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cation during the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting in August, citing a suggestion from the Council’s own Scup Monitoring Com- mittee. Commercial fishing interests immediately objected to revisiting the allocation issue and a motion recom- mending that the National Marine Fisheries Service conduct an econom- ic study to determine the optimum allocation was indefinitely tabled. At the request of one Council member, however, the matter was finally referred to a Council committee for further consideration. “For years, CCA has made the


rebuilding of depleted stocks such as scup our first priority. Now, with the stock at 170 percent of target levels, it is time to assure that the public has ade- quate access to this public resource, and that the great majority of the fish aren’t reserved for the private profit of a handful of individuals,” said Charles A. Witek, chairman of CCA’s Atlantic States Fisheries Committee. “The lop- sided allocation, which grants the pub- lic a mere 22 percent of overall landings, is a travesty that must be remedied.” “This is the first time that I can recall


a fishery management council seeking economic information to determine the allocation for a fishery,” said Brad Gentner, president of Gentner Con- sulting Group which conducts econom- ic studies of various marine fisheries. “We have often produced economic studies for various clients, including CCA, to make cases for reallocation, but this is dramatic shift for a Council to begin this process on its own.”


Recreational sector stands united against sector separation


If the public comment period at the Sector Separation Workshop hosted by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is any indication, recreational anglers are united against any proposal to separate the recreational sector into for-hire/charter and private boat angler categories. The three-day workshop was put on by the Gulf Council ostensibly to help managers and stakeholders gain a better understanding of sector separa- tion as a proposed management tool for recreational fisheries. “CCA is opposed to sector separa- tion simply because it makes recre- ational anglers compete against each other at a time when there seem to be fewer and fewer opportunities for anglers to pursue fish offshore,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Com-


TIDE www.joincca.org 53


mittee. “There would be no desire for sector separation if we had adequate allocation for these fisheries in the first place, and the allocation problem is not going to be fixed through a manage- ment scheme that slices up the recre- ational sector.” As it stands now, fisheries managers divide harvest quotas between com- mercial boats and recreational anglers. Under Sector Separation, managers would assign quotas to commercial boats, private boat anglers and char- ter/for-hire boats. In testimony sub- mitted to the Gulf Council, CCA focused on four key points in opposing sector separation: The creation of imbalances in distri- bution of fish among anglers fishing from private boats and those fishing on charter vessels; The creation of deep political con- flicts within states as decision-makers grapple with how to spread fishing opportunities between private and charter sectors;


The challenges state fisheries direc- tors will have when determining how Sector Separation will influence the growth in licensed anglers and fishing opportunities in their states; Shorter public season for most off


shore fishing. Private boat anglers will often be unable to pursue many species unless they pay a charter/for- hire vessel. “Sector separation will only create additional divisiveness among users and will further detract from the pub- lic’s ability to access these important nat- ural resources,” said Brewer. “We sin- cerely hope that Council members are listening to the overwhelming majority of recreational anglers who believe that this is not a good management tool for our sector. There is a long list of serious problems that need to be resolved before the Council should even consider taking on this kind of diversion.”


Conservationists praise ASMFC decision on striped bass


After months of intense debate, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Com- mission (ASMFC) announced that it has denied a proposal to increase the commercial harvest of striped bass by up to 50 percent. Public sentiment has run intensely against the proposal from the moment it was introduced last February, as recreational anglers up and down the East Coast flooded their ASMFC representatives with calls to deny the proposal.


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