Fall
2003
Plundering
the Pacific
Part 1:
The CATS
Who Run
the Fishhouse
Imagine the
CEO of Weyerhaeuser appointed to run the national
forests. As part of the deal, he gets to keep his
old job. Federal law wouldn't allow it, of course.
It's a simple conflict of interest. But when it comes
to the folks who regulate ocean fishing, conflicts
of interest are not only permissible, they're a regular
part of the game. Full
story.
Western
Pacific council pushes plan to quash historic coral
reserve. Council puts corals, spiny lobster and
rare monk seal at risk so a few can profit. Full
story.
They took
millions of lobsters, and monk seal pups starved to
death. Graphic (large file).
Science
Friction. Industry resists Pew Commission’s
call for change. Full
story.
Marine
mammals killed by Pacific fisheries. Graphic
(large file).
How
to speak “fisheries”.
Full story.
Glossary
Part
2: The Rockfish Files.
Documents
show the Pacific Fishery Management Council ignored
scientific advice as it let the bottom dwellers crash.
Full story.
These
stocks are down. Hundreds of tons of imperiled
rockfish are killed and wasted as bycatch each year
in West Coast fisheries. Graphic
(large file).
Private
ownership of a public resource? The IFQ debate. Full
story.
Part
3: Essential Coral Gardens
North
Pacific council rejects plan to protect coral and sponge,
though the plan meant
little reduction in commercial fishing. Full
story.
Protecting
our Undersea Yellowstones. Scientists find
marine reserves build bigger fish and produce more young.
Full story.
From
Baja to Bering. Exploring coral and sponge
secrets along the West Coast and Alaska. Graphic
(large file).
POSTER
MAP
Net
effects: A conservation map of the North Pacific. Graphic
(very large file).
Editorials:
Fixing
our Failed Fisheries.
What
you can do for the Pacific Ocean.
More
information:
North
Pacific Ocean Conservation Directory.
Poachers
R Us
A follow up article from Dec. 31, 2003, in the Honolulu
Weekly
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©2003 Cascadia Times
Plundering the Pacific
How to speak “fisheries”
| PRINT
EDITION
The
Cascadia Times Fall 2003 issue, "Plundering the
Pacific," investigates the decline of the North Pacfic
Ocean and its wildlife in the wake of decades of industrial
scale fishing.
The 24-page print edition contains numerous graphics and full-color
photographs that richly illustrate this report. Please support
Cascadia Times with your subscription
or by making a donation.
Thank you!
Reprints
are available for $5 each. For reprint information, please
contact us at cascadia@spiritone.com. |
The Pacific Fishery Management Council is based
in Portland, but meets every few months in cookie-cutter hotels
up and down the West Coast. Their meetings can last a whole week,
though to the novice even one session can seem like an eternity.
They are open to the public, though few people not connected in
some way to the fishing industry ever attend.
Perhaps this is because attending is rarely convenient. At a recent
meeting of the North Pacific Council in Anchorage, an agenda item
of interest to conservation groups was scheduled for Friday. Or
Monday. Or Tuesday. So be prepared to stay the whole week.
The agenda, of course, requires much more than a third-graders’
understanding, if not patience. Those who seek a chance to comment
on a damaged coral ecosystems will not easily discern from the printed
agenda when it might come up. If it ever does. Coral is essential
to rockfish ecosystems, but rarely discussed at council meetings.
The biggest barrier, however, is language. At a council meeting,
you are likely to hear something like, “The oy is less than
the msy in the fmp for the dst, says the ssc.”
What this means is that some fish are going to be caught. But you
can be fluent in 18 languages and still not have a clue.
Public access to council meetings is a serious issue, says Mark
Powell of the Ocean Conservancy. He’s been attending them
for years as a conservation advocate. He’s found that council
members will listen “semi-politely, and make snide comments
and ignore you.”
Citizens shouldn’t let the jargon, the agendas and the pro-industry
bias discourage them from attending and participating, Powell says.
If you want to influence a decision, or even file a lawsuit if
you don’t like a decision, you have to make comments on the
record.
And it’s ok to make them in plain old English.
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