Teach an Industry How to Fish and Maybe It Will Survive

Most of the news about the world’s oceans is a litany of gloom: rising water temperatures, acidification, bleached coral reefs, tons of Japanese tsunami trash drifting toward North America’s west coast. So it is worth noting when something good is happening with the seas.

Last month, the U.S. government reported that six types of fish, including Maine haddock, summer flounder in the mid-Atlantic and Chinook salmon in northern California, had fully recovered in the past year from decades of overfishing. It was the largest number in a single year. Much of the credit goes to a program overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that limits how many fish can be taken annually.