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I have been on the road a great deal this month in support of JCAA’s issues. I did some TV and radio interviews, attended some press conferences, testified in Trenton in support of the Bow Perimeter Bill, Menhaden Bill, and Deer Management Issues. I attended Barnegat Bay Partnership meetings and the Barnegat Bay Festival. I have also attended meetings with our legislators and the Commissioner of DEP to discuss the oil spill. I also attended a press conference held by Senator Menendez to discuss the oil spill. It was nice to be at Liberty State Park in Jersey City and see all the anglers waiting for the menhaden and striped bass to reach the bulkhead. In addition, I supported all of our volunteers in working on the JCAA Fluke Tournament. It is rewarding to attend the awards ceremony and talk to many anglers. These are people I see only once a year. All this is in addition to the JCAA, NJ Outdoor Alliance and NJ State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs’ meetings, phone calls and emails. Even though JCAA is not having any general meetings in July and August, my calendar seems full already.
As I am writing this article, we are approaching the 2 month anniversary of the BP oil spill. It is impossible to turn on the television or radio without getting a minute-by-minute update. We have a difficult time looking at new footage of the oil covered birds and other wildlife that are immediately affected. What is missing in the new coverage is the impact of this oil spill on the fish and marine mammals who either inhabit, reproduce or just travel through the Gulf. We have been listening to the scientists and marine biologists to gather as much information as possible. At this time we can’t possibly predict all the negative results of this oil spill. However, I would like to consider some negative consequences that we will feel close to home.
This is a wake-up call for all of us. Pay attention! We all need to become more energy efficient. Everyday in our daily lives we can do something to minimize our use of petroleum products. There was a great cartoon in the NY Times showing a woman wearing an American Flag T-shirt. She was carrying disposable plastic water bottles and plastic grocery bags and she was labeled: “A Walking Oil Spill.” No one wants you to give up your way of life but there are small things that add up quickly when we all develop that “green” habit. When gas was $4.50 a gallon, we planned our driving to be more fuel efficient. When home heating oil goes up, we turn the heat down. We need to make some of the same sacrifices when the cost is low. We also need for industry and government to move forward with a comprehensive plan. While we agree that there is much the government and the oil industry must do, we must each do our part.
The dates for the hearings and the addendum are posted on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission webpage (click on breaking news). I have included the most recent press release and some of the hearing dates and times below.
I have already heard a loud outcry for anglers along the east coast in opposition to this proposal. It will be interesting to see if the public hearing process changes the votes of some of the states that voted yes. Remember, the vote was very close at that time. It surprised me that Connecticut, a state that considers striped bass a gamefish, supported the addendum. It also surprised me that Maryland, Washington, DC and Potomac River, that have expressed their concerns about the Chesapeake Bay stock and disease, also supported the addendum. It also surprised me that the US Fish and Wildlife Service voted to support the addendum when the National Marine Fisheries Service went on the record in opposition. NMFS stated that their concerns about the Chesapeake Bay stock showed this was the wrong time for an increase. The public hearings will be sometime in late June or early July. It will be up to anglers in other states to pressure their state directors and commissioners not to vote for the increase. There is also a measure in this addendum to transfer recreational quota to commercial fisheries. Since we don’t have a state-by-state striped bass quota, I can’t see how this would happen. But commissioners voted to move forward with this proposal.
Last month, I discussed the fact that the ASMFC voted on a proposal by the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife to allow for different management measures on striped bass. This would allow an angler to have in his possession one fish at 24 inches and a second fish over 32 inches. It would allow you to keep 2 fish at 28 inches if you didn’t want to keep a smaller fish. This motion was passed. At that time I doubted that we could get legislation to change any Striped Bass regulation. What I am hearing from my fellow anglers only confirms my original belief. There is much misunderstanding about what impact this change would have on the mortality. It is very hard for people to understand that the present regulation is conservation equivalent to the new proposal. Unless a consensus builds in support of changing the regulations, I doubt this will happen at this time. These regulations would have been more acceptable if New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware had agreed to change their regulations to match this proposal. There would have been consistency in our mutual fishing areas.
Washington, DC – Atlantic coastal states from Maine through North Carolina have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Addendum II to Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass.
The Draft Addendum proposes two changes to the striped bass management program: (1) an increase in the coastal commercial quota, and (2) revising the definition of recruitment failure based on Technical Committee advice.
The proposal to increase the coastal commercial quota is intended to improve equality between the commercial and recreational fishery sectors. Although Amendment 6 established management programs for both fisheries based on the same target fishing mortality rate, the implementation of state-specific quotas for coastal commercial harvest (and not for recreational harvest) has prevented the commercial and recreational fisheries from responding equally to changes in striped bass population size. Since 2003, coastal commercial harvest has decreased by 3.6 percent, while recreational harvest has increased by 13.7 percent. Under the option, the Board would select a percent increase to be applied to the coastal commercial allocations assigned in Amendment 6.
The Management Board voted to include a second issue in the Draft Addendum based on information presented at the meeting. As part of its review of the juvenile abundance indices, the Striped Bass Technical Committee recommended to the Management Board a revision to how striped bass recruitment failure is defined. Juvenile abundance indices are an important component of the striped bass monitoring program and are used to determine periods of recruitment failure which can trigger management action under Amendment 6. Adopting the proposed recommendation would result in a fixed value to determine recruitment failure in each surveyed area rather than a value that changes from year to year. Use of either the Amendment 6 definition or the Technical Committee recommendation for recruitment failure does not result in any necessary changes to the current management program.
Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum, either by attending public hearings or providing written comments. The Draft Addendum can be obtained via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News or by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on October 1, 2010 and should be forwarded to Nichola Meserve, FMP Coordinator, 1444 Eye Street, NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 289-6051 (FAX) or at nmeserve@asmfc.org. (Subject line: Striped Bass Addendum II). For more information, please contact Nichola Meserve, FisheryManagement Plan Coordinator at (202) 289-6400 or nmeserve@asmfc.org.
Note: Because of limited space in the JCAA Newspaper I did not list all the hearings The complete list of dates, times, and locations of the scheduled meetings are listed on the ASMFC web page. I have listed our hearing and some of our neighbor’s below.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to be of concern to Jersey Shore businesses, residents
Jersey City, NJ – U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) held a news conference on the Jersey City waterfront to discuss the effort he is leading to ensure that the federal government coordinates with East Coast states to prepare for the possibility of the BP oil spill entering the Atlantic Ocean. Menendez was joined by New Jerseyans who are also closely monitoring the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, including Dr. Alan Blumberg, Director of the Center for Maritime Systems at Steven’s Institute; Cindy Zipf, Executive Director of Clean Ocean Action; Tom Fote, Legislative Chairman of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association; and Pasquale and Frank Storino, owners of Jenkinson’s Boardwalk on Point Pleasant beach. They were hosted by Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy at Liberty State Park to discuss the possibility of oil reaching the New Jersey coast.
Anticipating a potential threat, Senator Menendez has sent a letter, signed by a bipartisan group of 22 Atlantic Coast senators, to the heads of relevant federal departments requesting communication between federal response agencies and Atlantic states to ensure the East Coast is prepared for the worst case scenario. The Senators also requested new science-based, long-term projection models that can help determine the statistical probabilities of oil affecting various parts of the Atlantic Coast.
"Our state’s beaches are open for the summer season. The Jersey shore is one of America’s most desirable destinations. At this time, let me be clear, the oil spill does not pose an imminent threat to our coastline," said Senator Menendez. “In the unthinkable event that oil does one day wash into our coastal communities, New Jersey needs the necessary manpower and equipment to mitigate the impact. The federal government should work to ensure that Atlantic Coast states have the response procedures and equipment in place in the event that oil escapes the Gulf of Mexico.”
“The science community is pleased with Senator Menendez’s vision to prepare New Jersey for the potential effects from the disastrous BP oil spill,” said Alan F. Blumberg, Ph. D., George Meade Bond Professor and, Director, Center for Maritime Systems Stevens Institute of Technology. “Given the best science knowledge to date, I am optimistic that the oil will not reach New Jersey waters. However; there is a sequence of unlikely oceanic events that could bring the oil to our waters. The probability of this occurrence is greater than zero and thus we cannot ignore the possibility. The Federal government and the State of NJ must engage the scientific community to closely monitor the situation and to create a Jersey-centric science–based plan of action in case the oil should reach New Jersey waters.”
“Tragically as BP’s oil disaster spreads its toxic pollution by sea currents we will learn that there is only one ocean,” said Cindy Zipf, executive Director of Clean Ocean Action.
“The letter shows strong bi-partisan support to prepare for the potential of BP’s oil spreading into the Atlantic, which is encouraging. Clearly these Senators recognize the economic and environmental importance of clean ocean. We trust that this understanding will lead to the end of plans to drill in the Atlantic. If we are not safe from an oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, how can we ever consider drilling in Atlantic? The only safe offshore drilling is no drilling.” she added.
“When I look at the fishing industry in New Jersey, when I look at the recreational fishing it’s worth about $1.3 billion. If you look at the commercial industry it’s about $600 million. If you look at the commercial boat building industry it’s about $2 billion and the tourism industry that depends on clean beaches you’ll see that it has an astronomical effect on the economy of New Jersey,” said Tom Fote, Legislative Chairman of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association. “Drilling is not worth the chance. My worst nightmare came true. We lost 11 people on the oil rigs. This will put more pressure on the industry, and put more pressure on our resources. New Jersey recreational anglers and commercial fishermen are going to suffer consequences for the Gulf Spill even in no oil reaches NJ. There are species we fish for that are spawned in the gulf and others rely on gulf stream for their early life stages. With the closing of the gulf for fishing it will put more pressure on Atlantic stocks to be harvested. An example is menhaden. Menhaden are filter feeders and are forage species for many of the fish we harvest. The gulf did supply a major harvest for the fish meal and fish oil industry. The industry will be looking to make up this harvest on the east coast and there is no harvest quota. This could cause major problems for the fish, birds and mammals that depend on menhaden for food. It will have a domino effect."
“I remember years ago when we had issues; New York waste, garbage from the city washing up on the shore and I remember how it affected us,” said Frank Storino, owner of Jenkinson’s Boardwalk on Point Pleasant Beach. “Now a day the water is so much cleaner, you can see the difference since they cleaned up the ocean and stopped the offshore dumping. I can see how it has to be affecting the Gulf coast, their tourism, the fishing, the wildlife, everything. I wanted to thank Sen. Menendez for being proactive; we’re looking to take care of this ahead of time and prevent it from being a disaster up here also.”
As United States Senators representing coastal states along the Atlantic seaboard, we are keeping close watch on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, not only so we can help the residents of that region, but also to assess whether the oil and chemical dispersants might affect the beaches and fisheries in our home states. Some widely-viewed but unofficial projections indicate that parts of the spill could get caught in the Loop Current, which would bring the oil up along the East Coast. This outcome is less than a certainty – it may even be highly unlikely. Nevertheless, we have spoken with residents in our coastal communities who are concerned about the oil and chemical dispersants, and these communities should at the very least be fully prepared for the worst case scenario.
To this end, we want the federal government to proactively work to ensure coastal states along the Atlantic seaboard are prepared and to ensure that the public and local governments are given the best science-based information about where the spill might be headed. Specifically, we have two requests:
We ask that the Department of Homeland Security immediately begin coordinating with all state emergency preparedness agencies along the Atlantic Coast, providing full information about how best to prepare for managing an oil spill and ensuring that these states are properly equipped for the worst-case scenario.
We ask that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration begin developing and disseminating official, science-based predictions about the long-term direction of the oil spill and chemical dispersants, that NOAA make frequent updates to these projections and that they be publicly available. We appreciate the current projections NOAA develops and posts on its website, but these estimates are limited to a 72-hour period. We fully understand that projecting the spill’s direction weeks or months in advance is extremely difficult, but it would be helpful to know the statistical probabilities of oil hitting various Atlantic Coast locations.
Our states’ beaches are fully open for the summer season, and at this time, the oil spill does not pose an imminent threat to them. However, the health of our shores is too important to be left to chance – not only are they natural treasures, but they are also how many families in our coastal communities earn a living. They add billions of dollars to our states’ economies, support millions of jobs and bring enjoyment to millions more families from nearby and across the nation. If there is any real risk to these communities from a spill that right now remains thousands of miles away, we need to know as soon as possible. Furthermore, our state agencies that will partner with federal agencies to protect our shores need to be fully prepared with the information and equipment needed to combat the worst case scenario. Such an effort should begin immediately. Thank you for your hard work to protect the Gulf Coast, and we look forward to collaborating with you.
| Robert Menendez | Jack Reed |
| Barbara Mikulski | Kay Hagan |
| Jim Webb | Kirsten E. Gillibrand |
| Richard Burr | Charles Schumer |
| Ted Kaufman | Saxby Chambliss |
| Scott Brown | Mark Warner |
| Johnny Isakson | Jeanne Shaheen |
| John F. Kerry | Sheldon Whitehouse |
| Tom Carper | Frank Lautenberg |
| Christopher J. Dodd | Susan Collins |
| Olympia Snowe | Benjamin Cardin |
TRENTON - New Jersey's multi-billion dollar tourism and fishing industries will not be affected by the Gulf oil spill this summer, but are being threatened by misinformation, Commissioner Bob Martin said in testimony before the state Assembly today.
The Commissioner told the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee the leaking oil remains confined in the Gulf of Mexico and has not reached the Loop Current that could take it towards the tip of Florida, up the Atlantic Coast towards the Carolinas where the Gulf Stream would carry it eastward and out to sea. The oil could only reach New Jersey through a sequence of unlikely, atypical events -- and even then would not reach our coast until at least late autumn.
"Our beaches are clean and our tourism industry is safe from oil throughout the summer,'' said Commissioner Martin. "Our fishing and seafood industries are safe because all of the migratory fish were already here for the season before the spill occurred.''
"The greatest risk the state faces right now from the Gulf oil spill is misinformation _ so it's important to get the facts right,'' Commissioner Martin told the Committee. "It is crucial that we make plans and decisions based on facts and science, and keep the public accurately informed in order to avoid creating issues where they may not exist.''
In his testimony, Commissioner Martin explained to the Committee the unlikely sequence of events that would be required for oil from the Gulf to reach New Jersey:
Oil from the spill has reached the Florida Panhandle but has not made its way to the Loop Current, which would carry it around the southern tip of Florida.
If the oil gets into the Loop Current, it would be carried north only to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, where the Gulf Stream would carry it out into the Atlantic Ocean towards Europe.
An eddy then would have to break off from the Gulf Stream, which is not typical -eddies are typically engulfed back into the current - for a small portion of the oil to head back westward towards the Atlantic Coast
Even then such as eddy would have to make landfall along the coast of Massachusetts or eastern Long Island - north of New Jersey - to reach us because the current along the New Jersey coast moves southward.
It is possible that hurricanes or severe storms could change the course of the oil, but they would also help break it up. If oil does come our way later in the year, it would most likely be in the form of isolated tar balls, not as slicks of the type occurring in the Gulf states.
While it is improbable the BP oil spill will have any effect on the Jersey Shore or the State's fishing industry, the DEP is taking no chances, said Commissioner Martin. In May, the Department formed a special Gulf Spill Team to closely monitor the situation, to create a unique scientific model of the likely path of the contaminated waters, and to develop a plan of action if the oil should reach New Jersey.
"Among the most important things we can do are marshal the facts to keep the public informed, support State Office of Emergency Management efforts and counter any misinformation that could damage New Jersey's economy,'' Commissioner Martin told legislators.
To provide the public with accurate facts, the DEP has set up a "Gulf Oil Spill Update'' on its Web site at http://www.nj.gov/dep that has New Jersey-specific information, along with links to additional resources.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of the Gulf Coast, the families of the 11 men who lost their lives in the oil rig explosion, and the persons who are losing their livelihoods due to what is the largest environmental disaster in history of the U.S.,'' said Commissioner Martin. "But, thankfully, we do not expect any impact on New Jersey this summer.'
It’s been nearly seven weeks since oil from BP’s deep-ocean Macondo well began gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Over that time, the public has, understandably, become increasingly frustrated with industry and government efforts to prevent damage to wildlife and wetlands. There is the growing sense — reflected in last week’s discussion of using nuclear weapons to stop the leak and a viral video about using hay to sop up the mess — that somehow, somewhere there are more innovative and effective measures for containing and cleaning up the oil.
But I can tell you, based on 21 years’ experience analyzing and observing oil spills, that the best minds in the business are already doing all they can. No special techniques that would work well to clean up the oil in this situation aren’t being tried or planned. There simply are no foolproof solutions.
Once oil spills into water, responders must race against time and the forces of physics, chemistry and biology to minimize the harm to life in the sea and on land. Oil spreads quickly into a hair-thin sheen and begins to evaporate, dissolve and travel with the winds and currents. Strategies to chemically disperse the oil, vacuum it away, sponge it up, burn it or divert it from especially sensitive areas all have their benefits — and their drawbacks.
So decisions about how to respond to a disaster of this magnitude involve evaluating the tradeoffs and the net long-term benefits to the environment. Efforts to spare marsh birds may hurt fish; a wetland may be protected, but only by diverting oil to a sandy beach; attempts to clean up the oil may involve trampling marshes or polluting the air.
The best strategy, of course, is to prevent spills in the first place. The second best strategy is to do everything possible to clean them up. And that seems to be what is happening.
The chart below summarizes the various cleanup efforts being undertaken or proposed in the gulf and along the coast.
— DAGMAR SCHMIDT ETKIN, an environmental risk consultant, who is advising the State of Louisiana and Mobile County, Ala., on the BP spill
