WELLS, Maine —
A lawyer friend served in the Legislature until term limits ushered him out. “Sleep with one eye open,” he’d say, come January. “We’re in session.”
Like most witticisms, this one is rooted in truth. Cooks cook and lawmakers make laws. The difference is that few of us hunger for laws. Even if we did, we would not starve for long at the rate they are enacted around the country and in Washington.
We have far too many unnecessary laws. Those that arguably are necessary are often needlessly complex. You think not? Apply for a building permit sometime, and if you get it, build the structure according to code.
Worst of all are laws that accomplish exactly what they were conceived to avoid.
The Sustainable Fisheries Act is an example. In 1996 Congress decided that our marine fisheries were in sad shape and that only it could save them. Seventeen years later, U.S. fishermen have seen their numbers reduced by tens of thousands.
New England is an example in the extreme. Groundfishing here has been on life support ever since the SFA was passed, and today many fishermen, confronted with a 75 percent reduction in the cod quota, are begging for managers to pull the plug — to shut it down entirely.
Thanks to the SFA, when fishery managers go to work in the morning they are thinking not about about rewarding enterprise, stimulating employment or ensuring that coastal communities flourish. They are thinking about reducing overfishing.
Thus, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in its annual report on the status of stocks, crows about “our national journey toward ending overfishing and rebuilding the nations fisheries,” it’s not equating these two missions but prioritizing between them. Job one is easy: we reduce effort simply by setting quotas that make it nonsensical for fishermen to go fishing. For those who persist, we simply outlaw catching fish.
Do this well enough, as NOAA has in New England, and job two will soon be moot: there will be no fisheries to rebuild.
Have no fear, however. When we get to that pretty pass Congress will enact a law to address the situation.
Thus, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in its annual report on the status of stocks, crows about “our national journey toward ending overfishing and rebuilding the nations fisheries,” it’s not equating these two missions but prioritizing between them. Job one is easy: we reduce effort simply by setting quotas that make it nonsensical for fishermen to go fishing. For those who persist, we simply outlaw catching fish.
Do this well enough, as NOAA has in New England, and job two will soon be moot: there will be no fisheries to rebuild.
Have no fear, however. When we get to that pretty pass Congress will enact a law to address the situation.
