Julie Wormser, EDF’s Ocean Program Director for New England, argues in a blog post that "readers of the Gloucester Daily Times are not getting a realistic picture of what is happening or why."
EDF, alongside many in New England, is advocating for a different set of fishery regulations called catch shares. This new type of management has been shown elsewhere to maintain sustainable fishing harvests while helping fishermen stay in business. Catch shares, like any management system, must be designed well to fit both the biological constraints and the social and economic goals of individual fisheries.
EDF’s goal is to provide research and information sharing that can help everyone make decisions that have better outcomes for the resource and for fishermen than status quo management. However readers of the Gloucester Daily Times likely don’t know this. Because instead of providing balanced, objective information about the pros and cons of the current days-at-sea system versus other systems, Mr. Gaines has focused his coverage almost entirely upon criticisms of this management tool and given voice almost exclusively to those opposed to it. Coverage of those speaking in favor of the program and its potential benefits has been heavily loaded with biased language that questions the validity of the science, the organizations and the credentials of the experts delivering this point of view.
Read the complete story from the EDF.