[Billfish715]

It still comes down to a small group of individuals making decisions that affect the livelihoods and recreational opportunities of us all. The decisions they make are deeply seated in traditional practices. There is no motivation for them to change distribution quotas that have remained pretty much the same for many, many years. Any change in the status quo would require them to think and evaluate and question the goals of the committee. This is the epitome of "group-think" which is commonplace in any organization, especially one that does not meet on a daily or weekly or monthly basis.

It's quicker and easier to simply agree with what has been done before. There is no time or room for personal reflection on the part of the committee members. Don't expect anything to change unless those individual committee members are approached with convincing evidence that would change their minds. It's not that they can't think. It's that they don't ask enough questions within their committee. They never seem to question or change their mission statement.

When a group thinks like a group and not as informed individuals and when they are afraid to break ranks, nothing changes nor does anything get done. It's a political arm of the government that answers only to themselves. What do you expect?

I'm sure the members think they are somehow saving the fish stocks by their decisions. But, when their decisions are predetermined, they will stubbornly stick to the status quo and not budge. Someone within the voting group has to pause and at least consider the facts and data that have been reported so thoroughly on this site by Tom. That might be the wedge in the log jam that we have been facing.

I'm only dreaming to think that the committee might look at the successes of their decisions to rebuild the fluke stocks over so many years. No one on any of those panels can truthfully answer that their regulations of the last 20+ years have restored anything. Why should I be surprised at their thought process when it reflects every bit of the political accountability that is absent in Washington or Trenton or your local government? No one will admit that they might have done something wrong or that their program is not working as it was supposed to. It's juvenile, and immature and wrong!