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FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & LEGISLATIVE REPORT
by Tom Fote
FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & LEGISLATIVE REPORT
by Tom Fote
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association Late Summer 2000 Newsletter)
I attended two days of joint meetings
of the Mid-Atlantic Marine Fisheries Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission. These meetings are always very
long. Monday’s meeting lasted until
after 9PM and on Tuesday we went from 8AM until 7PM.
Tuesday was the short day.
We set the quota for summer flounder,
scup, seabass and bluefish. We will have to
make some tough choices this December when we set the recreational bag limits and seasons
on summer flounder and scup. We will probably
exceed our quotas on both scup and summer flounder and the quota on summer flounder is
lower than last year. We will need to
consider bag limits, size limits and season closures in some combination to meet the
quota. These decisions will not be easy and I
have no doubt that the final decisions will be unfair to the recreational community. In both summer flounder and scup the ratios
between recreational and commercial are skewed to the commercial side. Given this problem there is no final solution that
will be equitable. In addition, there is a
tremendous bycatch for scup and that is what has destroyed this fishery. Our quota in scup was reduced from 28% to 22%
several years ago in an attempt to reward the commercial community for promised actions to
deal with the bycatch. I was furious then
because I didn’t believe we should reward the commercial sector for bad behavior
before they even made any attempt to correct. Promises,
promises, promises. Six years later, I’m
at the same meetings, hearing the same promises with no real hope that anything positive
is going to happen. All I know is we still
operate with the reduced quota.
The reason we have a smaller quota on
summer flounder is because of the lawsuit filed by some of the national environmental
groups. What is truly upsetting is that there
are many fisheries that could benefit from their involvement and their willingness to fund
a lawsuit. Unfortunately, they chose to
involve themselves with summer flounder and only showed how little they know about the
fishery and about fishing in general. These
groups obviously know nothing about subsistence fishing or they don’t care. These changes will have the greatest impact on the
poor. The judge’s opinion was that the
NMFS needed to use the statistical preference that had a higher probability of producing
the quota required. We need to look at the
previous statistics and compare them in different ways.
We need to look at the decisions made based on those statistics and at the
outcomes generated by those decisions. Using
the lower percent probability consistently produced outcomes that were in line with
projected needs. If you make decisions based
on technicalities and points of law rather than on actual, practical outcomes, you often
come up with these outrageous and inappropriate plans.
The judge, the lawyers for the environmental groups and the plaintiffs had
absolutely no practical hands-on experience with fishing or with the management programs. They made decisions in the abstract that had no
connection with actual practice. The
environmental organizations involved in this lawsuit are the Environmental Defense Fund
(now called Environmental Defense), the National Resources Defense Council, National
Audubon and Center for Marine Conservation. Next
year, when you can’t catch summer flounder because we have had to raise the size
limit or decrease the bag limit or shorten the season or some combination, just remember
who is responsible. The good news on summer
flounder is that the stocks are rebuilding. The
biomass continues to increase. Without the
lawsuit we would be dividing a quota greater than the 2000 quota of 18.52 million pounds. This would have provided the first increase in
three years. In reality the commercial and
recreational anglers will be dividing a quota of 17.91 million pounds. The projection for 2002 is that the quota will
rise to 22 million pounds. This is similar to
the knee-jerk taken by that Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission took on Striped
Bass for 2000. More on Striped Bass in next
month’s JCAA Newspaper.
Now for some good news. Many council
members, primarily from the recreational sector, worked tirelessly to increase the
bluefish bag limit from 10 – 15. It has
taken us a very long time to succeed. The New
York and New Jersey delegations from both the council and the commission were unified on
this issue. In my mind, I can already hear
the questions from some of the recreational anglers.
“Why,” they will say, “would anyone need more than 10
bluefish?” I can hear some recreational
organization complaining as they label us the “fish hogs from New Jersey.” Let me save them the time and energy it will take
to complain. The fifteen fish bag limit
allows those anglers who fish for food to supplement their diets and to put fish away for
the winter to take advantage of a stock that can easily allow for this large a catch. This will do no harm and will provide tremendous
benefit for the subsistence fishermen. The
elitist attitudes about bluefish reflect a lack of understanding about subsistence fishing
and a total disregard for those less fortunate. Remember,
you can’t sell bluefish without a permit so these anglers are keeping what they catch
for personal consumption or sharing with family and friends. Those are the people who taught me how to fish on
Canarsie and Steeplechase Piers in Brooklyn. For
your information, last year the recreational target was 25.745 million pounds. For next year the quota will be 28,258,160 pounds. The last time our actual recreational harvest
exceeded 24 million pounds was in 1992. The
catch was 24,275,000 pounds with no bag limit. In
1993, with no bag limit, the catch was approximately 20 million pounds. In 1994 our catch was 15.5 million pounds. In 1998, with a 10 fish bag limit, our total catch
was 12,334,000 pounds. And in 1999, our catch
was down to 8,253,000 pounds. We are not
coming anywhere near the quota. We are so
far below our quota that for 1999, 2000 and 2001, approximately 3 millions pounds will be
transferred to the commercial sector. A 15
fish bag limit won’t make a dent.
It is interesting that Bill Cole from
the Fish & Wildlife service led the battle against going to a 15 fish bag limit. He did not voice an objection to the transfer of 3
million pounds of unused recreational quota to the commercial sector. It is also interesting that the first motion I can
remember the Fish & Wildlife Service making at these joint meetings in the last 5
years was to try and prevent recreational anglers from being allowed to catch more
bluefish. That should not come as a surprise
to any us that have been dealing with the Holgate issue where the Fish & Wildlife
Service wants to do away with recreational fishing opportunity. I’m not surprised
that Bill Cole made this motion. It seems the commercial fishermen on the council from
North Carolina did not want us get the increased bag limit. And Bill Cole seems to take
his marching orders from North Carolina because that’s where his office is located.
The other good news is that seabass seem to be making a comeback. The recreational community is well below quota. This should keep us from needing any additional
regulations or restrictions on the recreational sector.
This decision will be made at the December 12-14 joint meeting of MAMFC and ASMFC
at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City NJ. Mark that
date on your calendar. If you care about what
happens join me there.
The
following letter was sent to Penny Dalton at NMFS by email on a Saturday morning. To my amazement, I received a response that
afternoon. Even better, it was a positive
response that indicated a willingness to discuss the issues contained in the letter. On Monday morning I received a call from Rebecca
Lent to discuss the issues raised in the letter. I
received two more phone calls from personnel at NMFS the same day. I was flabbergasted! I am not accustomed to receiving such timely or
such open communication. JCAA is working
with United Boatmen and RFA to develop and submit a proposal for NMFS action. We might not get everything we ask for but it is
truly refreshing to have a working relationship. I
can only assume that Penny Dalton is anxious to work together and has directed her staff
to respond to us in a more positive manner. I
have 15 years worth of promises of improved communication.
Finally, I have more than promises. I
have real dialogue. Hopefully we can see real results.
JERSEY COAST ANGLERS ASSOCIATION
Working For the Saltwater Resource and Marine Anglers
NEW JERSEY FEDERATION OF SPORTSMEN’S CLUBS
United
States Department Of Commerce
National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration
National Marine Fisheries Service
Penelope D. Dalton
Assistant Administrator For Fisheries
1315 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, Md 20910
Dear Ms. Dalton:
I am writing this letter not only for
the Jersey Coast Anglers Association but also for the New Jersey Federation of
Sports’ Clubs. I am Legislative Chairman
for both organizations. Together these two
organizations represent 150,000 concerned sportsmen in New Jersey. Both organizations are extremely disappointed with
the votes of the representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National
Marine Fisheries Service.
After having caught practically
nothing up to this point, recreational anglers and all those financially dependent on
school bluefin tuna fishing are going to be shut out of that fishery after July 30. If the
past is any indicator, NMFS will spend a month or more determining that very little of the
quota has been used and will then reopen the season sometime in September for a few weeks
before shutting it down again without ever updating the catch until winter.
That was what happened last year as
the quota was greatly underfished while both sportsmen and charter boat owners swung in
the breeze due to the total lack of concern exhibited by the agency. This is in direct
contrast to the commercial side of the bluefin fishery where the agency keeps track
day-by-day and adds fishing days or extends seasons to ensure that every last possible
giant is killed. Angling Category participants are required by law to report their catches
of school tuna, but NMFS refuses to similarly update catch statistics in order to keep the
fishery open.
There’s little enough left of
what was traditionally the most important fishery for charter and private boats along the
Jersey Shore, but NMFS seems intent on eliminating opportunity whenever it may occur in an
unpredictable oceanic fishery. Though great sympathy is expressed about any losses
incurred by commercial fishermen and the agency rushes to distribute taxpayer funds to
those who have done the greatest damage to resources, both anglers and the charter and
party boat owners serving them are totally ignored. The once vibrant fall party boat
bluefin fishery has been totally eliminated since those boats can’t fish with a limit
of two school bluefins per boat, and not a penny of compensation has been offered to make
up for those financial losses. Charter boat skippers who used to make a living from June
to October fishing for school tuna have either had to switch to running 80 miles offshore
to the canyons for other tunas or get out of the business—without a NMFS buyout!
Is it any wonder that recreational
anglers are convinced of NMFS commercial bias when angling seasons are closed without any
justification and no attempt is made to re-open them on a timely basis while exactly the
opposite is the case with commercial tuna fishing? The
NMFS service uses the excuses of the International Convention for the Conservation of
Atlantic Tuna rules to do whatever they want. They
forget to tell everyone that we are one of the few countries who actually obey the rules. ICCAT member nations are harvesting thousands of
times more small bluefin tuna than we are. ICCAT
member nations have no regard for recreational anglers.
All they care about are commercial fishing.
For the US delegation to allow this miscarriage of justice to the American
angler to continue is criminal. For NMFS to
be a party to this miscarriage of justice is typical NMFS mismanagement of the
recreational sector.
NMFS mismanagement has reduced school
bluefin fishing to less than a tenth of what it used to be before the agency was
established, but even the hope of being able to catch one or two is enough to keep some
anglers who can’t afford $2,000 canyon trips interested if NMFS would permit them the
opportunity in the middle of the season. We
urge you to look into this situation and ensure that the Angling Category is given the
same opportunity that the commercial harvesters are given in the harvest of bluefin. We are tired of being treated as Second Class
Citizens of United States by the NMFS. Sincerely,
Thomas P. Fote
Legislative Chairman JCAA & NJSFSC
22 Cruiser Court,Toms River NJ, 08753
732-270-9102 Fax 732-506-6409
Email tfote@jcaa.org
Cc: President Bill Clinton, Secretary of Commerce William Daley, Governor Christine Todd Whitman, Senator Lautenberg, Senator Torricelli, Congressman Andrews, Congressman LoBiondo, Congressman Saxton, Congressman Smith, Roukema, Congressman Pallone, Congressman Franks, Congressman Rothman, Congressman Payne, Congressman Frelinghuysen, Congressman Pappas, Congressman Menendez, NJ Senate President Donald DiFrancesco, NJ Speaker Jack Collins and NJ Legislature
JERSEY COAST ANGLERS ASSOCIATION
NEW JERSEY FEDERATION OF SPORTSMEN’S CLUBS
The American consumer has developed an insatiable appetite for ocean products:
salmon, blackened redfish, grilled swordfish, broiled mako, stuffed flounder, and many
more.
Thanks to the demand we create as consumers, commercial fishing in many instances
has become a profitable business.
Meanwhile, fish stocks (population levels) have suffered because, as the demand has
increased, so too has the fishing effort. In fact, the intense global fishing effort today
is unparalleled in history. While we are just
5% of the world population we consume far more than 5% of the total catch.
During the past several decades fish population crashes have occurred in an
alarming, continuous pattern. In New England,
for example, groundfish, more commonly known as cod, flounder, haddock, pollock, whiting,
and halibut, were much sought after on the dinner plate.
They were overfished and the population collapsed.
This affected not only New England’s anglers but had a dramatic effect on the
both the recreational and commercial fishing industry in New Jersey. There are no longer party or charter boats
fishing for cod and whiting from New Jersey. When
boats sit idly at the dock during the winter months when anglers traditionally fished for
whiting and cod, the economic impact on the entire community is devastating.
In the Mid Atlantic during the l970s the population of striped bass also collapsed. Known as “rockfish” in the Chesapeake,
the species became so popular on the dinner menu that the fishery was overfished and the
population collapsed. Again, the economic
impact on the recreational fishing industry was immediate.
Only in the last few years have we experienced any improvement in this
fishery.
The once plentiful Atlantic sharks became much sought after and their population
has diminished by 50 percent in the last decade or so. Atlantic sharks were severely
overfished and the population collapsed. This
collapse coincided with the increase in the number of longline boats. While they were making more money, the
recreational fishing industry again suffered.
In the Gulf of Mexico redfish were depleted seemingly overnight after spicy Cajun
seasoning combined with redfish became an American delight.
The high demand for this product caused intense fishing and the redfish population
diminished to a point below the sustainable level and the fishery collapsed.
On the West Coast the sea urchin population collapsed, and in the North West and in
Alaskan waters, the salmon population survives at greatly diminished levels for some of
the same set of reasons.
Today we have other species in trouble, among them swordfish, white and blue
marlin, sailfish and several varieties of tuna. Consequently the National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) has designated these species as overfished. Their population has not yet
collapsed, but judging from past experience that could happen next.
This has given rise to the current controversy over proposed conservation measures
involving these species and a method of fishing called longlining. Developed over the past
30 years, longlining is a very methodical and successful system of laying out up to 40
miles of baited hooks. Longliners use modern
science to find the exact temperature, location and depth of the fish. The problem is that
longlining works too well. Anything that swims
by the hook; porpoises, pilot whales, loggerhead and leatherback turtles, various sharks
and even juvenile swordfish may take the bait. Since the line is left out overnight, any
species on the hook is usually weakened, injured or killed.
There is a bill in Congress, H.R. 4773, to provide an optional buyout to
longliners. A little known fact is that longliners could get up to $450,000 in
compensation each, based on their catch history, if they choose to turn in their permits.
The bill, sponsored by Congressman Jim Saxton of New Jersey, would also create a Mid
Atlantic conservation zone from June through September when no longlining would be
allowed. In fact, NMFS has already established other closures for bluefin tuna in the Mid
Atlantic and recently closed areas in the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic to
longlining.
Mr. Saxton’s bill does not ban longlining. It offers longlining fishermen a
way out, possibly before another NMFS closure with no compensation to longliners. No longliner is forced to relinquish a permit. This is an entirely voluntary buyout. The bill will hopefully protect the fishery from
yet another collapse by reducing the number of boats via buying their permits.
Although longlining is relatively new, dating from the 1960’s, commercially
harvesting seafood is a time-honored tradition, an honorable way of life and respectable
business. The longliners spend days or even weeks at sea. I know they work hard at what
they do. We have some 20 longliners in New Jersey, with more than 400 more around the
country.
What is often missing from news stories on this issue is the impact longlining has
on the recreational fishing industry. According
to recent statistics, New Jersey’s recreational fishing and boating industries are
worth billions of dollars to our state’s economy and generate many dollars in sales
tax, excise tax and income tax. This industry
includes tackle manufacturing and sale, boat building and maintenance, boat sales,
rentals, marina operations, tackle shops, the bait industry, publication of fishing
magazines, books and newspapers, party and charter boat fees, and the dollars generated in
shore communities through restaurants, service stations, motels and other businesses. The income generated through the offshore
recreational industry alone has a far greater impact on the economy of the entire state
than the limited longlining industry in New Jersey. Even
in the community where longlining is centered, far more jobs are generated through the
recreational industry. Recreational fishing
is an industry that is vitally important to our economy.
It is not just a hobby. When
another fishery collapses the economy loses more money and jobs in the recreational sector
than in the commercial sector.
Jim Saxton is the Chairman of the Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans
Subcommittee, and I think he has an obligation to promote responsible fish conservation.
The alternative is to sit back and watch another fishery go under while the National
Marine Fisheries Service sleeps.
The federal government has a poor, poor track record on fish conservation.
Fisheries that have had an important impact on New Jersey have been overfished and have
collapsed while the National Marine Fisheries Service did nothing. Among the fisheries of recreational importance in
New Jersey that are collapsed or threatened are mako sharks, bluefin tuna, whiting, cod
and scup.
We must break the proven cycle of high consumer demand, overfishing and fisheries
collapse. I’m a strong believer in
preventative measures to protect wildlife and natural resources and I applaud Congressman
Saxton for this action. The 150,000 members
of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association and the NJ Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs
support this legislation in its present form. Now
is the time to act, before the Mid-Atlantic
fishery collapses.
Thomas P. Fote
Legislative Chairman JCAA & NJSFSC
22 Cruiser Court,Toms River NJ, 08753
732-270-9102 Fax 732-506-6409
Email tfote@jcaa.org
ASMFC
is meeting the week August 21 - 24, 2000 Radisson Hotel Old Town Alexandria Fairfax
Street, Alexandria, Virginia. This is what the tentative agenda is:
Monday, August 21, 2000
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Northeast Area
Monitoring and Assessment Program (NEAMAP)
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Horseshoe Crab Management Board
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Shark Management Board
Tuesday, August 22, 2000
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM Atlantic
Sturgeon Management Board
10:00 AM - Noon South Atlantic State-Federal
Fisheries Management Board
10:00 AM - Noon Tautog Management Board
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Weakfish Management Board
3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Atlantic Menhaden Management Board
Wednesday,
August 23, 2000
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM Legislators
10:00 AM - Noon Introductory and IntermediateTechnical Workshop Series --
"Determining Fishing Mortality"
2:30 PM - 7:00 PM Striped Bass Management Board
Thursday,
August 24, 2000 8:30 AM
2:30 PM American Lobster Management Board