Scientists correctly predicted that catch quotas needed to be set much lower. The government discounted the lower-end predictions of sustainable catch rates or

Scientists correctly predicted that catch quotas needed to be set much lower. The government discounted the lower-end predictions of sustainable catch rates or even ignored them outright, choosing instead to "balance" the scientists' advice against "socio-economic considerations." But nature cannot be fooled, so socio-economic conditions deteriorated abruptly and catastrophically in the 1990s as the ecological conditions did likewise.