You're reading Smorgasbord - news bites and blogful commentary from Food & Water Watch.
If you'd like to send us a note about a blog entry or anything else, please use this contact form. To get involved, fill out a volunteer form or follow the take action link above.
Like what we have to say? Be one of the first to know each time a new blog entry and podcast goes live by subscribing to the 
Smorgasbord and SnackCast: Audio Food for Thought.
Interview with Marianne Cufone
Marianne Cufone is the Fish Program Director for Food & Water Watch. One of the main fish program campaigns examines catch share programs—or catch and trade—and the impact they have on our food supply, fishing communities and the environment. Read more…
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) budget request for fiscal year 2011 includes $54 million to fast track the biggest and most outrageous giveaway of access to public fish in U.S. history. Read more…
Bob Zales II speaks with Food & Water Watch about the problems with catch shares and the lack of the science and data backing up fisheries policies in the United States.
Category: Nonprofits & Activism
Uploaded by: GoodFoodnH2O
Hosted: youtube
A recent article in the magazine National Fisherman outlines the increasing threat catch share programs that privatize access to fish pose to recreational fishermen in New England and across the U.S. The fishing community is protesting these unfair regulations. Blogs and message boards are on fire with angry fishermen who realize that their ability to fish may soon be taken away. Add your voice to the debate and ask your congressional representatives to preserve your right to fish.
–Lauren Wright
Former fisherman Rhonda Maker protests against catch shares
Rhonda Maker, a former fisherman from Kodiak, Alaska was one of the thousands of people who traveled across the country to rally in Washington D.C. against ‘catch share’ programs last week. Strongly supported by the Obama administration, these programs create a market to allocate fishery access privileges - determining who can catch public fish stocks. While markets can be designed in a positive way to support jobs and a healthy environment (see our fact sheets on Cap-Rent-Recycle and Namibia), at present these markets are being designed to privatize control over access to public fish, and push small business people out of the industry. Familiar with this struggle in her own right, Rhonda once ran a small fishing outfit that was forced out of business thanks to the implementation of a ‘catch share’ program that heavily favored the interests of large fishing operations. Read more…
