I understand what you are saying Ben, and it is difficult to create the perfect balance between environmental sustainability and accessibility for economic and recreational demand. Experts (which I definitely am not) will battle both sides, providing numerous facts that support their claims.
However, without strict conservation, commercial and recreational fishermen alike will deplete and destroy this natural resource. Unfortunately a lot of sport fishermen, I feel, fail to see the role they play. For example, the weekend fisherman that keeps a couple Stripers that are undersized, or a couple trout over the bag limit (this angers me to no end), to the drag nets that destroy hundreds of Cod fish nests and eggs.
Conservation is a need. And although some organizations take it to the extreme, I feel those organizations just balance the equation for those groups who fight for the abolishment of all regulation. The unfortuante thing is America does not have the resources in place to patrol and prosecute current offenders. Therefore, adding additonal laws does not really solve the problem. The first step would be to readily enforce the laws that already exist.