The Drudge Report had a story which is all too common to this Country; government regulation is destroying the livelihood of the those within the industry. Examples of this can be found throughout the past 40 years.
- Fishing on the West Coast destroyed by the “Boldt” decision and the regulation that followed the judges decision.
- Timber industry gutted due to the infamous “Spotted Owl” habitat scare and regulated out of existence.
- American car manufacturing destroyed through government meddling of labor, unions, standards and quotas.
- Banking threatened due to the removal of “Glass-Speigel”, Fannie and Freddie mandates to lend to unsecure borrowers, and federal approval of mergers creating institutions which they (the government) deemed too big to fail.
- Farming industry currently in danger due to government subsidies, regulations of fertilizers, setbacks and mandates of farming plans where farmers are fined if they are found out of compliance with their government “approved” plan.
One could go on-and-on with once thriving industries that have been regulated and micro-managed out of existence, but you decide as you read these ‘2’ stories. The first story is from the website of the “Environmental Defense Fund” as they glowingly report on their program called “Catch-Share” (LAPPs). The second story are the East Coast Fisherman who are barely maintaining their livelihood with what’s allowed them through the “Catch-Share” program. It is reported that many of the fisherman have committed suicide due to devastation from the loss of their “fishing” rights.
Yours In Truth 
Catch Shares (LAPPs): A Promising Solution
A new way to revive fisheries and fishing communities
Catch shares (LAPPs) reward innovation and help fisheries to maximize efficiency.
More In-Depth Information
- Report: Sustaining America's Fisheries and Fishing Communities
- Catch Shares: A Market-Based Tool to Aid Ailing Fisheries
In the 1970s, starting in Australia, New Zealand and Iceland, a new approach to managing fisheries began to take hold.
Known as "catch shares" or Limited Access Privilege Programs (LAPPs), this type of system dedicates a secure share of fish to an individual fisherman, community or fishery association. Each year before the season begins, fishermen know how much fish they are allowed to take of the fishery's Total Allowable Catch (TAC).
Fishermen are usually allowed to buy and sell shares in order to maximize their profit. This helps drive the fishery to an efficient level and rewards innovative fishermen who can lower costs and deliver a quality product that will fetch a good price on the market. Click here for the full report.
Fishermen Say Regulations Destroying Industry
Federal Team Reviews Effects Of Regulations
POSTED: 5:39 pm EDT May 10, 2011
UPDATED: 6:11 pm EDT May 10, 2011
SEABROOK, N.H. -- Fishermen on New Hampshire's Seacoast are warning that new fishing regulations could destroy their industry and have already caused them severe emotional stress.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has sent a team to Seabrook to look at the effects of the new regulations.
"If they don't do something to modify the fishing regulations, we won't have a fishing industry on the Seacoast, is what it boils down to," said Hampton Town Manager Fred Welch.
Many in the fishing industry said they want the federal team to do more than its stated task of creating an economic development assessment report. The team is spending three days in Seabrook and visiting five other New England fishing towns.
The new regulations are known as "catch-share." The team said they are not there to look at possible changes to the rules but rather to see what effects they are having.
"What the economic challenges are and, maybe in the future, what the economic opportunities are for the community, and we're putting together a report some time in the summer based on what we hear, as far as the challenges and opportunities for economic development in the community," said Bryan Borlik of the Department of Commerce.
While the report won't produce short-term changes, local fishermen said they were glad to share their pain on the record.
"One of the fishermen from Rye had said that there had been three suicide attempts and a half dozen divorces during this first year of catch-shares," said Bob Campbell of the Yankee Fisherman's Cooperative. "Commercial fishermen are usually pretty tight-lipped, and for something this serious to come out, I mean, you know that the whole situation is grave."
Campbell said the cooperative has lost about $750,000 in business since the new regulations went into effect.
"We're off 1.1 million pounds of fish from last year, and over a million and a half pounds from the year before," he said.
Local fishermen said they were told by the federal team not to discuss the new regulations, just their effects.
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