How the ocean’s bounty is being wasted

Reading this story in The Washington Post about bluefin tuna bycatch reminds of a time when I visited Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick and saw some tuna caught in a herring weir. Whoever owned the weir wouldn’t be able to catch the tuna and sell them. The tuna would have to be destroyed — wasted — because of government regulations that require people to have a licence to land the fish.

If you ask me, it’s more of a crime to waste it. Let people land the by catch and pay a fee (based on market weight) for doing so. Although it would be a challenge to enforce, at least this way, the resource doesn’t get wasted.