Which is the real Washington?

Election season is approaching here in Washington DC, and it’s a time when much can be done or undone quickly. When the work of a lifetime can languish and die, or perhaps get done right for the wrong reasons. When the shine of a special place like the Northwest Hawaiian Islands can do much.

This year, fish and fishing are up, where will their fate lie?

Will it be the Abramoff Washington, money and power?
Will it be the Washington of The Washingtonienne, just fluke & folly?
Or will it be the Washington out west, where we actually have fish and fishing?

Fishing rules will be decided in Washington DC, it’s true, but only over the short term. If Congress says it’s ok to overfish, then snowy grouper and atlantic cod may take some more hits before they’re done getting beat up. But somewhere, somehow, there is a reality that matters. And it’s an underlying reality that nobody can manufacture. Hit the cod harder for a bit longer, and it ain’t up to Senator so-and-so to say how many cod there will be in ten years. There will be too few left to lie about.

The underlying reality of fish in the ocean will set the future. There is an inevitable logic to overfishing, and it leads the wrong way. Somewhere, somehow, we can’t go the wrong way forever. That’s how I know that overfishing must end soon. Maybe this year, or maybe not, but soon.

The Washington where our fish future will ultimately be decided is the real Washington with the real fish.

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