Should we just deregulate fishing quotas and see what happens?
Jul 31, 2017, 7:37 AM | Updated: 8:21 am
(File, NOAA Fisheries via AP)
(File, NOAA Fisheries via AP)
Some of President Donald Trump’s biggest victories were in the coastal states along the Gulf of Mexico where the big issue is fishing quotas.
RELATED: Was the health care debate all for nothing?
Red snapper, as we all know, is delicious. But back in the 1980’s the population collapsed because of overfishing – which led to strict quotas. That led to shorter and shorter seasons until, by this year, the season for Red Snapper was down to three days.
In DuLac, Louisiana, CBS’s Omar Villafranca found some pretty unhappy sports fishermen who say it’s a huge tourism driver.
David Cresson of the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana says the red snapper population has largely recovered and a three-day fishing season is too short for recreational anglers.
And yet, sports fishermen got the Trump administration to scrap the three-day limit and allow weekend fishing through the summer.
That really annoys commercial fishermen like David Krebs of Ariel Seafoods, who says the sports anglers are being rewarded for cheating:
“If you’re not going to adhere to the law, why have regulations?” he asked. “We can all just go back to the Wild Wild West — and it is going to damage the resource.”
And while the commercial and the sports fishermen go at it, J.P. Brooker, an attorney for the Ocean Conservancy is suing the Federal Government to re-impose the limits:
“It’s unfair to commercial fishermen, it’s unfair to the long-term viability of the recreational fishery as well.”
It’s a little like the health care argument. Do you try to save the system or just deregulate, let it collapse, and see what happens?
-
Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
