Casting Comments cont. from page 6
CCAsupports con- tinued conservation measures and calls on NOAAFisheries to close the Gulf of Mexico to longline fishing between April and October to provide protection to spawning bluefin, as well as blue and white marlin and other species.
2010 CITES publicity, the European
Community appears willing to autho- rize and enforce strong monitoring and enforcement activities to keep harvest- ing fleets under control. An ESA action won’t reach to the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean where the problems occur. ESA action would only pay lip service and would do nothing to solve the fisheries management problems. Unilateral regulations on U.S. anglers would at most reduce east Atlantic stock mortality by the 4 to 5 percent that currently occurs in U.S. waters. CCA supports continued and in-
creasing conservation measures and calls on NOAA Fisheries to close the Gulf of Mexico to longline fishing between April and October to provide complete protection to spawning blue- fin, as well as blue and white marlin and other species taken and killed as bycatch in this fishery. We favor stronger U.S. efforts at ICCAT to close the Mediterranean Sea to all purse seine fishing for bluefin to protect the eastern spawning stock. However, CCA does not support an ESA listing for Atlantic bluefin.
Dolphin, wahoo and cobia have never even had an assessment and there are no indications of trouble, but dramatic reductions are on the table as an ultra- conservative way to comply with the provision to end overfishing. The painfully ironic part to this whole sordid tale is that while Gov. Patrick tries to roll back the New England provisions to preserve New England commercial fishermen, those same provisions are wreaking havoc in Florida, for example, where recre- ational fishing expenditures dwarf the vaunted economic might of the Massa- chusetts commercial sector. In Florida, recreational expenditures are calculated at $17.6 billion and support $15.1 bil- lion in sales and 138,754 jobs. Even in
Recreational fisheries that are far more valu- able to the country are being penalized and discouraged by the laws that were created to correct the sins of the commercial sector.
Massachusetts, recreational anglers are not an insignificant part of the econom- ic picture, spending $817.6 million dol- lars on trip and annual expenditures, supporting $850.5 million in sales and supporting 6,446 jobs. There is a chance that Gov. Patrick,
Dr. Russell Nelson is CCA’s Gulf of Mexico Fishery Consultant, a member of the U.S. Advisory Committee to the International Commission for Conser- vation of Atlantic Tunas, Chief Scientist for The Billfish Foundation, and a 20-year vet- eran of marine fisheries conservation, man- agement and research.
TIDE
in order to preserve the commercial sec- tor that decimated the stocks in the first place, will find some success. Like so many before him, he may actually be able to apply the same political pres- sure that provoked those provisions in Magnuson so that his fishing industry can keep fishing. That would be truly ironic, since recreational fisheries that are far more valuable to the country are being penalized and discouraged by the laws that were created to correct the sins of the commercial sector. Sadly, there are not many indications that anyone in federal fisheries man- agement is serious about changing the way this country elects to manage its marine resources either. Gov. Patrick is right to express his
“extraordinary frustration” with federal fisheries management. Ironically enough, I’m frustrated too.
www.joincca.org
CCA NATIONAL 6919 Portwest Dr., Suite 100 Houston, Texas 77024 713-626-4234 Fax 713-626-5852
www.JoinCCA.org TEXAS
6919 Portwest Dr., Suite 100 Houston, TX 77024 713-626-4222 Fax 713-961-3801
www.ccatexas.org LOUISIANA
P.O.Box 86458, Baton Rouge, LA 70879 225-952-9200 Fax 225-952-9204
www.ccalouisiana.com MISSISSIPPI 109 South 27th Avenue Suite 219 Hattiesburg, MS 39401 601-268-5534 Fax 601-268-9453
www.ccamississippi.org ALABAMA
P.O.Box 16987
Mobile, AL 36616
251-478-3474 Fax 251-476-5214
www.cca-alabama.org FLORIDA
P.O.Box 568886 Orlando, FL 32856-8886 407-854-7002 Fax 407-854-1766
www.ccaflorida.org GEORGIA 2807-A Roger Lacey Ave. Savannah, GA 31404 912-927-0280 Fax 912-927-7764
www.ccaga.org SOUTH CAROLINA 3037B McNaughton Drive Columbia, SC 29223 803-865-4164 Fax 803-865-5104
www.ccasouthcarolina.com NORTH CAROLINA 4809 Hargrove Rd., Ste 123 Raleigh, NC 27616 919-781-3474 Fax 919-781-3475
www.ccanc.org VIRGINIA 11620 Tyshire Terrace Providence Forge,VA23140
www.ccavirginia.org 840-966-5654 MARYLAND 701 Melvin Avenue, Suite B Annapolis, MD 21401 888-758-6580 Fax 410-280-1432
www.ccamd.org NEW YORK P.O. Box 1118, West Babylon, NY 11074 917-256-1805
www.ccany.org CONNECTICUT 6919 Portwest Dr., Suite 100 Houston, TX 77024 1-800-201-3474 Fax 713-626-5852
www.ccaconn.org MASSACHUSETTS 6919 Portwest Dr., Suite 100 Houston, TX 77024 1-800-201-3474 Fax 713-626-5852
www.cca-ma.org MAINE P.O. Box 51, Gardiner, ME 04345
www.cca-maine.org NEW HAMPSHIRE P.O. Box 4372, Portsmouth, NH 03802 603-731-2669
www.ccanh.org OREGON 1006 W. 11th Street Vancouver, WA98660 877-255-8772 Fax 877-255-8774
www.ccapnw.org WASHINGTON 1006West 11th Street Vancouver, WA98660 877-255-8772 Fax 877-255-8774
www.ccapnw.org
51
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64