Taking Stock: Management Pitfalls In Fisheries Science

摘要

Media-savvy policy makers poised to make decisions regarding the environment now want their decisions to be "based in sound science." This desire surfaces with regard to issues ranging in scale from global climate change to water restrictions in Oregon's Klamath River basin. In recent years, science has figured prominently in discussions of natural resource extraction, water quality issues, forest fire prevention, the establishment of marine reserves, and the number of fish that fishers can catch. In most of these cases, scientific assessments are an inextricable part of the science that policy makers have come to value. Some observers seek to explain this development, but it is equally important to ask whether the use of scientific assessments has served to improve the quality of resource management. It is tempting to simply assume that a procedure so fundamental to well-established management systems has had beneficial consequences. Yet there is no basis for taking these positive contributions for granted. In fact, a blind faith in the validity of scientific assessments can engender severe management pitfalls.