MOST DEPLETED STOCKS NOT RECOVERING, RESEARCHERS SAY
Just three of 67 depleted U.S. fish stocks have been rebuilt in the past 10 years, according to a new study. The study, which examines 10 years of federal data on overfished fisheries, will be published in the August issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. The study was funded by the Lenfest Ocean Foundation, which was launched by the Pew Charitable Trust in 2004. The three rebuilt stocks are Atlantic sea scallops, Pacific whiting and Pacific lingcod, the report says. "Unfortunately, we are failing to rebuild many of the resources on which our fishing economy depends," said Andrew Rosenberg, chief author of the report and a professor at the University of New Hampshire. The Magnuson-Stevens Act mandates that U.S. fishery management councils draft rebuilding plans for overfished stocks to bring them back to healthy levels within 10 years if this is biologically possible.
Source: Allison A. Freeman, E & E News, 21 June 2006
