Dan , You make some valid points.
I do agree on changing times and certain industries do die off. More and more of the farmers and loggers and commercial fishing is being depleated. I my self am in the bussiness but no longer work on the vessels any more. You can argue that these guys were getting subsidised in some form but then so are evry american that works here in America, in one way or another.
What I am talking about is that Govt subsidised tabacco and other farmers for years and still continue to do so in forms of actuall cash, property tax and other tax reliefs. That has never happened to commercial fishing EXCEPT for the natives that are living in Alaska.
One thing that is really scary that an average Joe who is not involved in the politics of the commercial industry may not know is when small boats like these loose thier bussiness it is gobbled up by foreign Companies. These guys will do more harm in one season to a fisheries then you can ever imagine a dozen gillnets can do to a river/ ocean.
I have stated before on another post , telling the price drop of Salmon because the largest buyers (Japanese) went to Chili to purchas Sockeye and now will be buying Chums as well. This is good news for the sporties and guides that target these fisheries in alaska and other areas, but It also has a very bad backlash. With the agreement of certain $ value of the Chums this season from Chili, the Japanese have agreed to pay a higher value for the Roe (right now the price is estimated at $18.85 or so) per Lbs. from the Americans. Now we will see serious rape going on. It is a game they play. They present them selves to the people who are angry with the harvest of wild fish or any other adversaries so they please them by purchasing farm fish for lower value, yet they supply cash and gear to their corporate partners here in america to strip roe and control prices.Dan, you would be amazed at what the Americans and the Japenese , Polish, Norwegiens are doing right now in Sea of Ohtsk. The Russians are very money driven and they are doing anything to get it.
It might be a better if we ***** and moan about small gill netters every year, because when they sell their quotas to foreign markets ShIIt will really hit the fan as far as over fishing and breaking regulations go.
I