‘CCA Gulf of Mexico’ Articles
Gulf of Mexico fisheries and marine resource conservation issues.
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
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Decision on Gulf amberjack shows federal management on brink of breakdown
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) continued its bizarre history of biased management regarding Gulf amberjack when it announced this week that the recreational season for the popular offshore species will close on October 24 due to the recreational sector overfishing its quota. This announcement comes barely two years after the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council arbitrarily shifted a significant portion of recreational allocation to the commercial sector
“There is no way to defend what the Council has done with the management of amberjack. It borders on outright disregard for the recreational sector,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of the Coastal Conservation Associations National Government Relations Committee. “Combined with what is happening with Gulf red snapper and the commercial catch share plan for Gulf grouper, this latest announcement gives recreational anglers no reason to have any faith in the federal management of recreational fisheries.”
In 2007, the Council declared that Gulf greater amberjack were overfished, yet increased the commercial share of the fishery while reducing the recreational bag limit to one and increasing the size limit to 30 inches. The recreational restrictions were implemented despite the fact that unchecked commercial overfishing since 1990 was the primary cause of problems in the fishery – see Recreational Fishery Hijacked, CCA Press Release, September 10, 2007.
“The reduction in amberjack recreational allocation in 2007 from 84 percent to 71 percent has to be the most egregious allocation shift ever enacted by the Gulf Council,” said Ted Forsgren, executive director of CCA Florida. “Anglers were punished for supporting conservation measures and the commercial industry was rewarded for fishing over its quota. The change in catch level was a direct result of NMFS’ failure to enact adequate measures to control commercial take and failure to ever enforce the adopted allocation. We are feeling the full effects of those failures today with a closed recreational season.”
“If the Council had left the allocation where it was in 2007, and where it rightfully should have been, recreational anglers would not have been over their quota as of the end of August, and likely would not have gone over even by year’s end,” said Dr. Russell Nelson, CCA Gulf Fisheries consultant. “This is a case where an unwarranted allocation shift from recreational to commercial two years ago is shutting down our season, even though we are not the root cause of the problem.”
Adding to the frustration of anglers is the fact that last year’s recreational harvest was under the quota, but that underage is not being taken into account this year. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, catch overages and underages from previous years may be calculated in the following year’s harvest limits, but doing so is not mandatory. In the case of Gulf red snapper, however, two years of recreational overages will result in a dramatically shortened season in 2010.
“The one-sidedness of federal fisheries management is at a level that makes it almost impossible to believe recreational interests will ever be considered in any meaningful way,” said Brewer. “No fishery has ever been overfished by recreational angling alone, and any number of economic studies indicates that the recreational sector is by far the most valuable part of our marine fisheries. And yet, fishery after fishery is closing down for anglers while the Councils bend over backwards to keep the longlines and nets in the water. In the eyes of many recreational anglers, the federal management system is on the edge of a total breakdown.”
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“Fundamentally flawed” catch share program a threat to angling
HOUSTON, TX – Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) has filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Fort Myers, Florida, challenging the adoption and implementation of Amendment 29 to the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Management Plan approved by United States Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke on August 30. Amendment 29 gives away a majority share of Gulf grouper to the commercial fishing industry through a catch share program.
“CCA has stated from the beginning that this management action is fundamentally flawed,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of the CCA National Government Relations Committee. “In moving forward with Amendment 29, the federal government has disregarded the multiple provisions in the Magnuson Stevens Act designed to govern the impacts of such action on other participants in the fishery. The only ones considered in this amendment are the commercial fishermen.”
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. The commercial entities pay nothing back to the public for the permanent property right to harvest a public resource, but catch share systems are nonetheless being emphasized in federal fisheries as a way to reduce overcapacity and improve economic efficiency in the commercial sector. CCA has contended that in fisheries where there is a large and growing recreational sector, exclusive fishing rights proposals maximize benefits to the commercial fishing industry while ignoring the participation and beneficial economic impacts of recreational fishing.
“In more than 30 years of practice in fisheries law, I have not seen a more arbitrary action than this one,” said Robert G. Hayes, CCA general counsel. CCA has asked for an expedited hearing and expects the government to answer the lawsuit within the next 60 days. “We are going to proceed as quickly as the court will allow to prevent the implementation of this egregious decision.”
Click HERE to see official comments CCA submitted to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council on Amendment 29 in June 2009.
Tags: Amendment 29, catch share, Gulf grouper
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Approval of grouper giveaway pushes recreational anglers to the brink
United States Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke has approved Amendment 29 to the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Management Plan, giving away a majority share of Gulf grouper to the commercial fishing industry in spite of vigorous opposition from Coastal Conservation Association (CCA). CCA had delineated several fatal flaws contained within Amendment 29, including its failure to comply with federal law, its myopic focus on the commercial sector and the complete exclusion of recreational concerns, and its disregard for recent critical developments within the commercial sector itself.
“This Amendment fails first and foremost because there is no consideration of any component of the fishery other than the directed commercial fishermen and their related infrastructure,” said Matthew Paxton, CCA federal lobbyist. “The entire process assumes participation only by the commercial industry without any basis for such determination.”
CCA cited three specific recent developments that cast considerable doubt on the decision process leading up to this amendment and its future viability: the discovery of a high bycatch of listed sea turtles by bottom longliners in the grouper fishery; a new gag grouper assessment which could trigger a significant reduction in the allowed harvest in the fishery, and the emerging economic analyses on the contribution of the recreational angling sector to the economies of Gulf states.
“This amendment should have been rejected by the Secretary and returned to the Gulf Council for further consideration. The interim allocation in Amendment 29 was developed without supplying the economic impact analysis that is required by federal law,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “By allowing this amendment to proceed, federal managers have all but declared that recreational angling is not relevant to them and that sets a dangerous precedent for this new Administration. This failure to adhere to commonly accepted practices of good policy formation leaves us no choice but to pursue every means available to reverse this decision.”
Click here for CCA’s official comments submitted on Amendment 29 to the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Management Plan.
Tags: Amendment 29, catch share, Gulf grouper
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Controversial paper accomplished goal by shining light on red snapper management failures
At a Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting this week in Orange Beach, Alabama, CCA Gulf Fisheries Consultant Dr. Russell Nelson elaborated on a controversial discussion document designed to spark debate on the issue of catch share programs and their impact on the recreational Gulf red snapper fishery. His presentation on the Free Market Approach to Gulf Red Snapper demonstrated to both fishery managers and the angling public how unfair the current management system is to anglers and how extreme the impacts could be.
“The intent was to create a platform that ensures recreational anglers are not left out of the debate and out of the fishery,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “Even though the recommendations will never be implemented, CCA developed this discussion document to force managers to consider the lengths they would have to go to create a level playing field for recreational anglers under the current system. As it stands now, recreational anglers do not have access to 51 percent of the red snapper harvest. A handful of commercial fishers are profiting from the exclusive right to this public resource while hundreds of thousands of recreational anglers are left on the dock with shortened seasons and shrinking bag limits.”
CCA offered the Free Market Approach to Gulf Red Snapper to the Gulf Council in April as a concept document to challenge a failed management paradigm that now threatens recreational participation in the snapper fishery. The document presented a completely out-of-the-box approach to management of red snapper based wholly on a free-market system rather than an unfair sector allocation.
“Recreational anglers shouldn’t be forced to even consider options like buying access to a public resource that has been given away to industrial harvesters, but that’s where the Administration’s red snapper catch share program is going to leave us if we don’t create the debate and find a workable alternative,” said Brewer. “The public needs to realize how unfair this situation really is.”
“This discussion document was created to be very broad and very fluid, and clearly it has gotten us to where we are now with this debate. With the creation of the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Task Force on Catch Shares and the Limited Access Privilege Program Advisory Panel, it is clear this issue is finally starting to get some attention,” said Nelson.
Tags: catch share, red snapper
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