Protecting our fish and fishermen
Monday, November 20th, 2006
After enjoying this sunrise over Emerald Isle this morning, I picked up the debate on a potential ban on deep sea bottom trawling in an article from Halifax, Nova Scotia's Chronicle Herald. The article, "Reputation on the line," has this to say.
Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn has acknowledged trawling damages fish stocks and their environment, but says a ban would be unenforceable and that stronger fisheries management organizations in unregulated areas would be more effective.
"I would like to see Canada take a leadership role on this issue," said Paul Snelgrove, an ecology professor at Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L.
A trawling ban in international waters would not be easy to enforce, but that’s a weak reason to oppose one, Snelgrove said.
It is not unusual to see Canada and the United States on opposite end of an environmental question. Yet they are in different sides of the issue than what I would have guessed. I haven't figured out the situation, but I will dig into it.
I did find one piece of research on the issue, "Potential Impacts of Bottom Trawling on Water Column Productivity and Sediment Transport Processes." It was funded by the state of North Carolina but does not really address the issue.
As someone who enjoys fishing and throwing them back and ordering fresh local fish off the menu in area eateries, I would like to see someone with the wisdom of Solomon figure this out.
I know we need to protect our wonderful fish nurseries along North Carolina's coast, I am just not smart enough to know the best way to do that yet.
I have seen the California approach, "Sanctuaries for fish, Wildlife panel establishes marine reserves." It may create more problems than it solves. I was living in Canada when the cod fishery collapsed. It was not a pretty situation.
Solving our need to use and preserve our marine resources is a huge challenge.