Posts Tagged ‘gulf council’
Sportsmen’s Caucus urges Council to step back from unpopular catch shares, sector separation
WASHINGTON, DC – In yet another sign of discontent over federal management of the nation’s marine fisheries, co-chairmen of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) have sent a letter to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council expressing the concerns of its membership over the concepts of catch share programs and sector separation. The bipartisan CSC is one of the largest and most effective caucuses in the US Congress with more than 300 members representing almost all 50 states.
“As leaders of the Caucus, we are writing to report that continued consideration and promotion of the management concepts known as sector separation and catch shares by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council are causing concern among our members,” CSC co-chairmen Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and Mike Ross (D-Ark.) state in the letter. “More specifically, we have serious concerns about the current proposal to further subdivide the recreational fishing allocation by awarding the charter boats with their own guaranteed allocation.”
The CSC goes on to question the process the Gulf Council is using to develop and implement sector separation and catch share programs, and points out that the Council first needs better scientific data, additional economic evaluations and demographic studies to assess how mixed used fisheries would best be reallocated.
“Even if such reallocation issues were analyzed and modified, taking a portion of the allocation from the recreational sector for the proposed charter boat sector has the potential to decrease the funding available for state fisheries management,” the CSC states. “The members of the Caucus are well acquainted with the successes of state-based conservation, which is almost entirely guided and funded by sportsmen and the money they spend on fishing and hunting. The sportsmen’s ethic of stewardship is at the heart of the American System of Conservation Funding and is built, in part, on the foundation of individual anglers’ recreational fishing activities.”
The letter from the CSC is yet another unequivocal message from elected officials to federal fishery managers in opposition to sector separation and catch share programs. In 2009, four Gulf state governors wrote a letter stating their opposition to catch shares and Congress has passed amendments cutting funding for such programs.
“We hope the members of the Gulf Council are listening because the message from Governors, Congressmen, and the recreational angling community is quite clear – privatizing public wildlife resources through sector separation and catch shares is the wrong direction,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of Coastal Conservation Association’s National Government Relations Committee. “If the Council and NOAA Fisheries continue to ignore this message, then that should be interpreted as yet more evidence that the federal management system is broken and Congress should engage to either rein in a federal agency that has lost its way or explore a completely new paradigm for managing the nation’s marine resources.” To see the full letter from the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, click HERE.
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Tags: Catch Shares, gulf council, reallocation, sector separation
Posted in CCA Federal Fisheries, CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
Anglers have high hopes for debate over value of artificial structure
A motion made at the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council February meeting in Mobile, Alabama, could be the first step to protecting what has been regarded as the largest man-made reef in the world – the vast forest of energy-related structures in the offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Bob Shipp’s request to have Council staff clarify the definition of what qualifies as artificial structure could pave the way for rigs and other vital reefs to be classified as Essential Fish Habitat.
“For anglers who have been greatly concerned about the impact of this Administration’s directive to summarily remove all non-producing energy structures, this is a very welcome development,” said Pat Murray, president of Coastal Conservation Association. “This is a chance for the Gulf Council and NOAA Fisheries to take a stand to protect that habitat, and we are grateful to Dr. Shipp for presenting this opportunity.”
In a misdirected response to the Gulf oil spill, the U.S. Department of Interior issued a directive in October of 2010 ordering that all non-producing rigs be plugged and any remaining structure removed within five years of the issuance of that directive. There are approximately 3,500 offshore structures in the Gulf of Mexico and the directive, known as the Idle Iron Policy, would immediately impact roughly 650 structures that have not produced oil or gas within five years of the directive issue date of Oct. 15, 2010.
“Anglers have already noted with alarm the disappearance of some rigs that have been in place for years – sometimes decades – that provided the base for flourishing ecosystems,” said Murray. “It is a completely avoidable tragedy, and we hope that the Council and NOAA Fisheries will do what it can to halt this needless destruction.”
Sen. David Vitter (R-La) and Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-Ms) have filed legislation that would prevent rigs and other structures from being summarily removed from the Gulf of Mexico, but both bills face a difficult road through the current Congress. A decision by NOAA Fisheries to declare artificial structures Essential Fish Habitat would be a significant addition to legislative efforts.
In 2009, Dr. Shipp and Stephen Bortone published a paper on the importance of artificial habitat on the management of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico which credits the deployment of energy structures in the mid-20th century for greatly increasing the harvest potential of red snapper.
“If the habitat limitation hypothesis is correct, and I believe it is, then it would be necessary to maintain or even increase the amount of artificial habitat in the northern Gulf of Mexico to keep pace with fishing pressure,” said Dr. Shipp. “Taking it out makes no sense whatsoever.”
To learn more about this issue, visit the Rigs to Reefs page on the CCA website, www.JoinCCA.org.
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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. For more information visit the CCA Newsroom at www.JoinCCA.org.
Tags: artificial habitat, artificial reefs, gulf council, rigs to reefs
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
As hard as it might be to believe, management of the Gulf red snapper fishery reached a new level of frustration this week. At its meeting in Mobile, the Gulf Council announced that the overall quota of red snapper harvest will be increased, but the 2012 season will likely be the shortest ever, perhaps no more than 40 days.
Why?
Well, the fishery is rebounding beyond all hopes and expectations. It’s a smashing success story by almost any definition…. except the one used by NOAA Fisheries. There are more red snapper out there than anyone can explain, and the fish are much bigger than anyone thought they would be at this point in the rebuilding plan. Anglers are catching big, fat red snapper so fast we are reaching our quota even before the meager allotment of days set for our season elapses. The only answer NOAA Fisheries has to offer is to keep cutting days off our season so that anglers stay within their limits.
You would think that someone would stop to question if this is what they ought to be doing and, admirably, some Gulf Council members are doing just that. It is more than past time to ponder the lunacy of closing a highly prized fishery for at least 325 days – one that appears to have more fish in it than at any time in recent memory. Especially since Council staffers are looking for “something radical” to exert even more control in the future – something like tags or one-fish bag limits, according to Roy Crabtree, NOAA regional administrator. And, that is not what we need.
Rather than searching for the next level of control, there are better questions to ask here: Is this really how we want to manage our fisheries? What does success look like? What exactly is the goal here?
Somewhere along the way, the idea of managing the oceans like ordered aquariums came into the equation. Federal law currently compels managers to act in ways that seem designed to drive recreational anglers right off the water, and managers seems defiantly content to do so. That kind of rote pursuit of a goal, regardless of the consequences, is what is driving anglers into the streets to protest.
There is nothing wrong with stepping back and asking if this is the right path – if this is what anyone could possibly have had in mind when Magnuson-Stevens was reauthorized in 2006. That is not what’s happening. To the contrary, managers are thinking up even more ways to gain greater and greater control to count every fish and cap every fishery, without ever stopping to wonder if it is feasible or even if it is the right thing to do.
As evidenced by yet another unbelievable Gulf Council meeting, federal fisheries management doesn’t need a Band-Aid or even “radical” surgery.
It needs a completely new vision.
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Tags: gulf council, Magnuson-Stevens Act, red snapper
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
Panel continues to push recreational-based catch share agenda
In a letter to the chairman of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, Coastal Conservation Association is asking the Council to reject the recommendations of the Limited Access Privilege Program Advisory Panel (LAPP AP) and abandon consideration of sector separation and catch share experiments in Gulf reef fish fisheries.
“The recreational anglers who participated in this panel have been greatly frustrated with Council-generated directives and LAPP AP agenda templates that were predetermined to achieve a particular outcome,” wrote Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “In the end, the panel has come up with a result that is opposed by almost the entire Gulf of Mexico for-hire sector, as well as the private boat angling sector.”
The LAPP AP was originally tasked by the Gulf Council with looking at Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ)/catch share programs for the “other species in the reef fish management unit” across sectors, but its scope was subsequently broadened significantly. Its focus evolved to include pilot programs to give a portion of the recreational red snapper quota to the for-hire fleet under a concept known as sector separation, which breaks the recreational sector into private boat anglers and charter/for-hire businesses.
“At the core of the report from the LAPP AP is the issue of taking red snapper quota away from the overall recreational sector to allow a tiny segment of the fishery to increase its economic viability,” says Brewer. “We see no effort by the Council to increase the financial viability of the entire fishery by maximizing the economic value available. NOAA Fisheries’ own analysis shows that the only way the Council will increase the number of days the for-hire vessels can fish for red snapper will be by taking fish away from the millions of private anglers along the Gulf Coast.”
CCA is asking the Council to focus instead on management measures such as completing the five-year review of the red snapper IFQ program, along with a review of red snapper allocation and the exploration of methods to exchange IFQ shares across sectors, all of which are mandated by the NOAA Catch Shares Policy. Similarly the Council should proceed with the timely completion of Amendment 28 and reallocate grouper between the recreational and commercial sector in order to create jobs and increased economic value from this fishery as well.
“We hope that the Council will recognize the extreme disconnect between the conclusions reached by this predisposed AP and the sentiments of the vast angling public,” says Brewer. “We urge the Council to abandon consideration of an unpopular and unnecessary program that caters to a tiny fragment of the fishery and instead focus on management measures that will create the greatest economic, conservation and social benefits.”
Click HERE for a copy of the CCA letter to the Gulf Council.
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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. For more information visit the CCA Newsroom at www.JoinCCA.org.
Tags: gulf council, LAPP AP, red snapper, sector separation
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico, Catch Shares | 6 Comments »
Even Gulf commercial fishermen say catch share concept fails
KEY WEST, FL – Recreational anglers apparently are not the only ones who object to the use of catch share programs in the Gulf of Mexico. During the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting this week in Florida, commercial grouper fishermen pointed out serious flaws in the catch share concept that are forcing them to discard an estimated 700,000 to 1 million pounds of dead red snapper annually. Coastal Conservation Association is calling for an accelerated review of both the commercial red snapper and grouper catch share plans by the Gulf Council.
“A lot of the grouper guys say the concept is not working and they are throwing half their fish away. They can’t get shares to keep the red snapper they catch while they are fishing for grouper, and so they are asking for the commercial red snapper program to sunset and just go away,” said Dr. Russell Nelson, CCA’s Gulf Fisheries consultant. “CCA pointed out that this kind of waste was a likely result when the Council was discussing the grouper catch share program in 2009, but those concerns were ignored.”
According to public comments to the Gulf Council by Bob Spaeth of the Southern Offshore Fisheries Association, a survey of commercial grouper fishermen revealed that a majority felt they were worse off after their Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program went into effect. Furthermore, it appears that the commercial grouper sector may have caught the majority of its shares for the entire year already, meaning that very few grouper will be landed in last quarter of the year. That prompted a request from the commercial sector that they be allowed to catch some of next year’s quota this year.
“Again, this shows that catch share programs pose more problems than solutions,” said CCA’s Chester Brewer, chairman of the National Government Relations Committee. “The idea may be compelling on paper to some, but when you put it into practice and factor in human nature, all the economic models fall apart. These ideas are sold as one-size fits all solutions, but there are inherent, fundamental flaws that are unavoidable.”
As the debate flared over commercial catch share programs, the Gulf Council tried to sidestep controversy over the appointment of a Headboat IFQ Advisory Panel that was originally intended to explore separating headboats from the recreational sector and giving them their own shares of red snapper in yet another catch share program. In a thinly veiled attempt to deflect mounting criticism over the panel, the Council elected to rename it the Ad Hoc Headboat Advisory Panel and broaden its scope to examine all things important to the headboat industry, not just sector separation and catch shares.
“If commercial boats and recreational anglers don’t favor catch shares, it is hard to see why NOAA Fisheries continues to promote them. They don’t make economic sense or conservation sense,” said Nelson. “Unfortunately, there are financial incentives for Councils to implement catch share programs and so these concepts keep hanging around even though very few people are in favor of them.”
CCA has encouraged members and all recreational anglers to contact the Gulf Council at info@gulfcouncil.org to urge the rejection of sector separation and catch shares in recreational fisheries.
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Tags: Catch Shares, grouper IFQ, gulf council, red snapper IFQ
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico, Catch Shares | No Comments »
Federal insistence on catch shares for headboats outrages anglers
NOAA ignores overwhelming opposition, proceeds with controversial program
In spite of opposition from governors, Congress and the vast majority of recreational anglers, NOAA Fisheries has unveiled a proposal for the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council to take red snapper from the private boat angling sector and give them away in a catch share program. This latest affront to anglers is outlined as an item on the Gulf Council’s June agenda calling for a closed-door session to appoint an advisory panel to make recommendations on a new headboat Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program.
“It is infuriating that NOAA Fisheries is disregarding the very clear messages that have been delivered on catch shares and their impact on recreational anglers,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “Four Gulf state governors signed a letter in 2009 warning about the negative impacts of catch shares on recreational angling. The Jones Amendment barring any NOAA funds from being used to implement new catch share programs was approved by Congress just a few weeks ago. Yet, somehow, NOAA Fisheries believes it is OK to proceed with a closed-door session to figure out how to do a new catch share program. This is an agency that seems almost completely disconnected.”
Catch share systems bestow a percentage of a public fishery resource to a select group of fishermen to harvest. The commercial entities pay nothing back to the public for this right to harvest a public resource and Coastal Conservation Association has contended that these programs ignore the participation and beneficial economic impacts of recreational fishing. According to a presentation by NOAA Fisheries to the Gulf Council in April 2011, splitting the recreational sector and implementing a catch share program for charter/for-hire boats could shorten the private boat recreational red snapper season by as much as 20 percent. CCA is opposed to sector separation and filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 2009 over the Gulf grouper catch share program in a case that continues to make its way through federal district court.
“NOAA has funded economic studies that show the vast majority of the value of Gulf reef fish fisheries is in the private recreational boat sector,” said Brewer. “Why would they insist on going down a path that discourages the most valuable part of this fishery? When you combine the public outcry with the economic data, it appears that NOAA Fisheries is intent on doing the wrong things to manage this fishery. It defies logic and common sense.”
In response to the closed-door session to appoint an IFQ advisory panel, Gulf Council member Ed Sapp has requested clarification from NOAA Counsel on the Jones Amendment that prohibits NOAA from expending funds to implement new catch share programs.
“I’ve already received numerous phone calls from fishermen who believe NOAA and the Gulf Council are operating out of line,” he said. “I feel that it is vitally important that we have these public discussions before we proceed with any new catch share related issues.”
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Tags: Catch Shares, gulf council, headboats, IFQ
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico, Catch Shares | 1 Comment »
Snapper and shrimp booming in the Gulf
A report to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council on shrimp trawl effort at the Council’s meeting in October indicates that a variety of factors are combining to create the best of all worlds for anglers and the Gulf. The analysis indicates that while shrimping effort is down 78 percent from the three-year average before Hurricane Katrina, the spawning stock for brown and white shrimp is the highest ever and the shrimp industry as a whole had a very profitable year last year.
“At the same time, red snapper stocks are rebounding nicely, with many anglers saying they have never seen as many snapper as they are seeing today,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “These are not unrelated events. Before the ruling, a significant percentage of every year class of red snapper died in shrimp trawls when they were just a few inches long. We have fought NOAA Fisheries and the shrimp industry to get to this point for more than two decades, but when the resource is healthy, everyone benefits.”
In 2007, Coastal Conservation Association won a landmark decision when a federal district court judge ruled that NOAA Fisheries had violated the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act by its continuing failure to take timely and appropriate steps to rebuild red snapper stocks in the Gulf of Mexico or to regulate the harm to red snapper caused by shrimp fishing. The judge’s ruling overturned a 2005 rebuilding plan for red snapper because it failed to address and regulate the shrimp fishing industry. While the 2005 hurricane season, a slowing economy, and high fuel prices reduced shrimping effort markedly, regulations enacted as a result of the CCA lawsuit have held the line to keep wasteful bycatch under control.
“The result of that lawsuit was the most significant bycatch reduction measures ever imposed on the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fleet, which set the foundation for the steady recovery of Gulf red snapper stocks that we are seeing today,” said Russell Nelson, CCA’s Gulf Fisheries consultant. “The shrimp industry is finally causing less damage, and yet shrimpers are catching big, valuable shrimp and anglers are seeing huge numbers of red snapper. It’s been a hard fight to get here and now we have to make sure we stay on the path so everyone continues to reap the benefits.”
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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. For more information visit the CCA Newsroom at www.JoinCCA.org.
Tags: bycatch reduction, gulf council, red snapper
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
Recreational appointments shift Gulf Council closer to balance
The 2010 regional fishery management council appointments released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Commerce gave an indication that federal officials are paying attention to the concerns of recreational anglers. One of the key issues voiced by anglers at the Recreational Fishing Summit hosted by NOAA Fisheries in April was a need for balanced representation on the councils, and appointments made to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council yesterday are a solid step in the right direction.
“I think everyone who attended the summit made it clear that its ultimate success would be determined by what steps NOAA Fisheries took as a result,” said Pat Murray, CCA president. “The appointments to the Gulf Council are a good indication that federal managers are acting on the recommendations they heard from the recreational angling community at the summit.”
Each year NOAA’s Fisheries Service solicits nominations from the governors of fishing states, and oversees the annual appointment process. The Secretary of Commerce must select council members from the list of nominees provided by the governors. The Gulf Council includes members from the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, and the appointees for 2010 fill obligatory seats for Texas and Mississippi and one at-large seat.
“There is still work to do on the other regional management Councils to get them closer to balanced representation for anglers, but the announcement yesterday is good progress in the Gulf,” said Murray. “NOAA Fisheries has clearly stated that they intend to forge a new relationship with the recreational angling community, and this indication of that effort is positive.”
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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: council appointment, Fishery management councils, gulf council
Posted in CCA Federal Fisheries, CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
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
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
