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FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & LEGISLATIVE REPORT
by Tom Fote
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association May 2001 Newsletter)
FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & LEGISLATIVE REPORT
by Tom Fote
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association May 2001 Newsletter)
Anglers Take a Blow as ASMFC Bows To NMFS Bullying - The Fisherman Magazine, Al Ristori
Three articles follow. The first one was before the ASMFC meeting in
Baltimore and the other two after.
At the March meeting of the
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) in Avalon, NMFS Regional Administrator,
Pat Kurkul, announced that beginning early in April and for a period of 30-45 days the EEZ
would be closed to recreational and commercial fluke fishing. During that period, said
Kurkul, the NMFS would assemble all the "stakeholders" in fluke management and
harvest in an attempt to resolve the fluke quota difference between the federal government
and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). Kurkul also explained three
new lawsuits that have been filed against the feds regarding fluke management and the
measures for this year.
A North Carolina commercial fishing
organization headed by Jerry Schill, said Kurkul, filed two of the suits. It's the same
group that clamored for a closure of the recreational fluke fishery in 1997. One suit
targeted the NMFS' delay in posting timely fluke specifications for the current fishing
year. The other dealt with the science used to determine fluke harvest levels and the
"lack" of control over recreational fluke landings.
The third lawsuit was filed by the same
environmental groups that kicked off the brouhaha through an earlier suit won on appeal in
district court. This time the environmentalists want the NMFS to reduce the federal quota
for the EEZ (officially posted at 17.9 million pounds) to 15 million plus pounds to
reflect the difference between the federal level and the higher quota selected by the
ASMFC.
Despite insistence by Pat Kurkul that
the EEZ closure is to prevent commercial overfishing should the ASMFC adopt a lower quota,
we believe the NMFS of more ulterior motives. From our perspective, the NMFS is using the
commercial sector as a cat's paw, hoping commercial fishermen will pressure the ASMFC into
adopting a lower quota to avert NMFS's strongly hinted threat of a total EEZ closure for
the entire year. Should the ASMFC rescind its earlier quota decision it's reasonable to
assume the environmental lawsuit would be dropped. At that point the NMFS would be able to
insist on stricter recerational measures since, in light of the lower quota in both state
and EEZ waters, our sector would be subject to a 54% reduction in landings this year. In
other words, the 3-fish bag limit and shortened season already established for the EEZ
would be the benchmark for state-water controls.
Bottom line: if the ASMFC abandons its
quota stand, the environmentalists and the NMFS succeed in establishing stricter fluke
controls despite their inappropriateness. Additionally, the MAFMC has been, and will
continue to be, rendered insignificant by NMFS actions. Throughout this brouhaha, the NMFS
has pointedly excluded the MAFMC from any participation in discussions about how the
environmental lawsuit should be answered despite the request from MAFMC Chairman, Dr. Jim
Gilford, for an opportunity to participate in those negotiations. Moreover, the MAFMC
wasn't consulted when the decision to close the EEZ was reached. Sure, everyone knew the
closure was possible, likely even, but the MAFMC wasn't part of the planning process. And
make no mistake about the inclusion of the MAFMC in the stakeholder meeting planned by the
NMFS. This is no change of heart. On the contrary, the NMFS officials expect MAFMC
leadership will support efforts to have the ASMFC abandon its higher quota as a means to
get the federal management body back into the game, as it were.
Yes, the NMFS is playing everyone like
the strings of a violin, but more than fluke quota is at stake. As the fluke fishery
slides under more control of the environmentalists and the federal government, the fishing
public loses representation and a voice in its own fishery destiny. Whether or not you
agree with the ASMFC and/or the MAFMC on an issue-by-issue basis, their participation in
the management process is the fishing public's best shot at fair representation. This
situation is analogous to the recent presidential election. No matter whom you voted for,
you had a choice. Imagine an election without options, and you have a glimpse of fishery
management if the environmentalists and the NMFS have their way.
The NJ Marine Fisheries Council set
the NJ fluke regulations for 2001 at 16-inch fish, 8 fish bag limit, season 5/12 to 9/11.
The reason for the short season is because the state commissioners caved in to the demands
of the environmental groups and NMFS at the ASMFC Meeting in Baltimore on April 3rd. This meeting was held with almost no public notice
to the general public. I got called the
Friday night before the Tuesday meeting.
The original season we were looking at
was 5/12 to 10/3. This means we lost 22 days
in New Jersey. Some states took even bigger
hits. We will have a 136-day season instead
of 158. Let us look at what that means
economically to the recreational fishing industry of New Jersey. We will have a 13% shorter season. The Marine Recreational Survey says that 74% of
the directed trips in NJ are fluke trips. State
and Federal statistics state the NJ marine recreational industry is worth 1.2 billion
dollars. I will be very conservative in
valuing the fluke fishery and cut the 74% to 37% for the economic value. This would make the recreational fluke fishery
worth $444,000,000. If we lose 13% of that
amount, we suffer an economic loss of $57,720,000. This
represents a huge economic impact. For the
pundits who say I have overestimated the value of the fluke fishery, I will further cut
this number in half. Can we afford to lose
$28,860,000?
What would we have lost commercially if
we closed the EEZ? The entire coastwide
commercial fishery quota for fluke is 10,500,000 pounds.
At $2 a pound the total fishery is worth $21,000,000 coastwide. New Jersey’s January catch sold as low as
$.85 per pound. The state directors caved in
because NMFS threatened to close the EEZ and they feared the impact that would have on the
commercial fishery. Many states had already
caught a good percentage of their 2001 quota and probably could have caught the rest
before NMFS closed the EEZ. Even if that was
not true, the state directors were more worried about the $21,000,000 loss coastwide for
the commercial fishing sector than the loss to the NJ recreational industry and the
recreational industry along the coast. I
don’t have the figures from other states but you can do the calculations to see what
this cost your state. I don’t use a
multiplier when figuring the commercial numbers because there are other alternative
sources for fluke that can meet the need at restaurants and fish stores.
What really makes me angry is that no
one who represents the ASMFC, NMFS, National Audubon, Center for Marine Conservation,
Environmental Defense or Natural Resources Defense Council even considers the impact of
this decision on the poor or subsistence fishermen. When
you raise the size limits, those anglers who fish from docks, piers and in the bays and
estuaries are cut out of the fishery. They
don’t have the resources to go where you can catch the larger, legal fish. They didn’t cause this problem yet they are
the ones who suffer the most. Under the
Magnuson Act, the NMFS is required to consider economic impact on all user groups. They have conveniently forgotten about the poor. The ASMFC has the same requirement under its
charter but they ignore my efforts to bring this topic up for discussion. They clearly don’t give a damn. And the environmental groups had the nerve to tell
me this is a state or federal problem, not theirs. I’ll
guarantee the people who represent the environmental groups are not poor. They all know where their next meal is coming
from. And I guess their organizations are
more beholden to the wealthy foundations who fund their activities than they are to the
citizens they have the nerve to pretend they represent.
If you are not sufficiently angry, fed
up and mad as hell, check out Al Ristori’s column that follows.
Fisherman Magazine
By Al Ristori
There weren’t many Profiles in
Courage to write during last Tuesday’s emergency meeting at Baltimore Airport between
the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) as the feds bullied the states into reducing the scientifically-based 20.5
million pound quota for summer flounders which they’d held firm to since the fall
down to last year’s 17.9 million pound quota. There was no compromise
involved; just complete capitulation by the ASMFC to threats of federal waters
closures and actions that courts might take.
Ever since the Natural Resources
Defense Fund (NRDC) and their environmental organization allies won a law suit against
NMFS over the Summer Flounder Management Plan, those private citizens have been basically
calling the shots at NMFS which hasn’t even bothered to include the Mid-Atlantic
Council or the ASMFC in its negotiations. Then NMFS threatened to close federal waters to
fluking this month, a move plainly designed to advance commercial law suits since they
take almost all their quota in federal waters. Though the public has been catching more
fluke outside three miles in many areas the last two years, just about everyone was
already resigned to only utilizing state waters this year due to the ridiculously low
limit and short season provided by the Council (bowing to NMFS and the NRDC) for
recreational fishing offshore.
What Tuesday’s meeting boiled down
to was whether to inconvenience commercial fishermen, who might have had to finish up
their quota later in the season, or to SCREW the public—and the vote wasn’t even
close! Tom Fote, representing New Jersey Senator Lou Bassano, said he felt like a voice in
the wilderness arguing for the public and against abandoning the well-documented ASMFC
position. Yet, the best he could get out of his own state was an abstention and only
Connecticut stood up to the threats of the federal bullies because their scientists feel
the quota should be higher than even the 20.5 million pounds.
The net result is that the already
draconian measures which were about to be applied to recreational fishermen (except in
Virginia) last week will have to be made even more severe because the “greedy”
public (according to NMFS figures) was able to keep about one fluke in three trips last
year. Minimums of 16 to 17 inches will be standard for the public this year while netters
continue to fill boxes with 14-inch fluke. Those unable to afford boats are being
gradually eliminated from the fishery due to those high minimums, and the elimination of
the poor is no accident.
The environmental fat cats sitting in
their fancy offices couldn’t care less about people without funds to contribute to
their organizations and the life styles they enjoy. Anglers often ask me why these people
are so concerned about fish which they’ll never see in nature as contrasted with
visible marine mammals and birds. Quite simply, it’s a matter of spending their
bloated war chests to win easy victories in court in order to bring in even more money
from foundations which is used not to hire biologists who might be able to contribute
something but for additional lawyers to file more suits. During a luncheon meeting a couple of years ago
with those people at the most expensive fish restaurant in Manhattan, I challenged them to
take up the cause of species such as the silver hake (whiting) which used to be the most
abundant food fish in New York Bight but has virtually been eliminated there by small mesh
draggers. However, they had no interest in doing something positive for a badly depleted
species which used to provide both sport and food for those without the means to pursue
more glamorous fish. Instead they work to eliminate the public from another fishery which
has recovered, without their assistance, to its highest levels in decades—but is of
more “importance”.
Summer flounders certainly are
important in the Mid-Atlantic. Despite all the restrictions in 1998, the government’s
Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS) found them to be the number one
fish caught by both numbers and weight in New York and New Jersey, while they were second
to croakers in Virginia. Summer flounders ranked third in numbers and second (only to
weakfish) in weight in Delaware—and fifth in Maryland. Those anglers not completely
discouraged by September closures may switch to sea bass and scup which will then surely
be “overfished”, resulting in even tighter restrictions for those species in
2002.
Then there’s NMFS, which has long
made no secret of their desire to reduce the numbers of anglers in order to take pressure
off species important to commercial fishermen.
The lop-sided management plans which
turned fisheries that used to be about 80% recreational into only 40% for summer flounders
and 22% for scup demonstrated that point years ago. The agency has funded buyouts of
virtually worthless commercial vessels which have been destroying fisheries for decades
while creating policies designed to eliminate not only the public but also the party and
charter boats, tackle shops, etc dependent on their business—and without a penny of
compensation!
While NMFS can’t wait to get U.S.
citizens off their waters, they are falling over backwards to accommodate foreigners by
approving the foreign TALFF for mackerel and herring. That was recommended by the New
England and Mid-Atlantic Councils, but opposed by many commercial and recreational fishing
organizations as well as prominent congressmen such as Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) who
issued a scathing press release denouncing that action which allows foreign trawlers to
fish within our 200-mile fisheries zone when they can’t get enough herring and
mackerel supplied by American boats. Ironically,
the NMFS assault on states rights is occurring in an Administration devoted to that
concept. Since there seems to be little hope of achieving equity through the present
system, perhaps the public should try appealing directly to President Bush to counter the
anti-recreational and pro-special interests policies at NMFS.
It would be nice to be able to write
about something other than summer flounders if NMFS wasn’t trying something new to
kill the recreational season every week. Startling news was included in a NMFS release,
which lists big carry-over quotas of Angling category bluefins. Due to a combination of
scarcity in some areas, very restrictive limits and frequent closed seasons, which inhibit
effort, anglers have only been catching a small portion of their bluefin quota. The
question of what can be done to correct that is being discussed now though NMFS has
scheduled public hearings only where the commercial side of the fishery is involved.
There isn’t much change in the
General category, but that will be the focus in the four 7-9 p.m. public hearings
scheduled by NMFS. The first in Massachusetts is this Wednesday, April 11, in Milton
Fuller School, 4 School House Rd., Gloucester—and there’ll be another next
Tuesday, April 17, at Sheraton Hyannis Four Points on Route 132 in Hyannis. The April 20
site will be The Atrium, 21 Gurnet Rd., Cooks Corner, Brunswick, Maine, and Long Island
fishermen have their say April 27 at Riverhead Town Hall.
I received a letter from one of our
new members asking why we do not send out patches, decals and bumper stickers with a new
membership. Here is what I wrote to him.
We are an organization that fights
for the rights of the recreational angler and that is where all the money goes. This is
not a fishing club but an organization of fishing clubs and people that support our
mission to protect your fishing rights and the resource.
Our monthly newspaper is sent first class so you can receive it in time to act upon
news in a timely manner. We print the
newspaper ourselves so this can be accomplished and purchased $30,000 worth of equipment
to do that last year. The cost of mailing the newspaper first class every month is either
$.55 or $.76 depending on it size. That does not include the printing and paper. We print
extra copies every month to give away free in tackle shops. Again our goal is to get the
message out and get anglers involved.
Sending membership renewals alone
costs about $.60 and sometime we have to remind people a couple of times. To send you a
patch, a letter, and all the other bells and whistles cost money. Most of the people that contribute to JCAA want
their dollars spent on the battles. Truth is
we make very little money from membership and rely on other fund raising to keep us going. Many of our members, knowing how far we stretch
every dollar, include an additional donation with their annual membership.
We do sell hats and T-shirts at a
reasonable cost. If we had to pay someone to
respond to email questions, that would cost even more money. At JCAA we treat your money with respect. We are frugal, or some would say cheap, but we try
to get the most from every dollar we raise. I
hope this helps you understand what you do get for your membership and why you did not get
more bells and whistles. What you get is the
hard work of volunteers and information you need to protect your fishery.
The letter below was sent to the Star
Ledger and the Atlantic City Press in response to a Star Ledger editorial that was later
reprinted in the Atlantic City Press. As of
this writing, neither paper has had the nerve or the professionalism to print this letter. I can only wonder what they are afraid of. Perhaps they don’t want people to know how
out of line they were in their original editorial. If
you want to read the original editorial, email me and I will send you a copy. In the meantime, contact the Star Ledger and the
Atlantic City Press and ask them about their editorial policy and demand that they print
this letter.
Jersey Coast Anglers Association
New Jersey State Federation Of
Sportsmen’s Clubs
To The Editor Star Ledger and the
Atlantic City Press
The heart-wrenching plight of a
Star-Ledger editorial writer and some other wealthy New Jersey residents who are unable to
buy relatively expensive wild striped bass in the upscale restaurants they frequent must
have created great sympathy from thousands of other readers who treasure that resource and
lived through the dark days of the 1980s when overfishing had severely reduced the
population of our most important inshore game fish. Not
only is the writer unconcerned about the common citizen but also he clearly has not done
his homework on this issue.
Most distressing, however, was the
contention that stripe bass no longer poses any health problems. The writer totally ignores PCB problems in the
Hudson River and Delaware River and the dioxin problems in Newark Bay. JCAA wants every citizen of New Jersey to know
about contaminants so they can be savvy consumers. The
writer would delude into thinking there is no problems.
NJ’s Department of Health and DEP both have strong advisories
concerning fish from the Hudson River. This
includes striped bass. Perhaps he has been
reading General Electric’s press releases. I
hardly think they are the best source of information since they are responsible for the
pollution and trying to avoid the cleanup. I
trust USEPA and NJDEP for my health advisories.
In actuality, farm-raised hybrid
stripers are readily available in New Jersey just as are the trout served in the same
restaurants. These farm-raised fish are
contaminant free. Indeed, most freshwater
game fish have been protected from commercial exploitation since before the turn of the
last century and California, Oregon and Washington made striped bass a game fish in the
1930s. Stripers are now game fish in the vast majority of states, including all those
inland where they’ve been introduced in fresh waters.
Striped bass are unique in that they’re available locally from April to December not only to boaters or those with sufficient funds to charter, but also those to paying a small fee on a party boat or at no cost from urban docks, bay and river shorelines and the surf. Though it takes some skill to catch stripers, as they become more abundant even amateurs are able to hook some. The Jersey Coast Anglers Association and the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen Clubs has fought not only for conservation but also a fair deal for those citizens unable to afford boats and most in need of the food they can catch from shore in a state which still doesn’t require a saltwater fishing license. And statistics show that due to regulations, less than one in four of New Jersey’s anglers are allowed to take one striped bass home a year to eat.
The Star-Ledger has not backed any of
those efforts editorially, and it’s shocking to find your first comment in this area
endorsing the efforts of special interests to get back into a fishery now reserved for the
public.
It took decades of effort by the
state’s recreational fishermen to close loopholes in a law prohibiting netting of
striped bass which dated back to the 1930s but was so easily evaded that the Atlantic
States Marine Fisheries Commission ended up providing this game fish state with a 225,000
pound commercial quota. We utilize that for a trophy tag program which only takes a small
percentage while the rest remains part of the breeding population rather than being netted
out by other states still living in the dark ages of conservation.
The editorial suggested a “small
step such as allowing a weekend angler to sell an extra bass or two” wouldn’t be
harmful. Obviously, law enforcement isn’t the long suit of that writer, as sale by
recreational fishermen would be an enforcement nightmare and netters would be howling to
participate in the slaughter. The editor then
goes on to his real purpose by concluding that “Other states have found there’s
plenty of fish for both commercial and recreational fishermen, and it’s time New
Jersey did the same.” The only reason there are good quantities of striped bass today
is that anglers are releasing over 90 percent of their catch. This is far more than a
matter of very tight limits, but the result of a conservation ethic which now pervades the
fishery in contrast to a few decades ago when virtually every striper over a mere 18
inches was thrown in the box without any thought to the future. The Star-Ledger would have us risk a return to the
environmental disasters of the past just so the writer can eat a wild striper rather than
an almost indistinguishable hybrid. If that were accomplished, the next steps could be a
return to netting of our fresh waters and market hunting so tastes for wild trout, black
bass, deer, ducks, pheasants, etc. could be satisfied. And how about those bald eagles
that are making such a comeback? The approximately 1,000,000 recreational fishermen of New
Jersey fought hard to make the striped bass a game fish, and I guarantee you they
won’t stand for turning back the clock on conservation advances.
Sincerely,
Thomas P. Fote
Legislative Chairman JCAA & NJSFSC
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