Cortner and Moote argue there is. I find their analysis of key concepts of the bad old days convincing, but they see too many paradoxes in present for me to follow them. The goals of MSY have past usefulness .
Sustained yield becomes sustainability .
The goals of MSY have past usefulness Authors give historical and deeply American perspective on how attempts early in century to stop wanton pillage of natural resources during the robber baron era of US capitalism gave way to the Progressive era, whose ideals were efficient use of natural resources. Thus waste was abhorred and science was seen as providing sufficient and best direction for public lands. Over time these agencies were politically vulnerable to control by the interest groups they were supposed to be regulating. The politics of expertise and politics of interest groups emerged. All other values were secondary to maximizing a single commodity be it fish or logs or water.