Earlier this week, a Microsoft Word document entitled "Letter – to NOAA in support of Catch Shares FINAL.doc" which had been circulating on Capitol Hill, came to the attention of a number of individuals in the fisheries communities. The document’s properties showed that it was created on April 6, 2009 by Amanda Leland, a registered lobbyist with the Environmental Defense Fund, and last saved by “dreineman” on July 31, 2009. Since Dan Reineman is currently a Sea Grant fellow for Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif. this suggested a collaboration between Mr Reineman and Ms. Leland, a former Sea Grant fellow for Congressman Farr (2003). Richard Gaines of the Gloucester Times looked into the lobbying effort, and the possible collaboration, and wrote this story.
The Environmental Defense Fund and a California congressman have undertaken a lobbying campaign on behalf of "catch shares," the policy advanced by national oceans administrator Jane Lubchenco that would privatize the fisheries, converting a commonly held resource into a commodity.
Together, the EDF and Congressman Sam Farr have written and distributed to his House colleagues a letter that holds catch shares out to be nothing short of a panacea for the ailments of a national industry.
EDF also has identified potentially lucrative investment opportunities in catch share futures.
"Research published in the journal Science shows that ‘catch shares,’ a performance-based approach to management, can stop and even reverse, the collapse of fisheries when properly applied," Farr wrote in his recently distributed form letter.
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.