Re: Purse Seine Boats in Raritan Bay
I don't think it is a matter of deregulation. It is more like political influence.
This is a quote form a Dec. 2015 article about Omega in Chesapeake Bay:
“Because depletion of the juvenile population in the inshore nursery areas has dire consequences for the ecology of the bays, every Atlantic state, from Florida to Maine, except Virginia, bans purse seining for menhaden in its inshore and near-shore waters,” says William Tabor of the Chesapeake Bay Defense Foundation. “The result is that Omega Protein, the sole industrial menhaden reduction fishing operation, catches nearly its entire Atlantic quota in Virginia waters, with fully half its quota taken inside the Chesapeake Bay.”
The article also mentions how much Omega contributes to political campaigns in Virginia, with particular mention of contributions to Governor Terry McAuliffe.
|