There have always been some who thoughtcommercial fishermen complaining about federal regulations were selfishly putting their livelihood above the notion of conservation.
Yet recent events suggest efforts intended to preserve marine resources may have been inadequately considered and overly prescriptive.
Within the past month, an independent audit of the bureaucracy that devises New England's fishing rules questioned the science used to establish them and the metric used to determine if they were working.
In another incident, the U.S. Commerce Secretary ordered $650,000 in unjust fines returned to Northeast fishermen, while the nation's oceans chief apologized to the industry for the agency's mistakes.
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