August 14, 2014 — An old adage popularized by Benjamin Franklin says that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Many of us in the marine conservation community believe that would, indeed, be a good way to manage our nation’s ocean fish. But that’s not happening.
Too often, fisheries begin in a new location, or target a new species, without any scientific evaluation of potential adverse effects on the health of the ecosystem. Instead of employing management measures to prevent trouble, we’ve been spending our resources on curing difficulties that might have been averted.
And now, unprecedented shifts in the range and behavior of fish populations because of increasing water temperatures, combined with a growing global demand for seafood, are creating pressure to expand fishing to new geographic areas or to fish that have never been major commercial fishing targets. But if management of fishing in U.S. waters starts only after damage has already been done, we’re ignoring Franklin’s good advice. Without taking strong, proactive steps, we will continue to chase problems rather than prevent them.
Congress should address this weakness as it updates the primary law governing management of our nation’s ocean fish—the Magnuson-Stevens Act. While U.S. efforts to curb overfishing and restore depleted fish populations stand as one of the great ocean conservation success stories of the past decade, more can be done to shore up the health of the marine ecosystems that support these fish.
Read the full opinion piece from The Pew Charitable Trusts at Care2