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 »
HOUSTON, TX – Following its meeting March 28-29 in Tampa, Florida, the Limited Access Privilege Program (LAPP) Advisory Panel to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is presenting a suite of options at the Gulf Council meeting next week to aid the struggling charter/for-hire industry and seem to lead inevitably to catch shares and sector separation in the recreational sector.
Discussions at the two-day AP meeting included a “days-at-sea” program for the charter for hire fleet and the allocation of an Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program for the 63-boat headboat fleet in the red snapper fishery. Each proposal would presumably reserve part of the recreational allocation for such boats and allow them to fish it throughout the year. The LAPP AP was originally tasked with looking at IFQ/catch share programs for the “other species in the reef fish management unit” across sectors, but was subsequently tasked with looking into pilot programs to give the for-hire fleet flexibility in red snapper fishing days in an effort to help the depressed economic status of the fleet.
“Development of these proposals was a fast, unexpected turn of events,” said Bill Bird, a CCA board member and panel participant. “It seemed to me that everyone in that room, including Council staff, knew where they wanted this to go before the meeting even started, despite CCA’s objections. Most of the details remain undefined, but it is difficult to understand how either program would work unless those boats get a specific allocation of the recreational quota. You can call it anything you want, but it looks and sounds like the first steps to sector separation and catch shares.”
From the start, CCA was concerned at the prospect of the AP turning to catch shares as a tool and it is clear that those concerns were well-founded.
“The assignment of the catch share approach to a pilot headboat program was out of left field and spun out of control at the meeting very quickly, even though no headboat operators are represented on the LAPP AP,” said Troy Williamson, CCA board member and panel participant. “It was a runaway train and CCA will certainly make the case at the Council to stop it in its tracks.”
CCA is opposed to both recreational catch shares and to splitting the recreational sector between private boat anglers and the charter/for-hire fleet. “Sector separation,” as it is known, and catch shares are both unpopular concepts with the vast majority of the recreational angling community.
“The days-at-sea program is being sold as a benefit for conservation, data collection and management, but all of those things can be achieved by means other than catch shares and sector separation,” said Bird. “Additionally, the Council could help the entire recreational sector and not just the charter and headboat operators by reallocating the red snapper fishery properly in the first place. In fact, the Council just decided at its February 2011 meeting to finally begin reviewing red snapper allocation and the existing red snapper IFQ program. To make this recommendation before that review has even started doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
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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: Catch Shares, Gulf red snapper, LAPP AP
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico, Catch Shares | 5 Comments »
