 |
 |
|
|
||
FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & LEGISLATIVE REPORT
by Tom Fote
FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & LEGISLATIVE REPORT
by Tom Fote
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association April 2000 Newsletter)
If you want the reduction boats out of state waters it is important that you show up at the next NJ Marine Fisheries Council meeting on May 4th and support the motion made by Gary Dickerson that was discussed in the previous report. We will discuss this at the next JCAA meeting
The bills to bring New Jersey into compliance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission are moving through the legislature. On March 16, S1075 (sponsored by Senators Bassano and DiFrancesco) was moved out the Senate committee and now needs to go to the full Senate for a vote. The Assembly version of this bill (A2197) was introduced by Assemblymen Corodemus and Wolfe. This bill has not yet been posted for vote in the Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee chaired by Assemblyman Gibson. Senator DiFrancesco has assured us that this bill will move quickly through the Senate. We are hoping for the same speed in the Assembly. Please contact Assembly Speaker Jack Collins (609-769-3633) and Assemblyman John Gibson (609-624-1222) and let them know you want this bill passed as soon as possible.
On February 28th Congressman Frank Pallone and the Minerals Management Service conducted a hearing on the sand mining proposals at the Bradley Beach Municipal Building. I left the meeting in protest because there was no room for the concerned environmentalists and fishermen to attend. J. B. Kasper was there so I will let him describe the first hearing in the following article. I attended the second meeting that the JCAA requested. Rep. Frank Pallone and Minerals Management Service (MMS) conducted this meeting that was held on March 11th in Long Branch. Over 200 people attended and it lasted 5 hours. The hearing was well run and there was a question and answer period afterward. I submitted the prepared JCAA statement but, after listening to the owner of Clayton Block and the attorney for Amboy Aggregates, I felt compelled to change my oral statement. I was appalled by their comments and their lack of concern for the public resource. These two speakers testified that what they really wanted was an Environmental Impact Study so they could prove that this project was not harmful. They continued to suggest that we should trust the federal agencies to make these decisions. After all, they rationalized, these agencies always have the public's interests at heart and in addition, these agencies have always treated them fairly. Of course they can say that. What they failed to point out is that the Minerals Management Service has as its mission commercialization of public resources. Their mission is not to protect the public interest or the public health. This is the agency that promotes mining and clear cutting in public parks and other sensitive areas. If JCAA or the environmental groups were businesses worth close to a billion dollars and could hire former legislators, scientists, lawyers and ex-bureaucrats to represent us, we'd probably have a rosy view of the Mineral Management Service too.
I also pointed out that many of us have a good deal of history with federal agencies that are supposed to protect our welfare. We have been disappointed so frequently that we have learned not to trust any federal agency to automatically respond to the public welfare. Just look at the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corp of Engineers if you need any proof.
If you were unable to attend the meeting and would like to voice your opinion on the matter, the public comment period is open until April 10th.
Please send comments to:
Minerals Management Service
International Activities and Marine Minerals Division
381 Elden Street
MS 4030
Herndon, VA 20170
Please carbon copy all comments to:
Bruce Babbitt
US Department of the Interior
1849 C-Street, Washington, DC 20240
This past winter I have had so much information on environmental issues that will effect our readers, on both the short and long term, come across my desk that I'm starting to question the sanity of those who are proposing them. Dumping of polluted dredge spoils in the ocean, the Dredge Spoil spill in Ambrose Channel, deepening of the Delaware River channel, oil spills caused by burst pipe lines, filling in wet lands to build another shopping center, and the latest, flattening out the lumps along the Jersey Coast to mine sand. Good lord doesn't anyone want to save something for future generations?
If you follow the outdoor column in this paper, you got a good picture of how the issue of mining sand off the Jersey coast is being mis-handled from the start by what happened at the public hearing in Bradlee Beach on Monday, February 28th. Since that time I have had the time to interview several additional people on the issue and of those Congressman Frank Pallone summed up the major concerns the best when he said, "The overall threat of degradation to the marine environment is alarming". Here are some of the concerns voiced by Congressman Pallone Monday night, which are also the major concerns by those in opposition to the proposed mining.
Think about it: On one hand the Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey/New York Port Authority takes polluted dredge spoils and dumps them on the ocean floor creating a toxic zone for marine life despite an agreement sanctioned by vice president Al Gore in 1996 not to dump polluted materials in the ocean. On the other hand Amboy Aggregates of Perth Amboy is petitioning the United States Department of the Interior to allow them to mine sand out of a 100 square mile section of ocean floor from just north Long Branch to just south of Belmar. Does anyone see a pattern of madness here?
Anyone who knows anything about the marine environment along the Jersey coast knows that the lumps and high spots are structures that not only hold fish like, fluke, blues. stripers and baitfish, they also serve as breeding grounds for the smaller marine life that these larger creatures feed on. To go in and destroy this
irreplaceable ecosystem in the name of the almighty dollar by mining sand from the bottom and flattening out these places borders on shear insanity. It has taken Mother Nature since the beginning of time to create these bottom structures and now greedy man wants to destroy them in a few short years.
Look at it from another prospective. New Jersey is having a tough time maintaining it's inshore fisheries because of the damage done by scallop dredges, otter trawl fishing and surf clamming. All of which do damage to the bottom, however, each does not remove the sand from the bottom. All these environmentally unfriendly methods of fishing have already been proven to cause damage to fish attracting bottom structures. The New Jersey coastline can ill afford the loss of any more productive waters. Recent studies have led scientist to question the impact of pumping sand back on to the beaches from small sections of ocean bottom, now we are hearing a proposal to just take it all in one big swoop. The removal of that much sand will not only destroy the bottom habitat, it will also have an effect on the currents which move along the bottom. By changing these currents it could, possibly impact on the beach replenishing projects that have already taken place, as well as those being planned for the future.
Good clean sand is becoming a more and more expensive commodity. It is currently, and has been for decades, mined from sandpits in the Pine Barrens and other places which are slowly but surely drying up. Sand is used in the glass industry, for the making of concrete for construction and many other facets of modern industry. This makes a cheap source of sand a real gold mine. This is the reason companies like Amboy Aggregates are trying to get their foot in the door. Once one mining company is allowed to mine sand off the Jersey Coast it opens the door to all types of abuses. Sure the Department of the Interior will tell us that the mining will be strictly regulated, however, we have heard that all before with other projects and abuses are still all too common.
The attempt to mine sand off the Jersey Coast is not new. In fact it was shot down once before, four years ago. Permits were applied for from the Department of Interior to mine a section of ocean bottom 36 miles long and a mile wide. The path of the mining operation would have cut right through the Seaside Lump, Barnegat Ridge and Manasquan Ridge, some of the most valuable fishing grounds along the Jersey Coast. Fortunately this attempt was stopped by a public outcry led by Jersey Coast Anglers Association and other conservation and environmental organizations. The same organizations are now opposing this attempt to mine the ocean floor on a small scale for the same reasons.
When you consider the question of ocean mining sand, ask yourself these questions: Are we willing to trust the companies involved to mine only the sand they say they are going to mine? Are we willing to allow something that is potentially damaging to the ocean without a valid EIS done by an independent and unbiased company? Are we willing to put the sensitive and fragile ecosystem along the Jersey Coast in jeopardy so a few people can make big bucks? Last but not least, is the public willing to trust the Department of the Interior to do the right thing when it comes to the proposed ocean mining? It's true that the Department of the Interior killed the first application to mine sand off the Jersey Coast four years ago, however their recent record on environmental issues has not exactly been stellar. By not allowing everyone to have their say at the recent public hearing in Bradley Beach, they proved they can not be trusted.
To risk the health of the ocean off our coastline on an ill-conceived money making scheme is shear folly. It goes without saying that every conservation and environmental group is opposing the proposed mining. The Department of the Interior is asking Amboy Aggregates to prove the mining would not be detrimental to the environment. That's like asking the weasel to guard the hen house. To quote Congressman Pallone, "Amboy Aggregates has aggressively been trying to win over the public to their sand mining proposal by offering to provide money and sand in exchange for permission to mine." Once again dollars and cents are taking persistence over common sense. The ocean bottom off the Jersey Coast provides a billion dollar commercial and recreational fishing and tourist industry. So if money is the main issue, then we should start thinking about the effects a lunatic scheme like sand mining will have on these industries. At the meeting it was stated that Japan, Netherlands and Great Britain have mined sand for years off their coast with no ill effects. Anyone familiar with the waters surrounding Japan in particular know that they are virtually a dead sea. The Japanese have not only commercially over harvested their waters but have also destroyed the fish holding habitat with sand mining. If this were not the case then why is their commercial fishing boats fishing not fishing in their own waters instead of the waters of other countries around the world.
Sand mining in US coastal waters has never been allowed. If it is allowed off the Jersey Coast, it would set a dangerous president. One that could have far reaching impacts along all our coastal waters. For my money go dig your sand somewhere else.
Public Meeting
As a foot note to this story: Because of the public outcry over the bungled meeting on February 28th and the diligent work of Congressman Pallone, the Department of the Interior will be holding an additional public hearing on Saturday, March 11th in Long Branch at the Ocean Place Resort & Conference Center starting at 11 a.m. He has guaranteed that everyone will be heard at this meeting.
MUD DUMP UPDATEOn March 16, Congressman Pallone arranged for JCAA, Clean Ocean Action and other environmental groups to meet with the EPA and the Army Corp of Engineers. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss both the current proposal for disposal at the mud dump and possible future projects. There will be more information in future newspapers. However, it is important that you know how the EPA presently defines remediation. Most of us believe that remediation means fixing it. It should mean that clean material will be used to cap a site. How foolish of me to believe that we should put clean fill on top of the contaminated material to resolve problems at this site. According to the EPA, remediation means that acceptable material need only meet the old guidelines for category one. In practice, what that means is they can actually use material that is more contaminated than what is presently there. Have you got the picture? We clean up the site by making it dirtier! Anglers in New Jersey are well aware of the health advisories concerning PCB contamination in our fish. The category one material that the EPA would find acceptable under their current definition, and using their current tests and guidelines, surpasses the levels of PCB’s in the material already at the Mud Dump. This is not a hypothetical discussion. This is what they actually plan to do. They haven't a clue about how outrageous this is. And they refuse to accept that the tests and guidelines that they are using are totally absurd. Their current test places a worm in the contaminated material for 28 days and measures how much this worm accumulates. When was the last time you ate an ocean worm for dinner? What about testing the fish that live in and around the mud dump for long periods of time? We have already done that with striped bass and bluefish and discovered the high levels of PCB’s. That's a more meaningful test. If they were really concerned about the impact of the proposed dumping they would design tests that reflect the actual impact on the human population that consumes the fish.
My proposal is that they feed the worms to the fish in a laboratory setting. Since we don't eat striped bass until they are 6 -7 years or more, they would need to feed them a lot of worms. Now, I know they won't wait 6 - 7 years. But until they can develop a test that reproduces the same scenario, they will not be able to convince me that they actually know that this stuff is safe remediation material. What is truly outrageous is that the federal government continues to fund $200,000,000 projects for private companies to dredge but have eliminated the funding for ongoing research at the mud dump. No real testing of the fish or the environment has been done at the mud dump in more than four years. There has been no testing done since the dumping was done in 1994 - 1995. This is the dumping that was declared illegal by the courts because of its contamination.
ASMFC April 3-6 Meeting WeekASMFC April 2000 Meeting Week
Radisson Hotel, 901 North Fairfax Street
Alexandria, Virginia, 703-683-6000
(This is only a preliminary schedule, and you should anticipate that there may be changes)
Monday, April 3, 2000
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Tautog Management Board
Technical Committee Report; Board recommendations/Action for FMP revision
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Habitat SAV and Gear Impacts
Subcommittee
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Northern Shrimp Work Session. Discuss timeline of Amendment 1 and goals objectives
Tuesday, April 4, 2000
8:00 a.m. - Noon Horseshoe Crab Management Board
Discuss the Technical Committee Report on 2000
State Management Proposals; Approve/disapprove 2000 State Management Proposals
8:00 a.m. - Noon Management and Science Committee
Multispecies Subcommittee
8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Joint Sturgeon Technical Committee and Advisory Panel
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Technical Workshop - Principles and Methods n Fish Stock Assessment and Fisheries Management. For more information please refer to the attached summary of the Technical Workshop Series
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. American Lobster MGT Bd
Review progress on staff directives (reorganization of lobster management program, transferability of trap allocations policy statement on law enforcement standard)
Wednesday, April 5, 2000
8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Atlantic Menhaden MGT Board
Review overfishing definition specifications;
Review management options; Review/approve Public Hearing Draft Amendment 1
10:00 a.m. - Noon VMS Workshop Gather input for Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee Policy Development
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ISFMP Policy Board
3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board Technical Committee Report; Discuss and approve the Emergency Rule for the Summer Scup Fishery
Thursday, April 6, 2000
8:00 a.m. - Noon Striped Bass Management Board
Technical Committee Report; Discuss and approve Public Information Document for Amendment
6
