JCAA’s Comments on the Omnibus Amendment

(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association June 2010 Newsletter)

Huge changes in fishery management are proposed by the Omnibus Amendment written by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) working with NMFS. These changes are vast and all encompassing. Will they have a devastating negative impact on fishing for all species by any fisherman? Written comments are due on or before 5:00 p.m., EST, on May 21, 2010. The August 2010 Council meeting will be held at: Philadelphia Holiday Inn at 400 Arch Street in Historic Philadelphia. The dates are August 17-19 2010. The Council will discuss the Omnibus Amendment at this meeting.

JCAA comments:

1. The JCAA does not support the four tier system for dealing with poor stock assessment data.

The Omnibus Amendment sets up a four tier system to deal with fact that NMFS is still dealing with the same poor stock assessment for many species that it was 25 years ago. JCAA asked NMFS 25 years ago for better stock assessment data for many species including black sea bass and scup. NMFS has failed to spend the money to accomplish this and it is still not doing anything to improve that data for these and many other species. The NMFS Data Poor Workshops got us better models but not better basic stock assessment data. So in this system, even if scup and black sea bass are considered recovered, overfishing is not taking place and they are not overfished, then the SSC could set a quota greatly reduced from what the stock assessment recommends. The fishing community is paying the consequences because the NMFS has failed to spend its money on good stock assessment data. Instead, they spend it on models and management tools. JCAA’s Legislative Chairman, Tom Fote, often uses the expression, “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” However, we believe a better expression is “Garbage In, Gospel Out According to NMFS.” NMFS puts garbage into the models and then treats the output as gospel. They implement regulations based on that flawed gospel. We are stuck with The Gospel According to NMFS, since it is, according to NMFS, “the best available data.“

That is why Congress, the Senate, JCAA and many other fishing and environmental groups were so upset when we heard that the head of NOAA had proposed in the NMFS budget to divert stock assessment science money for a management program called Catch Share.

2. The JCAA does not support giving the NE Regional Director the power to shut down the recreational fishery.

This Omnibus Amendment would allow the Northeast Regional Director to shut down the recreational fishing of a species based on the first 3 waves of the flawed Marine Recreational Statistical Survey. Look how well this worked this year for Black Sea Bass. We are 5 months into the following year and are now doing a reduction that is half of what was recommended at the end of the previous year. Another example is the scup fishery which in the first 3 waves only represents 15% of the harvest. If, in any year, the first 3 waves were 20%, the Regional Director could shut down the rest of the year’s fishery. This is using data the National Academy of Science calls worthless. JCAA cannot support this action.

3. This document is very difficult to understand and there are not examples on what will be the outcome with the new interpretations.

The new language for SSC operation used in the Magnusson Act is open to interpretation. NMFS has one way of interpreting the Magnusson Act. There is not general agreement with the interpretation made by NMFS. Further confusing and complicating this issue is that the Councils are further interpreting what NMFS has said. There is not consistency among the interpretations by the Federal Fishery Management Councils. As a Commissioner to ASMFC, Tom Fote deals with 3 Councils, each with a different interpretation of what NMFS meant when it interpreted the Magnusson Stevens Act. We need a clear, consistent interpretation of the content of the Magnusson Stevens Act in order to make appropriate management decisions. NMFS and all the Federal Management Councils need to agree to a set of rules, make sure everyone understands those rules and then consistently play by those rules. What we have now is pure chaos.

JCAA doesn’t think President Bush or Congress, with the passage of the 2006 Magnusson Stevens Act, intended to destroy commercial and recreational fishing. We think their goal was to rebuild sustainable fisheries. But the way NMFS is interpreting the law could destroy the infrastructure of both the commercial and recreational fishing industry for years to come. There needs to be a balance between the needs of the fishing public and the rebuilding of the stocks. There are ways of doing both and somehow this has gotten lost in NMFS interpretation of the Magnusson Stevens Act. If you turn people from commercial and recreational fishing, there is no incentive for them to be stewards of the environment and the oceans we love. The commercial and recreational fishing communities were and remain the original environmentalists. We spearheaded the drive to end ocean dumping and many other important environmental initiatives.

JCAA understands there has been much staff and council time working on the Omnibus Amendment. But we are asking the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council to put this Amendment on hold and draft a National Omnibus Amendment that would include all the Councils. NMFS should be developing the guidelines and not the Councils.

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