Highly Migratory Species Report

The National Association of Charterboat Operators (NACO) annual meeting was held at Chesapeake Beach, MD. on January 15. They had 6 quality speakers who provided key information about a wide variety of key fishery issues.

The first speaker was Dr. John Boreman who gave a report about their progress in developing a new statistical program to replace the discredited MRFSS. This new Program has been named the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). I my opinion, despite their reported progress in creating a more accurate system, they have little intention in giving up their total control of this program.

The old MRFSS system yearly budget allocation was $10 Million per year. The cost of the new system asked NMFS for a 2008 budget of $50 Million. Can we believe that the data improvement will be in lock step with the increased funding?

Last year, the new MRIP program had a meeting of all involved in Denver, CO. The meeting’s purpose was to define what was required to create a new system. Most regional fishing council executive directors attended. No recreational anglers or recreational council members who worked on fisheries were invited or attended. NMFS reported that all involved had attended! NMFS changes names but their actions never change.

Bad MRFSS statistics have been a sore point with recreational anglers for many years. North Carolina in 2007 imposed a NEW recreational saltwater license. In 2006, MRFSS had stated there were more than TWO MILLION individual anglers fishing NC saltwater. For 2007, North Carolina reports they sold ONLY 257,000 recreational saltwater licenses. What a huge difference from 2006! What is the 2007 reduction in NC angler fish landing estimates when NC angler numbers collapsed from 2 Million estimated to 257,000 paid? What will NMFS excuse be to use much higher NC numbers in their 2007 NC estimates?

Gordon Colvin, New York State, now heads NMFS National Recreational Angler Registry division. This program will create a current list of angler names and phone numbers so that the MRIP callers will reach fishermen rather than random coastal residents. They expect to greatly improve the accuracy of the new MRIP program with an angler registry. If nothing else, it will improve license fees since NMFS will charge $15-25 after 2011 for their federal saltwater license. NMFS expects All states to have their own saltwater license by 2011, avoiding a federal license fee. It was stated at the meeting that only states from New Jersey to Maine have yet to impose a saltwater license. Was this a sneaky way to impose a saltwater fishing license in the states where anglers do not desire one?

This is the latest gem from Homeland Security’s TSA. All workers in commercial docks/yards or who work on ships, plus all those who hold a USCG license, are mandated to obtain this new card. They are required to obtain this card by Sept. 25, 2008. The cost is $135.00 for 5 years. Visa, MasterCard, money order or certified/cashiers checks are the only form of payment accepted. Two visits to a specified location are required to obtain this card. The first visit provides your basic information for a TSA background check to determine if you are a terrorist. The second visit obtains inserts for your biometric credentials into the TWIC smart card. It will contain your picture, address, height, weight and other biometric information. For sure Big Brother is watching.

Charter and head boat captains MUST POSSESS one of these new TWIC cards to renew their current captain’s license. Their USCG license will not be renewed without a TWIC. USCG estimates 800,000 licenses will be issued. Only 50,000 had been issued as of December 31. It will get real crowded at TWIC offices this summer. The nearest location is Philadelphia Regional Port, 3460 N. Delaware Ave., Phila., Pa. 19134. More offices will open this month, so check to their website for location.

DUI packets that determine if you had consumed alcohol have been required by the USCG for the last two years for all captains and crew. Captains were directed to use them immediately if they had a reportable incident on a for-hire boat. It was noted by the speaker that these DUI packets all of which go positive at .02 despite a legal limit of .04 are very temperature sensitive. Both high and low temperatures have produced a positive reading using these packets, when, in fact, there was none, reported David Walters.

Note that the current USCG booklet for charterboats has a key sentence: “Crew or watch stander shall not perform or attempt to perform any scheduled duties within four hours of consuming any alcohol.” This sentence also applies to prescription and non-prescription drugs that cause any degree of impairment. This is a tougher standard than the stated legal limit of .04.

The Bluefin Tuna fish is in real trouble. All European and African nations who are members of ICCAT have refused for the last 31 years to pass national regulations that would control and regulate the out of control Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic bluefin fishery

Rich Ruais is a longtime participant at ICCAT meetings. His comments are shocking in their future implications for the US bluefin fishery. He reports: “The failure of ICCAT to respond in 2007 to the repeated ICCAT scientific advice about a pending likely collapse of the stock makes a listing of Atlantic bluefin tuna at the next meeting in 2010 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) almost a certainty. A CITIES Appendix listing will ban international trade in the species both east and west. It is unclear whether the U.S. would continue to allow domestic sales or recreational fishing under a CITIES listing.”

NMFS report of US landings of Medium and Giant tunas in the US as of December 1 are considered a disaster. NMFS reports only 159.9 MT of the US quota of 1,391.2 MT have been landed as of December 1, 2007. This is the lowest reported landings in 20 years.

The good news is bluefin tuna fishing off North Carolina has been good. Some boats have hooked one fish in the Medium or Giant category daily. Smaller recreational legal tuna over 100 pounds are caught on every trip. But regardless how many bluefin tuna are landed in NC, the US will fall way short of catching their assigned ICCAT quota for the fourth year in a row. Check National Fishermen Magazine and see how many Giant Bluefin tuna boats are for sale

Those who enjoy canyon fishing over the last 20 years have found their former superb fishing reduced to a hit or miss opportunity and now land only a few tuna per trip. Yellowfin and Longfin tuna are the species usually caught on 95 % of the canyon trips.

ICCAT voted to reduce their 2008 and 2009 longfin tuna landings by 11%. The US has a total quota of 600 MT. Carry forward provisions allow landings higher than the ICCAT approved TAC of 30,200 MT.

Yellowfin and Big Eye tuna spawners and zero age juveniles are caught in vast numbers between Africa and Brazil using FAD’s. These FAD’s catch 70% of the estimated zero age tuna each year.

There were other issues approved by ICCAT but their impact will be minor compared to the out of control landings of all tunas that are far above replacement numbers.

As you remember, the US swordfish biomass has recovered to the point where their numbers are estimated to support MSY landings. The September/October issue of Sport Fishing has a superb article on daytime swordfishing in 1,500 feet using braided line. See pages 70-77.

Having hooked two swordfish recently, I am very respectful of their fighting ability. I found the joy of eating fresh swordfish was not diminished in the slightest by watching another angler fight my swordfish. In fact, I enjoyed every minute of the battle.

If you are depressed with the thought of catching fewer fish, you can look forward to catching all the fluke, black sea bass and porgies you desire during 2008 subject to new draconian regulations. For example, this year’s recreational Porgies season is Oct 1 to 31, 2008. The entire 2008 Porgy season is ONE month long! Does anyone consider this fair?

Where are the rewards anglers had expected to receive from years of strict observance of regulations? Where are the benefits we expected from stock recovery? Now we get fewer fish and shorter seasons with each passing year?