Posts Tagged ‘Amendment 29’
Environmental Defense Fund intervenes to thwart CCA catch share lawsuit
FORT MYERS, FL – Seeking to defend a controversial catch share program for Gulf grouper, the Environmental Defense Fund has been allowed to intervene in a lawsuit filed by Coastal Conservation Association in federal district court that challenges the adoption and implementation of Amendment 29 to the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Management Plan.
“This was not wholly unexpected. After all, EDF has made a considerable investment in its efforts to enact catch share programs in fisheries throughout America so this lawsuit is clearly a threat to their program,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of the CCA National Government Relations Committee. “The intervention of EDF simply clarifies what is at stake for recreational fishermen, not just in the Gulf of Mexico, but everywhere in the country.”
Amendment 29 gives away a majority share of Gulf grouper to the commercial fishing industry through a catch share program that has been heavily promoted by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). CCA filed the lawsuit in September of 2009 seeking to overturn the catch share program and force the federal government to consider the impacts of such action on other participants in the fishery.
Catch share systems bestow a percentage of a public fishery resource to a select group of commercial fishermen 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.
“As we have seen with the red snapper catch share program, the stakes for recreational anglers are very high in this lawsuit. It continues to surprise me the extent to which the environmental community seems willing to go to keep commercial fishing operations in business at all costs,” said Brewer. “Giving away permanent harvesting rights to the commercial fishing industry through catch share programs is a threat to the future of recreational angling and we are completely committed to seeing this lawsuit through to a successful conclusion. Anglers have too much to lose.”
Tags: Amendment 29, catch share, EDF, lawsuit
Posted in CCA Federal Fisheries, Catch Shares | 2 Comments »
“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
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico, Catch Shares | No Comments »
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
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico, Catch Shares | No Comments »
