“This is a great day for conservation,” said Richen Brame, CCAAtlantic States Fisheries director. “Managers were very much in danger of increasing mortality at a time when the stock is declining, but they took the conserva- tive approach in light of all the uncer- tainty surrounding the stock today. They should be commended for refus- ing to take a path that could have ended in disaster.” Last February, conservationists were stunned when the ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board chose to ignore a host of significant concerns from scien- tists and enforcement officers about the health of the striped bass population, and instead directed its staff to draft a proposal to increase commercial har- vest. Anglers who remembered the dark years of the ’70s were alarmed that managers were attempting to ramp up commercial harvest even as anglers were seeing serious warning signs on the water. “CCA members, particularly in
Maine and New Hampshire, have said repeatedly they are not seeing striped bass in the abundance seen just a few years ago,” said Mac McKeever, presi- dent of CCA Maine. “Anglers in the northern reaches of the striped bass range are the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to the health of the striped bass population, and anglers here are not encountering anywhere near as many fish as they did just a few years ago. There is definitely reason to be concerned.”
Other warning signs pointing to a need for managers to take a cautious approach include declining trends in the striped bass Juvenile Abundance Index, “significant and unreported” poaching in the Exclusive Economic Zone, and the potentially devastating impact of Mycobacteriosis in Chesa- peake Bay, the primary striped bass spawning ground for the entire Atlan- tic Coast. Seventy percent of the fish sampled there had lesions associated with the disease and in aquaculture, Mycobacteriosis infections are virtually always fatal.
“Our members were especially motivated to contact their representa- tives on the ASMFC throughout this process and let them know this is no time to be talking about increasing har- vest of striped bass,” said Charles A. Witek, chairman of CCA Atlantic Fisheries Committee. “The problems facing striped bass today are far more complex than simple overfishing. Managers did the right thing by taking
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a precautionary approach to manage- ment. Striped bass are the crown jewel of ASMFC’s management successes and should be treated as such.”
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 cre- ate the best of all worlds for anglers and shrimpers. The analysis indicates that while shrimping effort is down 78 percent from the three-year average before Hurricane Katrina, the spawn- ing stock for brown and white shrimp is the highest ever, and the shrimp industry as a whole had a very prof- itable 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 see- ing today,” said Chester Brewer, chair- man of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “These are not unrelated events. Before the ruling, a significant percentage of ever 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 bene- fits.”
In 2007, Coastal Conservation Asso- ciation won a landmark decision when a federal district court judge ruled that NOAA Fisheries had violated the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conser- vation and Management Act by its con- tinuing failure to take timely and appropriate steps to rebuild red snap- per 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 fish- ing industry. “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 catch- ing big, valuable shrimp and anglers are seeing huge numbers of red snap- per. It’s been a hard fight to get here
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and now we have to make sure we stay on the path so everyone continues to reap the benefits.”
FLORIDA
Palm Beach County forms two CCA chapters
CCA Florida has formed two new chapters out of the old Palm Beach County chapter, dividing the county north and south. This represents a giant step forward for one of the lead- ing CCA chapters in the nation. Palm Beach County CCA has historically produced some of the most successful fundraisers and some of the best and most active leaders across the country. Members from both ends of the county voted together for the move and pledged to continue to support each other’s events as well as other local fishing organizations. The two chapters are even better equipped to represent local interests. If you would like to be more involved in advocating for local fishery access, now is a great time. Just renew your membership and contact us at
www.ccaflorida.org. The North Palm Beach Chapter held its first annual banquet at the Jupiter Beach Resort on November 6. South County’s first event is planned to be a “cocktails for a cause” recep- tion and auction, at a location to be announced soon. Local members are very excited about the opportunity to focus their efforts on the members in their closest geographic area. To find out how you can help, contact CCA’s regional direc- tor for both chapters, Scott Nichols at
Snichols@ccaflorida.org.
GEORGIA
Kids’ Fishing and Water Safety
TIDE
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