environmental defense
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/page.cfm?tagid=1166

The science journal Nature confirms what we have long feared—ocean fisheries are not limitless.

In fact, it's quite the opposite. Decades of destructive fishing practices have pushed America's fisheries to the breaking point.

But, our groundbreaking and exhaustive new report, Sustaining America's Fisheries and Fishing Communities, offers new hope.

Read more about this new report. http://www.environmentaldefense.org/page.cfm?tagid=1166

The effect of declining fish stocks is a serious environmental problem. Entire marine ecosystems are being pushed to the brink of collapse.

But it's much more than that. These disturbing trends have devastated costal communities:

• More than 72,000 jobs have been lost in the Pacific Northwest alone.
  
• The typical fisherman now earns nearly 30% less than the average American worker in salary and his job is 35 times more dangerous.
• 
  Fifty-four stocks are classified as overfished, 45 stocks are experiencing overfishing and just over half of the nation's stocks remain in an uncertain status.
• 
  The current trends are bleak for our ocean resources and everyone who depends on them.

But, there is hope, if we act urgently and wisely.

The missing piece in the puzzle for how to bring back fish is one that Environmental Defense has long advocated—Limited Access Privilege Programs (LAPPs), also known as "catch shares."

This program flips the incentives for fishermen. Instead of engaging in a hyper-competitive arms race to catch as much fish as possible as quickly as possible, fishermen can join a managed system where they each can catch an allotted amount of fish.

Fishermen are also free to buy and sell their catch shares and choose when and how to catch or not catch their allotted fish in a more orderly way. These catch limits would be set at a level needed to allow fish stocks to recover and keep fishing industries alive.

As our new report details, adding catch shares to fisheries stewardship can help recover our nation's failing fisheries.

I encourage you to read more about this important new study. http://www.environmentaldefense.org/page.cfm?tagid=1166