Atlantic Ocean Sustainability

One of the most significant issues in environmental management is meeting the needs of everyone involved. While some management decisions may seem advantageous in terms of environmental sustainability, they may not be desirable for industries and individuals benefiting from this said resource. As such, this is the current case on the eastern coast of the United States where the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is contemplating changes in how menhaden is currently being managed. The more towards better regulation of this fish species is due in part to its substantial role within the Atlantic Oceans food chain, as menhaden is a central component in the diet of larger ocean wildlife as well as often being used as feed by aquaculture suppliers. Therefore, …show more content…
In this particular case, environmentalist as well as the involved commission board, and the harvester are both focusing on different management goals. While the harvesters are concerned with maintaining the economic growth of this industry (which is substantial in the United States), environmentalist are focused on the well-being of the Atlantic Oceans biodiversity and long-term sustainability. As a result, this situation is a scenario that builds on a combination of cognitive, value and interests based conflicts. To clarify, cognitive conflicts are at play here due to the discrepancies in information by which harvesters are arguing that there is no evidence that overfishing is occurring, whereas scientists are implying otherwise. In comparison, value and interest are similar in that both parties are seeking their own agendas while expecting the other to suffer the costs of these goals. Thusly, there is still a lot of uncertainty associated with not only the ongoing disagreements but also with the results of the new management too if