Yuku free message boards

About ten years ago when the sequence of meetings and proposals that led to the present draconian and incomprehensible regulations started, I was going to meetings and paying attention and trying to understand.
One major subject of discussion was that there were many more permits out there than fishermen fishing the relevant stocks. There was concern that if the stocks were to recover, as planned and required by law and as they are doing in most cases, the owners of those permits would start popping out of the woodwork and frustrating both the active fishermen and the management plans. Therefore there was a focused effort to eliminate those "ghost" permits and limit permits to those who were actually making a living fishing the regulated stocks. I have drifted away from the meetings and discussions, but wonder if this might be part of the reason for fewer permits.
I have never met a federal official who wanted to regulate fewer people :) The more fishermen, the more staff required and the more important the official! If the staff at Blackburn circle outnumbers the fishermen, there might have to be staff reductions, heaven forbid!