Louis Sahagun

Louis Sahagun is a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times. He covers issues ranging from religion, culture and the environment to crime, politics and water. He was on the team of L.A. Times writers that earned the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for a series on Latinos in Southern California. He is president of the Los Angeles chapter of CCNMA: Latino Journalists of California, and author of the book, "Master of the Mysteries: the Life of Manly Palmer Hall."

Comments

[Sage Rainbow]

Concerning your artical on eagles and other bird kills by wind turbines, a possible low cost solution would be BIRD DISTRESS CALLS. These could be recorded for the different species and played around the perimeter of the turbines to warn birds of danger

[alaina wilhite]

I need to know something. im doing a report and was wonder how this website gets all these facts about you.do you give it to them? do they look you up? please write back. thank You!!!!

[Miller Nuttle]

Across the country, independent fishermen have relied on generations of accumulated experience and local knowledge to bring fresh seafood to our tables and jobs to coastal communities. With future generations in mind, these small-scale fishermen have also been among the most ecologically responsible – prioritizing sustainable harvest to preserve their livelihoods.

Yet the government is in the process of implementing a controversial new fisheries management system (called ‘catch shares’) that threatens the livelihoods of these sustainable fishermen. Under this new system, the National Marine Fisheries Service divides up the maximum sustainable catch, and gives away shares (‘catch shares’) of this stock to fishermen based on how many fish they’ve caught in the past. While this makes intuitive sense, the fishermen who have fished the fastest and the hardest are often given the biggest shares of next years catch, while small-scale, sustainable fishermen are left with little or no share at all.

What results is a highly consolidated and privatized fishing industry in which small scale fishermen are forced to give up their generations-old practice, or rent their shares from these giant corporations.

Furthermore, catch shares decrease the quality of seafood for consumers. Because the largest shares are given to the biggest and most mechanized boats, consumers are left with low-grade, factory produced seafood – not the artisan, local seafood that small-scale independent fishermen are famous for.

Already, similar policies to catch shares in Canada have ravaged the livelihoods of fishing families and communities in Nova Scotia and British Colombia, while hastening the ascent of factory fishing.

The threat of these new management schemes for coastal communities, fishermen and consumers is very real, but there is still hope! By asking our representatives to call for oversight hearings on catch shares in Congress, we can make sure that small-scale fishermen continue to have fair access to this precious public resource. We can keep our fisheries public, ensure quality seafood for consumers, protect coastal communities, and guarantee healthy, sustainable oceans for generations to come. Visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org/fairfish for more information.