| Fishermen Ignite Economic Debate |
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| Written by Erika Fredrickson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 20 March 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A debate is raging in Charleston, South Carolina around how the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will allocate fish stocks. Biologists determine a sustainable quantity of fish that can be caught, but councils like the FMC allocate how that number of fish will be divided between commercial and recreational groups. Commercial fishermen claim they expand local economies, so they should get a larger slice of the pie. But local charter fishermen and advocates like the Coastal Conservation Association argue that their own contribution is much more profound. Recreational fishermen contribute millions of dollars per year to communities, but they also preserve the unique fishing lifestyle that make those towns appealing and creates strong communities for locals. One village fisherman in Hatteras, NC, Ernie Foster says that personable fishing communities are immeasurable in economic terms, but need to be considered -- which is exactly what some ecological economists are doing. Developing ways to calculate environmental and social benefits, and using units of energy rather than dollars to calculate production costs, could flesh out the total economic picture. And, really, it just makes sense to consider whether an allocation system is sustainable and preserves the values of a society, over whether it makes big bucks or not. Source: Outer Banks Sentinel Picture: Four Girls Fishing Boat, by Tammy Watson
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It's true what our moms said...we are what we eat. In fact, it's truer than they thought. What I eat doesn't just affect me anymore, it affects all of us.
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