The current situation of commercial fishing is not up to mark and so the government prescribes another bitter regulatory pill and promises that although the pill might be hard to swallow, it will, over the long run, cure what ails of the fishing industry. It is fact that harvest moratoriums or low catch quotas sometime takes such a heavy toll that many fishermen don’t survive the cure.
Fishermen expressed their views and like the government to stay out of the fishing business altogether, but they readily concede that isn’t likely to happen under either political party. Now the fishermen feel that the time is ripe to ask more, not less, from government, and to press elected officials to adopt forward-looking policies that support thriving, socially just and environmentally sound commercial fishing communities.
They appealed that the elected officials should take note and adopt a bold vision of economic, social and environmental sustainability that will protect the future of small, family-owned and family-operated commercial fishing businesses. It is said that the investment in the future will cost very little and will reap huge benefits. According to the fishermen politicians need to make sure that policies for the development of ocean and coastal waters benefit from the wisdom of the wild-seafood harvesters who work on those waters.
