More thoughts on fisheries habitat and a call to focus action

One of the key themes of my presidency is fish and aquatic habitat, as it is the core of sustainable fisheries resources. This importance is reflected in the observation—the less intact and functioning an aquatic system, the more human resources (i.e., labor and money) are required to provide fisheries and ecosystem benefits to society. There is no cost-effective substitute to high quality fisheries and aquatic habitat and we can, at best, expensively manage around degraded habitat. Unfortunately, there are efforts currently afoot to reduce “regulations” to increase short-term profits and economic returns with likely short- and long-term fish and aquatic habitat degradation as a result. There is a significant policy discussion in the United States concerning the following: These are just a few. Similar discussions are occurring around the globe with the likely same predictable results. This behavior has been seen repeatedly in our history and documented extensively. We should take the time to gather up similar past experiences, which frequently have good evidentiary and photographic evidence and make the public and decision makers aware of the path(s) they are choosing. There are many “ghost towns” that are monuments to how short-term, quick-money-driven economies fail to sustain thriving communities, and many of these are badly degraded for decades or centuries because of those involved not taking responsibility for their actions or wastes. While these economies boom for a generation, they collapse into poverty or a fragment of what was there during the boom.