“Perhaps above all, Bates and the other fisheries ‘experts’ believed that they knew how to build a modern, prosperous fishing industry.”
This quote is drawn from the history book, “How Deep is the Ocean: Historical Essays on Canada’s Atlantic Fishery”, edited by James and Carol. It explains the history of the fishing industry in Canada. It is dated back to 1940s and 1950s when industrialization had led to heavy commercialization of fishing.
Federal fisheries planners took interest in the fishing industry because they had realized that the industry is highly productive, promising and efficient, and brought in more returns on labor than earlier anticipated before industrialization.
In the quest of trying to develop the fishing industry, they sought the advice of fishery experts because it was believed that they had the knowledge and experience to develop a promising modern fishing industry. That is why the authors of this book say that bates and fisheries experts believed that they knew how to build a modern, prosperous industry.
The authors suggest that this overlooked the possibility that there was a declining stock of fish in the ponds.
This quote is important for History students because it enables them to learn from history about the significance of inclusiveness of various stakeholders in decision making and planning; instead of depending solely one group of experts who may not really understand the problem at hand in entirety.
