Rob Inglis has a smarter way to stop overfishing:
Commercial fishing boats that are forced to use smaller nets will generally just stay out longer, burning more fuel and taking up more crew time but coming back with the same amount of fish. A shortened fishing season just motivates fishermen to fish more intensely while they can—buying bigger, more powerful boats so they can get to the fishing grounds more quickly and catch more fish once they get there. This arms race—which often results in further reductions to the fishing season that, in turn, leave the powerful new boats sitting in port—benefits nobody.
The better strategy is to limit each fisherman to a certain amount of fish per year and not worry about how or when he goes about catching it.
The Dish 