Stocks are up!

Of late we have been preoccupied with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but not all news is bad.

In fact, 10 days ago, in its annual Status of U.S. Fisheries report to Congress, NOAA reported four additional stocks have been fully rebuilt and that no stocks — none — have been added to the list of stocks undergoing overfishing.

This is a big deal, even if you don't read about it in the New York Times, and not just for swordfish, Atlantic scup, Atlantic black sea bass, and St. Matthew Island blue king crab in the Bering Sea.

It's a big deal for U.S. fisheries because it shows that fishery management is a collaborative effort among scientists, regulators and industry that can work.

Overall, 85 percent (212 of 250) of stocks were free from overfishing, and 77 percent (157 of 203) were not overfished.

Four stocks were downgraded to "overfished" and three that had been subject to overfishing are no longer so. Two stocks whose status had been regarded as unknown are now known to be free of overfishing.

2009 was the first year since 1997 that no stocks were added to the list of those subject to overfishing.

We congratulate NMFS and the U.S. fishing industry for their persistent efforts in the evolution of American fisheries.

That said, it is high time the agency resolved the communications hurdle it has embraced with respect to the concept of overfishing.

Most of us understand that "overfishing" reflects effort and that "overfished" reflects abundance.

This is a distinction with a real difference that unfortunately the mainstream media has been unable (or too uninterested) to parse out. As a result, the industry generally is blamed any time a stock is described as overfished, when in reality you could assert, with technical accuracy, that the dodo bird is overfished.

In fairness, fishing is often covered by so-called general assignment reporters who could easily miss such a nuance and most often do.

The government owes it to the people to help get the story straight.

Thank you for your time.

Jerry Fraser
Editor & Publisher, National Fisherman
www.nationalfisherman.com

 

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