Fifty150
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,113
- Location
- The Barbary Coast
Most places with a commercial fishery allow for some sort of availability to the public. Greed fuels the politics behind regulations which do not allow direct sales from the fishing boat to the consumer. I've seen local ordinances which require commercial fishing boat operators to sell only to a wholesaler which is inspected by the government, which also outlaws recreational fisherman selling any part of their catch. Allegedly, it's in the interest of food safety. Seafood which has not been inspected, cannot be sold. However, when you look a little deeper, 1 or 2 families own half a dozen wholesale operations, and they set a fixed price. Which allows them to buy the fish at much lower costs, and sell for much higher costs. The same families usually "control" the fishery by owning the actual piers and collecting rent for the boat docks, selling fuel, selling supplies & equipment, servicing the boats, and act as the distributor who brokers and delivers the product to stores and restaurants. Where I live, it's not even a secret. The ONE family who controls the waterfront, has their names on all of those businesses. ONE family. One extended family. They even control the ONE shop at the waterfront which sells fresh seafood to the public.