Can anyone explain to me about fish ?

[venta]

I'm a little confused by the current business about the fishing quotas.

According to the news bulletins I've heard today:

(a) fish populations are falling like mad, thus there must be limits on the number of fish caught to prevent extinction
(b) fisherman are up in arms about the quota cuts, saying it will destroy their livelihood

Now, I can see their point in (b). However, (a) suggests to me that if the fishing isn't limited now, their livelihood is going to be pretty stuffed anyway.

But:

None of the interviewers I heard today asked any kind of questions about this of the fisherman they were interviewing.

Now, I'm assuming that the people who work trawlers can draw this kind of logical conclusion for themselves, and, if it were this simple, would be able to see past the cuts this year. Am I missing something ?

Comments

[zotz]

No, you're not missing anything (Hi, by the way) - that's essentially how it is. How soon the fisheries would collapse if current fishing levels were to continue, though, is uncertain, as is how strict the quotas need to be to avoid that - the estimates are based on the best available evidence, but they're still estimates. The fishermen - who have large investments in boats and employed crew, and a living to lose - favour higher quotas than the marine biologists, who don't.

Personally, I think that it's been obvious for twenty or thirty years that this day has been coming, and investment decisions should have been made with that in mind, but then what do I know?

And why didn't the reporters ask harsher questions of the fishermen? I don't know. They didn't, to be fair, ask dreadfully difficult questions about the quality of the fish population projections either.

[venta.livejournal.com]

but then what do I know?

Form the "Not Ostriches" party and run for government... go on, I'd vote for you.