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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Nature cares little for your rights

As overfishing is bringing more and more fishing areas to collapse, a few foresighted countries have acted to preserve their fish populations and their way of life. Several island nations in the Pacific, particularly Palau, have set aside up to 30 percent of coastal waters as no-fishing zones to help sustain fish populations. So far, the efforts have shown great success, with fish populations rebounding so much that fishing has improved in adjacent fishing-allowed areas.

The United States hasn't caught on to the Micronesian leadership, and sets aside less than 1% of near-coast waters. In fact, activity in the Hawaiian legislature suggests that fishing advocates don't really understand the implications of overfishing:
In Hawaii, where the reefs are largely depleted of fish, a “right to fish” bill recently approved by the state house of representatives would make it almost impossible to create any protected areas by requiring unattainable scientific data. (emphasis mine)
Unfortunately for the fishermen, a collapsing fish population doesn't have to respect your "right" to fish.

For more on oversfishing, check out this Scientific American piece discussing how worldwide fish catches peaked in 1994 and have declined every year since.

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