FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & LEGISLATIVE REPORT
By Tom Fote
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association April 1995 Newsletter)
STRIPED BASS GAMEFISH BILL (H.,R.393)
THE JCAA JERSEY COAST FLUKE TOURNAMENT
The last month has not been the best for performance by the legislative community at both the state and federal level. On the House Congressional side, they have been trying to make major adjustments to the Clean Water Act and they have all been to weaken the existing laws. Congressman Franks from New Jersey pinned an addition to the Ocean Dumping Act which could create a major disaster. This amendment would take the EPA out of the loop and leave the management of ocean quality in the lap of the Army Corp of Engineers, the most environmentally unfriendly group involved. This is a worst case example of the fox guarding the hen house. The Ocean Dumping Act can be changed in the House before it goes to the Senate and we are asking Congressman Saxton to hold a hearing on these changes, mainly because it will have a lasting impact on the health of our fisheries stocks and also on many endangered species. That is the purview of Congressman Saxton’s House Fisheries Committee.
The Clean Water Act will have to be handled by the Senate, so write to our state Senators demanding that the Act not be stripped of its environmentally beneficial powers. Tell them that they must not allow this to happen. If you are reading this newsletter and are from another state and want to know your congressional and senatorial representatives, call Tom Fote and he will get you the information.
Clean Ocean Action has forwarded us important information about these changes and they appear in another section of this newsletter. Read it and respond to your congressmen and senators immediately. By the time you read this, I will have met with Congressmen Pallone and Saxton on these issues.
On the state level, our legislature moved to make it more difficult for New Jersey PIRG to operate. JCAA has worked with NJPIRG on many issue involving clean water and other pollution problems and they have been staunch supporters of a clean environment. They are an important part of the environmental community and a much needed watchdog. We know from personal experience that when a group becomes successful at fighting against destroyers of the environment that you create strong enemies that will stop at nothing to silence you and try to make it more difficult for you to operate on the public’s behalf. JCAA still stands behind NJPIRG in trying to defeat this vindictive bill, but was unsuccessful. NJPIRG has a column devoted to this issue in the newsletter.
STRIPED BASS GAMEFISH BILL (H.,R.393)
We did find one positive note. H.R. 393, the Striped Bass Gamefish Bill, is back in the hopper for consideration by committees and, hopefully, the full House. Congressman Frank Pallone reintroduced the bill in 104th Congress and Congressman Jim Saxton was again the original co-sponsor. Congressmen Zimmer and Smith have already signed on as co-sponsors, but its now time for JCAA members to ask their congressmen to sign on to the bill again, so the Congressional Delegation from New Jersey once again supports this bill unanimously. Our congressmen have always been behind this bill and we are sure this will happen again. A list of the congress persons from New Jersey can be found in this newsletter, so start writing and calling your representative, if he or she is not signed on as a co-sponsor already. If they are already signed on, write a letter thanking them.
The scoping hearings on the proposed amendments to the Summer Flounder Management Plan are still ongoing. One of the serious concerns being put forward in this plan is to put forth a coastwide commercial quota with NMFS managing it. We have yet to receive an explanation from NMFS concerning what happened in New York last year, where NMFS closed down the fluke fishery was supposedly at 759,000 pounds was reached. But when New York State fisheries managers went back and asked commercial fishermen involved in the fluke fishery what they actually landed in a voluntary survey, they produced a figure that came to 2,100,000 pounds. This is not a small discrepancy! It is almost three times the allotted quota and it has serious implications when using a "quota based" management system. If NMFS can not manage New York efficiently and with any degree of accuracy, how can they possibly manage the entire coast and obtain reliable, accurate data. Until NMFS has demonstrated that they can handle this difficult task, there is no reason to allow them domain over the entire coast. We will be watching these proceedings carefully and will have comments and suggestions prior to the plan going to the ASMFC and Mid Atlantic Council for a final vote.
A major scientific symposium is being held on the topic of sport fishing hook and release mortality. It is being held on May 8 through 10 in Virginia Beach, VA. JCAA will have representatives in attendance, since this is an important issue that dramatically impacts fisheries management plans on the recreational side. Remember, that whenever a fish is counted as dead under hook and release mortality estimates in a plan, it affects the total mortality for our side of a management plan. It is imperative that we obtain better scientific information about this variable.
If you would like to attend or want further information, contact Dr. Eleanor Bochenek, 908-349-1152.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will hold its annual spring meeting from May 24 through 27 at the Quality Hotel, Capitol Hill, Washington DC. Tentative schedules for these meetings can be obtained by calling the Commission offices at 202-452-8700. Meetings scheduled include blackfish, lobsters, menhaden, striped bass and statistics. There will also be a full day joint meeting of all three Commissions, the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf.
THE JCAA JERSEY COAST FLUKE TOURNAMENT
Just a brief personal note on our upcoming tournament. It has become increasingly important for JCAA to have the funds to send personnel to a wide variety of meetings, from Council and Commission meetings to scientific symposiums, and they all cost money. We have been lucky that some of our executive board and committee chairmen have taken their personal time to attend many of them. But we can not expect them to give up their personal time and take on the burden of the expenses involved in attending. It has become increasingly hard to obtain the funds we need for what amounts to regular association operating costs and this tournament can go a long way toward helping us generate funds for these and other important purposes. I know of many people who have entered the tournament already even though they have no intention of fishing. They will attend the prize ceremonies at Trumps Plaza in Atlantic City and take a shot at the $5000 raffle drawing and the thousands of dollars in door prizes that will be given away there. But most of all, they are entering because they know JCAA is using the money for the right purposes, to help protect our environment and represent sport fishermen in the management process. No one else is going to do it for you, so enter and have as many friends enter as possible.
There is a listing of all New Jersey congressional members, key people at the Department of Commerce, NMFS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other important governmental agencies. Please save this newsletter. We get calls at our office all the time for nothing more than addresses and phone numbers of these people and it takes board members extra time that they could be using for more important work to call back with the info. I’ve given the same address to one person on six separate occasions.