Letters to the Editor

Fisheries management

The key to conserving America’s fisheries and marine habitat is ignored by Adm. James D. Watkins and Leon E. Panetta, authors of Wednesday’s Op-Ed column “From sea to shining sea.”

Even reports from the organizations they head, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission, acknowledge that the North Pacific — where we have no overfished stocks and have consistently protected habitat — has been successful.

In fact, environmental groups around the country have praised fisheries management off the shores of Alaska. The formula for success has been the decentralized, non-Washington-based regional council system, which allows local fishermen and environmentalists to work together with scientists, academics and others a role in decision-making.

In Alaska, fishermen pay strict attention to what the scientists tell them about sustainability. In fact, all U.S. fisheries are managed through the same regional, science-driven approach. What you don’t hear about are the success stories that are happening around the country to restore fish and their habitats.

All the regional councils recently called for more integration of science into management. They recognized that some regions of the country do not have confidence in the objectivity of their scientists, but they agreed that if science advisers are better integrated into the regional decision-making process, improved conservation will be the result.

There have been recommendations that the regional fishery management council system be dismantled and that management authority of our federal fisheries be handed over to federal officials in Washington. This would benefit no one. The people whose livelihoods and communities are at stake need to be involved.

As Congress considers revising federal fishery management law, it should recall the value of an open, public management process that resides close to those most affected by the decisions. Increased integration of science into a regional management process, rather than serving up a one-size-fits-all approach to fishery regulations crafted by bureaucrats in Washington, seems the sensible approach.

DAVID BENTON

Executive director

Marine Conservation Alliance

Juneau, Alaska

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