Court House News
A rare environmental success story is unfolding for bottom trawler fishermen in waters off the U.S. West Coast.
After years of fear and uncertainty, bottom trawlers, who use nets to catch rockfish, bocaccio, sole, Pacific Ocean perch and other deep-dwelling fish, are making a comeback as a sustainable industry less than two decades after authorities closed huge stretches of the Pacific Ocean because of the species’ depletion.
The ban devastated fishermen, but on Jan. 1, regulators will reopen an area roughly three times the size of Rhode Island off Oregon and California to groundfish bottom trawling —with the approval of environmental groups that were once the industry’s biggest foes. More
I dunno…I usually don’t approve of anything that benefits Democrats and their minions in any –
Oh wait – I thought you said “bottom feeders“.
Never mind…
🙂
Sure, but when are they going to open season on spotted owls?
“It’s really a conservation home run,” said Shems Jud, regional director for the Environmental Defense Fund’s ocean program and part time Star Wars character.
Is anything being done to lower the cost of frozen shrimp?
Asking for a friend.
….oh, it’s a FISHING story!
…I saw “Bottom Trawlers” and just figured it was about the press following Buttgieg into his favorite club…
…nothing here for ME. They closed all the local Long John Silvers, and there really IS no fish after THAT…
Cap’n Ds > LJS
The human waste flowing from our streets, feeding the ocean fish, is finally paying off.
Sounds fishey to me!
grool
DECEMBER 26, 2019 AT 6:45 PM
“Cap’n Ds > LJS”
…agreed, but they closed THOSE down here 10 years before they started shuttering Silver’s, so they’re not really an option either…
They can have my share. lol
Bottom trawling is still the most devastating and unsustainable form of commercial fishing. It severely damages the habitat, and the by-catch (the stuff that doesn’t sell) is significant and usually entirely wasted. There are methods that can reduce both habitat damage and the by-catch, but they are costly, so not likely to be implemented by the majority of the world’s fishing fleets, especially the massive Chinese pirate fleets.
Pricing of seafood has been distorted by Chinese dumping. They are not constrained by environmental rules for both fished and farmed seafood. It is not a sustainable business plan, but they don’t really care. The ones most negatively impacted are the fishermen and aquaculturalists who must abide by environmental and economic restrictions (sound or otherwise).
The one bright spot in all this is that protected fisheries and EEZ’s (actively and aggressively protected) will provide a future base for a sustainable fishery. Not particularly uplifting to someone who just lost a livelihood, but someone will benefit from it, eventually. Brexit was partially fueled by heavy resentment among British citizens at the extremely unfair deal the EU forced on them as regards their EEZ and fisheries.
I’m fortunate to live where I can buy fresh Gulf shrimp right off the boat. That Chinese and Vietnamese crap they grow using human feces doesn’t even come close.
#ACParker
Don’t know about where you live/fish, but here on the East Coast, most of the bycatch is a result of government rules not allowing the sale, so over the side it goes, dead.
#Handy Hunter,
Not a fisherman — something about fish not liking my stench. The only fish I ever caught, a beautiful 14″ cutthroat trout, I snagged (I think that I am covered by the Statute of Limitations).
A while back, I did do extensive research for an artisanal fisheries project in West Africa. The client was dead-set on getting funding for a trawler, as trawlers were destroying the local fishery and he figured, if you can’t beat them, join them. The trawler could not be justified, economically, so we concentrated on improving the productivity of traditional artisanal methods.
The by-catch from trawlers in that area was considerable. I did look into the possibility of finding ways of utilizing the by-catch in some way, but the project was blown up by the UN before I could get that far.