was peer reviewed by 22 independent scientists, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.


It's important to note that not all the news in it is bad. Its authors found that stocks of some species, including haddock and cod, are healthy and rebounding.


It is also significant that the critics of the science behind the report do not dispute these positive findings.
The rebound of some species shows that conservation practices work and actions taken years ago are starting to have a positive effect.
The poor state of other stocks is the likely result of compromise moves that protected only certain species, shifting pressure onto the others.


The best strategy is to protect all the species and let them all return to healthy levels.


Another review of the fishing study methodology should not get in the way of what has already proven to be successful.
The quickest way to bring the groundfish species back to healthy numbers is to act on these findings now.