‘CCA Gulf of Mexico’ Articles
Gulf of Mexico fisheries and marine resource conservation issues.
CCA participants hope to see results after meeting with NOAA Fisheries
Outdoorsmen were out in force at the nation’s capital last week as two events in Washington DC were dedicated to how this country manages its wild and natural resources. As President Obama hosted the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors on April 16, NOAA Fisheries was hosting the Saltwater Recreational Fishing Summit on April 16-17.
Coastal Conservation Association President Pat Murray was among those invited to hear President Obama’s remarks on the importance of reconnecting Americans to the outdoors during the event at the Department of the Interior. Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, and Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, led the conference, which brought together leaders from communities across the country that are working to protect their outdoor spaces. Participants included ranchers and farmers, sportsmen and women, State and local government leaders, Tribal leaders, public lands experts, conservationists, youth leaders, business representatives and others for whom the outdoors is an integral part of their culture and community.
Just across town, a host of CCA volunteers and staff were participating in the NOAA Fisheries Recreational Fishing Summit, an event that fulfilled a promise by NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco to forge a better relationship between the recreational angling community and federal fisheries managers.
“We have participated in these kinds of summits before with NOAA leadership. Some of the CCA participants attending last week have been to two or even three of them without much to show for their efforts,” said Bob Hayes, CCA General Counsel. “However, I am optimistic that NOAA is listening and will help us with issues like catch shares, National Ocean Policy and the government’s attitude toward the recreational angling community. We did our part – we were very clear about what we would like to see change, and we provided hundreds of ways for them to do it.”
CCA participants in the 2010 Recreational Fishing Summit included:
Bob Hayes, CCA General Counsel – Next Steps and Accountability
Richen Brame, CCA Atlantic States Fisheries Director – Key Challenges Facing Recreational Saltwater Fishing Today
Mike Kennedy, CCA Florida – Regional Perspectives – South Atlantic
Ed Sapp, CCA Florida – Regional Perspectives – Gulf of Mexico
Lee Blankenship, CCA Pacific Northwest – Regional Perspectives – Pacific Northwest
Pat Murray, CCA President – Visions of Success
Matt Paxton, CCA Federal Lobbyist
Scott McGuire, CCA Maryland
Charlie Witek, CCA New York
Bill Bird, CCA Florida
Chester Brewer, Chairman of the CCA National Government Relations Committee
Russell Nelson, CCA Gulf Fisheries Consultant
Rad Trascher, CCA Louisiana
Ted Venker, CCA Director of Communications
Reaction from CCA representatives was cautiously optimistic that tangible benefits may result from the summit.
“One of the fundamental problems we’ve had with NOAA Fisheries is their utter lack of understanding the nature and management of recreational fisheries,” said Richen Brame, CCA Atlantic States Fisheries Director. ”No matter how hard they try, they cannot fit us neatly into the same management box as commercial fishermen. While I will not bet the ranch on it, there are at least signs of hope emanating from this conference that NOAA Fisheries is trying to understand recreational fisheries and may begin to manage them properly.”
“Those who participated in the summit did a great job clarifying and communicating our issues and concerns,” said Chester Brewer, CCA National Government Relations Committee chairman. “Eric Schwaab (NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries) has committed to preparing a work plan and follow-up to address the major items. I am cautiously optimistic.”
The two-day summit featured more than 30 speakers from all over the country, with plenty of time set aside for discussions among participants on key challenges and solutions for federal fisheries management.
“The stage has been set,” said Charlie Witek, CCA New York. “It’s now time for all of the actors to properly play out their roles. How they do so will determine whether the production will ultimately be viewed as a triumph, a flop or something in between. I feel, though, that at least there are folks out there who want to offer some help.”
Both Dr. Lubchenco and NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Eric Schwaab spoke at the summit, which drew a greater-than-expected crowd of 170 attendees, some from as far away as Alaska and Hawaii.
“The excellent turnout at this summit tells me that you want to be heard. And I am here to tell you that NOAA is not only listening, but we are also ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work with you,” said Dr. Lubchenco in her opening remarks. “I want to start by making one thing very clear: NOAA is committed to working with the recreational fishing community. NOAA’s commitment ‐‐my commitment‐‐ to saltwater anglers is not a hollow one. We do not intend to make empty promises.”
Schwaab told participants he had three goals for the summit: to walk away with a clear and common understanding of the issues of concern and some sense of the relative importance of those issues, nationally, regionally and strategically; to outline a process by which we will continue to work together on these issues, and to identify steps that can be taken to address these concerns; this will form the basis of an action agenda.
“We are here with a view toward the future, intent to build on previous successes, while learning from and avoiding mistakes of the past,” he said. “Over the next two days, we’ll have some focused discussions – about our desired outcomes, and pathways toward those outcomes.”
NOAA Fisheries will be posting video taken at the event to the agency’s web site in a couple of weeks, along with a complete copy of Dr. Lubchenco and Eric Schwaab’s remarks and other information. Other material on the event, including agenda packet, background documents, survey results and related documents may be found HERE.
Obama Admin Looks to Cast a Line With Anglers – New York Times, April 16, 2010
Tags: NOAA Fisheries, rec summit, recreataional fishing summit, summit
Posted in CCA Atlantic States, CCA Federal Fisheries, CCA Gulf of Mexico, CCA Pacific Northwest, CCA South Atlantic, Catch Shares, Magnuson-Stevens Act, National Oceans Policy | No Comments »
April 14, 2010
Peter Hood
Southeast Regional Office
NMFS, 263
13th Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Mr. Hood,
The Coastal Conservation Association represents more than 80,000 members in state chapters along the Gulf Coast. We have two major concerns to address in this letter on the proposed rule that would increase the commercial and recreational quotas for red snapper, while enacting the shortest recreational red snapper season in history.
Click HERE for the complete comments.
Tags: Gulf of Mexico, red snapper
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
Coastal Conservation Association
Comments to NOAA Fisheries Service Opposing
Haugen Exempted Fishing Permit
The Coastal Conservation Association, representing more than 80,000 members in state chapters along the Gulf Coast, has major concerns about several aspects of the one-year exempted fishing permit sought by commercial reef fish fishermen Thomas Haugen that would authorize the applicant to use unauthorized experimental fish traps in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Fish traps were removed from the Gulf of Mexico in 2007 after years of controversy over their destructiveness and have also been outlawed in the Atlantic and state waters. This gear is “invisible” once deployed and ample evidence has been supplied by state and federal law enforcement agents to conclude that it is nearly impossible to observe the gear and enforce any escape gap or panel regulations. Enforcement officers testified before the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council in February 2010 on the extreme difficulty of enforcing any regulations on fish traps. NOAA Regional Administrator Dr. Roy Crabtree stated that the enforcement concerns were very legitimate factors in the Gulf Council’s unanimous vote to remove fish traps from consideration in Amendment 32 to the gag/red grouper management plan. Coastal Conservation Association believes the enforcement issue alone should be a permanent deterrent to the reintroduction of any fish trap gear in the Gulf of Mexico.
Additionally, the permit applicant does not, and in all likelihood cannot, address issues of experimental design or statistical analysis of the proposed “experimental” use of this type of fish trap. CCA does not believe that the applicant, who has publicly stated that he desires to develop an allowance to use his traps which are currently prohibited, can lend an objective eye or voice to develop useful information on the trap and how it functions. For any experimental study of the operational impacts of new gear only objective scientists from state, federal or academic entities operating with clearly defined, randomized experimental constructs can provide the careful scrutiny and analyses that would lead to credible information useful to fisheries managers.
CCA urges NOAA Fisheries Service to reject this application for an exempted fishing permit.
Tags: exempted fishing permit, fish trap, Haugen
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
Shortened recreational season brings allocation issue to the forefront
Recreational anglers were cheered earlier this year by news that after decades of federal management, culminating with a two-fish bag limit and a 74-day season in 2009, scientists suddenly announced that the Gulf red snapper stock is no longer undergoing overfishing, which is a significant step on the road to recovery.
However, the reward for decades of sacrifice announced at the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting this week is a good news/bad news scenario for recreational anglers who will see their quota increase to about 3.4 million pounds in 2010, from 2.5 million pounds in 2009, but will also see their season shrink by at least two weeks.
“Thanks to a combination of factors, including significant bycatch reduction measures for the shrimp fleet, the stock is improving,” said Dr. Russell Nelson, CCA Gulf Fisheries consultant. “But clearly the Council now needs to take into account the problems caused by the increasing average size of the fish being caught and take a long overdue look at reallocation.”
Even with a recovering stock, the hundreds of thousands of anglers pursuing red snapper in the Gulf are still left with just 49 percent of the total allowable catch, while about 400 commercial fishermen are currently entitled to 51 percent of the harvest through a catch share system. A rebounding stock means recreational anglers are finding it easier to catch red snapper, and the fish they catch are bigger. With a quota set in total pounds, the only way the government is capable of controlling recreational harvest is to shorten the season.
“Based on current data and from reports by recreational fisherman themselves, it appears that we have a strongly recovering red snapper fishery with larger fish being taken by recreational anglers which tend to skew the data on the pounds of fish being caught by recreational fishermen,” said Tim Strickland, chairman of CCA’s Gulf Fisheries Committee. “The inequitable result being proposed is the shortest season ever for recreational fishermen in 2010.”
CCA has long called for reallocation of fisheries where appropriate based on an economic analysis to provide the greatest economic benefit to the country.
Tags: Gulf of Mexico, reallocation, red snapper, red snapper regulations
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Like a bad penny, a proposal to re-introduce fish traps as an alternative to longline gear in the Gulf grouper fishery turned up before the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council in December, outraging conservationists and fisheries management veterans who had fought to banish the destructive gear from the Gulf back in the 1990s. Fortunately for the fish and the anglers who care about them, the proposal died a quick death this week when the Council voted unanimously to remove the proposal from Amendment 32 to the gag/red grouper management plan that is going forward this year.
“This was truly an alarming detour into the scrap heap of failed fishery management schemes, but thankfully there are enough people who remember how much time, effort and money it took to finally get fish traps out of the Gulf to make sure they are never used again,” said Jeff Allen, chairman of CCA Florida. “However, if the environmental community is working with longliners to propose fish traps, we all need to remain vigilant because there is no telling what might come next.”
An unusual alliance of environmental groups and commercial longliners had originally explored the use of fish traps as a trade-off for the removal of equally destructive longline gear which is killing excessive numbers of threatened loggerhead sea turtles. One by one, other environmental groups in the effort came to oppose the use of the traps as more information on their destructiveness came to light. However, Environmental Defense Fund and several commercial fishing organizations such as the Southern Offshore Fishing Association, Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance and the Gulf Fishermen’s Association continued to press for the use of fish traps in return for reducing the longline fishing effort.
“Substituting one harmful gear for another harmful gear that has already been banned in U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic is completely unacceptable,” said Russell Nelson, CCA’s Gulf Fisheries consultant. “Dr. Roy Crabtree, NOAA regional administrator, noted enforcement officers’ testimony on the extreme difficulty of enforcing any regulations on fish traps and stated that those concerns were very legitimate factors in the Council’s decision.”
An army of CCA members and other concerned conservationists turned out at public hearings across the Gulf Coast in January to testify against the proposal and left no doubt that recreational anglers are committed to preventing the gear from ever being reintroduced back into the Gulf.
“The Council should be commended for slamming the door on this ill-conceived effort,” said Allen. “We hope this signals that future discussions will focus on finding ways to reduce destructive commercial fishing effort to the greatest extent possible.”
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CCA is the largest marine resource conservation group of its kind in the nation. With almost 100,000 members in 17 state chapters, CCA has been active in state, national and international fisheries management issues since 1977. Visit www.JoinCCA.org for more information.
Tags: fish trap, gulf council
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The Coastal Conservation Association, representing more than 80,000 members in state chapters along the Gulf Coast, has major concerns about several aspects of Amendment 32 dealing with new regulations to end overfishing for gag grouper.
According to the results of last year’s stock assessment developed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), it appears that reductions in harvest on the order of 75 percent may be considered for this fishery. Additionally, at the last meeting of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, the issue of allowing fish traps to be reintroduced into the commercial grouper fishery was added to the current round of public hearings as an alternative gear to reduce sea turtle mortality associated with bottom longline gear. CCA wants the fish trap issue removed from the amendment and destructive longline gear eliminated from the grouper fisheries
Fish traps were removed from the Gulf of Mexico in 2007 after years of controversy over their destructiveness and have also been outlawed in the Atlantic and state waters. This gear is “invisible” once deployed and ample evidence has been supplied by state and federal law enforcement agents to conclude that it is nearly impossible to observe the gear and enforce any escape gap or panel regulations. The traps have a high rate of loss and, once lost, they become ghost traps, filling with fish that die and attract other fish in a long-lasting cycle. The traps fish 24 hours a day and can out-compete other gears.
Further, the traps are not needed in the commercial fishery as a substitute for longline gear as ample effort exists in the vertical line (bandit or hook-and-line gear) sector to take the allowable catch. Allowing any use of fish traps in the Gulf will create conflicts and make it difficult to enforce their prohibition from state waters, the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary and South Atlantic waters.
There exists ample evidence of the destructive and uncontrollable nature of fish traps in the record of the Gulf Council’s previous deliberations that resulted in the banning of this gear. Nothing has changed since that time and the use of this gear should not even be considered.
CCA urges the Council and the NMFS to focus on alternatives that effectively reduce destructive commercial fishing effort to the greatest extent possible rather than searching for ways to perpetuate a marginal commercial fishery.
Regarding any proposed regulations to end overfishing of gag grouper, CCA requested five years ago that the Gulf Council develop formal allocations for grouper based on maximizing the value and benefits of this common property resource. The Council began an amendment to do this and formed action has been taken. Given the apparent necessity of future restrictions on gag harvest, we believe that it is absolutely necessary for the Council to finally include allocation of this resource in Amendment 32. The Gulf Council’s Grouper IFQ program allocates and grants exclusive right of access to more than 65 percent of all the Gulf red and gag grouper to a limited number of commercial interests. The magnitude of this giveaway of a public fishery is unprecedented. NMFS must stop enacting programs which subsidize marginal commercial fisheries while strangling the much more valuable recreational grouper fisheries.
CCA will develop a formal position on new quotas, size limits, bag limits and seasons for gag in the coming months and will bring these ideas back to the public hearings on this amendment. In the meantime, CCA urges the Council to act responsibly and not risk destroying the very valuable economic benefits that flow into the Gulf states and this nation from recreational fishing for grouper and other reef fish.
Tags: allocation, Amendment 32, fish traps, grouper, Gulf of Mexico
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The Coastal Conservation Association, representing more than 80,000 members in state chapters along the Gulf Coast, has been concerned over the use of bottom longline gear in the commercial Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish fishery for well over a decade.
Bottom longline gear is exceptionally destructive. It destroys bottom habitat and has a serious finfish bycatch problem. Its devastating impact was most recently highlighted by the loss of as much as 800,000 pounds of red snapper discarded dead annually by the longline fleet operating off the west coast of Florida. The gear has been prohibited from use inside of 50 fathoms in the western Gulf since 1990.
Recent research has revealed that bottom longline gear, along with longline gear set for sharks, is taking more than 20 times the number of sea turtles anticipated by the 2005 biological opinion required by the Endangered Species Act. The loss of more than 900 sea turtles a year to bottom longline gear is the most egregious affront to U.S. efforts to protect endangered sea turtles since the shrimp trawl mortalities were addressed more than 20 years ago with the implementation of turtle excluder devices (TEDs).
This mortality of sea turtles should be a source of serious concern to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Gulf Council, and all those involved in the management of this country’s marine resources.
None of the preferred options currently listed in the DEIS are likely to reduce turtle interactions to levels identified as acceptable by the most recent biological opinion. Additionally, recent discussions to evaluate the reintroduction of fish traps, which were banned as excessively destructive gear by the Gulf Council in 1996, as a substitute to longline gear are simply alarming. Rather than searching for ways to perpetuate a marginal commercial fishery, CCA urges the Council and the NMFS to focus on alternatives that effectively reduce destructive commercial fishing effort to the greatest extent possible.
Toward that end, it remains CCA’s position that bottom longline gear should be prohibited inside 50 fathoms as a permanent resolution to this problem. Such an action would achieve a 94 percent reduction from current levels of turtle takes to about 220 per three-year period.
There is no reasonable or rational argument for allowing the loss of endangered sea turtles to continue under the watch of these institutions charged with managing the valuable marine resources of the Gulf of Mexico.
Tags: grouper, Gulf of Mexico, longline gear, sea turtles
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Proposal to bring back outlawed gear stuns conservationists
An unusual alliance of environmental groups and commercial longliners is exploring the use of controversial fish traps in the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery, leaving long-time participants in federal fishery management issues surprised at the re-emergence of the highly destructive gear. Fish traps were banned by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council in 1996, but were not fully phased out of the Gulf until 2006.
“There are so many things we should be working on for the conservation of our marine resources, yet here we are with another attempt by the environmental community to keep commercial fishing operations in business at all costs,” said Pat Murray, president. “It is just baffling that fish traps are back in the discussion, especially when some of these same environmental groups are pushing to give away permanent harvesting rights to the commercial fishing industry through catch share programs. It is difficult to comprehend the ultimate goal of these efforts.”
A workshop on the use of fish traps is being sponsored next week in St. Petersburg by the environmental groups Oceana, The Ocean Conservancy and Environmental Defense Fund, and by commercial fishing organizations Southern Offshore Fishing Association, Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance and the Gulf Fishermen’s Association. Commercial longliners in the Gulf of Mexico are killing excessive numbers of threatened loggerhead sea turtles and the commercial longline fleet has requested the use of fish traps in return for reducing the longline fishing effort. The Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council has agreed to place the use of fish traps as an alternative in its proposals for Reef Fish Amendment 31.
“It should be abundantly clear that substituting one harmful gear for another harmful gear that has already been banned in U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic is completely unacceptable,” said Russell Nelson, CCA’s Gulf Fisheries consultant. “Instead of searching for ways to perpetuate these fisheries which are rife with problems, the focus should be on finding ways to reduce destructive commercial fishing effort to the greatest extent possible.”
Among the issues leading to the ban on fish traps in 1996 was the prevalence of lost and abandoned gear that continue to catch and kill untold numbers of fish and other marine life for years. In the South Atlantic region, when fish trappers were allowed to leave traps in the water the Florida Department of Natural Resources documented loss rates of 25, 63 and even 100 percent in some years. Managers also found that traps are capable of exerting more harvesting pressure than traditional hook and line gear because the traps are “fishing” for hours or days at a time.
Click HERE to see comments in opposition to fish traps prepared by CCA Florida.
Tags: destructive gear, fish traps, Gulf of Mexico, reef fish
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Anglers cite lack of faith in federal catch share management of red snapper, grouper
Faced with the unwelcome reality of having two popular recreational fisheries managed by a fundamentally flawed catch share system in the Gulf of Mexico, Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) has taken the rare step of not supporting Gulf state compliance with federal regulations for red snapper and grouper. The decision to support “non-concurrence” with federal regulations is a sign of growing dissatisfaction with federal management policies.
“We did not make this decision lightly, because concurrent regulations are clearly a positive for the proper conservation of most fisheries,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations committee. “I cannot recall many times when we have supported non-concurrence, but this is a sign of how little faith anglers have today in the federal government’s management of these fisheries.”
Catch share systems bestow a percentage of a public fishery resource to a select group of commercial fishermen, based on their catch history, to harvest for their own personal gain. CCA has acknowledged that such programs can be effective in purely commercial fisheries, but present serious problems for recreational anglers when applied to fisheries that have both commercial and recreational participation.
“We have seen the problems in the Gulf red snapper fishery that have developed since catch shares were implemented in 2005, and the lack of any effort to fix those issues,” said Brewer. “How can we ask the states to comply with federal regulations that are the product of a dysfunctional management scheme? In fact, CCA has filed a lawsuit to prevent a similar program from being implemented for Gulf grouper. We feel that we have to draw the line somewhere until the government addresses the concerns of recreational anglers.”
In a recent joint letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, the governors of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama joined CCA in its concern over the catch shares concept. In a powerful statement of the states’ apprehension in following a flawed federal program, the governors letter states, “Recreational fishing is an important activity in all of our states, and one that we would like to see continue to grow as a healthy activity for the public. However, we are concerned that NOAA policies could frustrate our ability to do that.”
“We see a major train wreck coming in the Gulf, and not just in these two fisheries,” said Brewer. “We don’t think the states should jump on board.”
Tags: catch share, grouper, Gulf of Mexico, non-concurrence, red snapper
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States unite to request feds better protect citizens’ access to public resources
In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, the governors of four Gulf States have outlined their concerns over the potential negative impacts of catch share programs on their states’ economies and how such programs could restrict citizens’ access to fisheries resources that should be shared by all. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley all signed on to the effort coordinated by Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) and the Center for Coastal Conservation (Center) to find a better system to balance the needs of the public.
“We have already seen the negative impacts from the Gulf red snapper catch share system and are concerned about negative impacts from the pending program for Gulf grouper,” the governors’ letter stated. “Creating an exclusive harvesting right for a small group of commercial fishermen inherently marginalizes other users who do not have the same access privileges. In purely commercial fisheries this effect can have both economic and management benefits. But when applied in mixed-use fisheries, recreational anglers are forced to focus their efforts in limited state waters or not participate in the fishery at all. Neither of these outcomes is desirable.”
Center for Coastal Conservation President Jeff Angers said, “This show of unity by the Gulf governors in federal fisheries management highlights growing concern that catch share programs that award fixed percentages of various fisheries to commercial fishers are a threat to the future of recreational angling and to the $24 billion it generates annually for the economies of the five Gulf States.”
“Recreational fishing is an important activity in all of our states, and one that we would like to see continue to grow as a healthy activity for the public. However, we are concerned that NOAA policies could frustrate our ability to do that,” the governors’ letter to Locke said.
CCA has filed a lawsuit in federal district court challenging the adoption and implementation of Amendment 29 to the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Management Plan that gives away a majority share of Gulf grouper to the commercial fishing industry through a catch share program. The Obama Administration has made implementation of catch share programs in federal fisheries a priority, and both CCA and the Center have been working at the state and federal level to oppose their use in fisheries that have a large and growing recreational component.
“Catch shares are a huge concern for recreational anglers, and the governors of the Gulf States obviously share those concerns,” said Patrick Murray, CCA executive vice president. “We are extremely grateful to these elected officials for taking such an extraordinary step to raise the visibility of this issue and protect their citizens’ access to public marine resources.”
Click HERE for a copy of the letter from the Gulf governors to Sec. Locke.
Tags: catch share, Gulf governors
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico, Catch Shares | No Comments »
