Until recently, I lived in the Northeast and the fishing industry is in tough shape. The government regulations that are in effect already have not helped anyone, and more regulations is not a good solution.
My grandfather was involved in the fishing industry (in Boston) for over 40 years and was lamenting the decline in the early 70’s. At that point, in time the Russian factory ships were coming as close as 3 miles from the shore and sucking up all the fish and processing them all in one operation. Well, the government stepped in and declared that we have a 200-mile limit. Everything stabilized for a few years but eventually the fisherman upgraded and modernized their fleets. Every one was happy for a few years but eventually demand outstripped supply for the “preferred” fish (Haddock, Cod and Halibut).
Skip ahead a 25 years and what happens now is that there are plenty of certain types of fish, but not enough of the “preferred” fish. So what the government has done is limit the amount of the “preferred” fish that can be caught. Sounds good, right? Aha, not so fast. When a boat goes out to catch the species of fish that aren’t limited the nets also scoop up a certain number of the types that are regulated. By the time the net gets unloaded the fish are all dead. The Captain of the fishing boat has only two choices: bring the Haddock and Cod in for sale and risk getting fined by the government or just dump the dead fish back in the ocean.
I’m not an expert on this issue but watching the fishing industry in New England decline has been painful to watch. I’ve oversimplified the NE fishing industry here but I hope that this small amount of information contributes some understanding of the complexity of the problem.