Sunday, August 18, 2013

Can You Support Local Fishermen AND Conservation?

Entangled Humpback calfI love local seafood AND local fish & wildlife. It's frustrating to hear local fishermen constantly oppose any and all regulations geared towards conserving natural resources for future generations.

This week's example: As federal regulators seek to protect endangered whales from entanglement in lobster trap lines, Cape Cod lobstermen have come up with a laundry list of reasons to oppose the rules, but (at least according to the article) not a single alternative solution or possible compromise. As someone who doesn't think we have to choose between a thriving seafood industry and a healthy environment, it's frustrating when fishermen come to meetings with nothing to say but NO.

Fishermen have been open-minded when it comes to offshore wind development. It would be nice if they sought a similar role in regulating their own industry.

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