Read This Now - Fishing For The Future

So the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) is busy implementing a bunch of changes in the way we manage fisheries in the US, and while some folks think this is a pretty good idea seeing as how poorly we've done to this point and how we'd all like for there to be seafood to eat and jobs for fishermen well into the future, others have been bitterly complaining.

The Maine Sunday Telegram this weekend had one of the best reasoned calls for calm and perseverance in support of finding a new management structure that actually works.

A new set of fishing rules promises to use the best available science to determine how many pounds of fish from each species can be caught allowing the populations to rebuild.

It also creates a new method of sharing the catch that gives fishermen the flexibility they need to maximize their earnings by controlling when and how they fish.

The biggest threat to the new system, however, is not biology or economics. It's politics.

Pressure to increase the amount of fish that can be caught or to cut back on the monitoring necessary to make the system work will mean that this effort, like those in the past, is doomed.

These new rules, which went into effect Saturday, have a chance to work, but they will need time and resources. Fishermen, environmentalists, regulators and people who care about saving a traditional industry in coastal Maine all have an interest in this effort's success.

Be sure to read the whole thing.