Here’s what I know about fish: I like eating it. Baked, fried, poached, grilled – buttered or battered, with lemon.

If you leave out the butter and batter, it’s very good and good for you.

Here’s what I know about fishing: not much, except what I learned from The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger’s magnificent book later made into a movie starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. The work is back-breaking and sometimes very dangerous. And for generation upon generation of New England families, fishing has been a way to make a good living, and a way of life.

So in doing the research to prepare for this broadcast, I have come to understand that the issue of overfishing threatens all of us — obviously the fishermen most of all. And fixing overfishing is a wicked and complicated problem.

Just try and parse this sentence from a paper summarizing Federal Fisheries Policy, from the Pew Environment Group:

“Where multiple fish stocks are managed as a mixed stock fishery or complex, NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service.) allows overfishing on weak stocks as a result of exploitation of healthier stocks.”

Like many challenges we face, it’s clear that Mother Nature is generous — but there are limits. And unless and until we cease taking more than our share, the rich fishing grounds that have supported New England for centuries will play out.

It really is up to us.

Thanks for listening, Jane.