FF WILDFIRE
The chapter quickly held meetings with DNR officials, launched a media campaign and wrote a letter to DNR Secretary John Griffin calling for clo- sure of the commercial gill net season until certain criteria could be met. While that was a good start to CCA Maryland’s battle against the illegal gill nets, the fight had just begun. The next day NRP found more illegal gill nets, again anchored and unattended. Roughly another 4,000 pounds of striped bass were illegally netted, and this time Friedrich and CCA Maryland
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EBRUARY 1 began as an ordinary day for Tony Friedrich, executive direc- tor of CCAMaryland, but it quickly became a defining day for the chapter and for
all of Maryland’s recreational anglers. That was the day the first of many ille- gal nets started coming ashore with tons of dead, wasted striped bass. It was the day that started a wildfire that continues to burn today. “I have seen the results of nets
before, but when I saw the illegal gill nets that Maryland’s Natural Resources Police (NRP) were offloading at Mata- peake State Park, I was sickened,” recalls Friedrich. “That 900-yard net claimed approximately 6,000 pounds of striped bass, and it was set illegally on three counts — it was anchored, not tended and set before the season began. That illegal act was a crime against all recreational anglers and all Marylanders who care about the Chesapeake Bay. ”
When Friedrich first heard of the discovery of the net, he contacted a member of the Maryland NRP he had met at an earlier meeting and asked to be allowed to watch and film the offloading of the illegal net and dead fish. As it turned out, he was the only person other than a DNR photograph- er who took video and stills of the off- loading.
Back in the office, he drafted a first- person account of the experience that was reviewed by the chapter’s key leadership and distributed to members the next day as a Tight Lines e-newsletter and placed on the chapter web site. That first Tight Lines received more attention than any in the chapter’s his- tory. Eighty-seven percent of those opening the message clicked on the pic- tures, and CCA Maryland had visitors to its website from 32 states that day.
Chairman Ed Liccione observed the offloading and took more photos and video. The outrage in the recreational ang-
ling community was growing and CCA Maryland asked DNR to ensure that all dead striped bass found in the illegal nets would be counted against the gill net quota for the season, an action that was ultimately taken. Three days after the first illegal net was found, the DNR scheduled a news con- ference to announce that the commer- cial gill net season was being shut down until it could ascertain the extent of illegally placed nets. CCA Maryland was the only organization other than DNR and NPR invited to participate at the news conference, and Friedrich was able to deliver the association’s reac- tion to the netting to the news media. During this tragic event, CCA Maryland quickly found out how valu- able it was to have built a solid rela- tionship with DNR leadership. “Several years ago, we determined that the best way to have our message heard by the Department was through a collaborative approach,” said Liccione. “We don’t want to besiege their head- quarters; we want to make reason- able requests and get DNR’s attention to those requests. That approach has worked for us in the past, and it worked during the gill net travesty.” In a Feb. 10 letter to DNR Secretary
John Griffin, CCA Maryland, requested that the gill net season remaine closed until three criteria could be met. The criteria included:
• Conclusively demonstrating that ille- gal gill net fishing is under control.
• The fishery can be effectively managed.
• The fishery’s catch can be fully ac- counted for.
“Having organizations support con- servation of resources and sustainable management is helpful when we have to take action of controversial issues,” says Tom O’Connell, DNR director of fisheries.
Subsequently, David Sikorski, CCA
Maryland’s representative to DNR’s Sports Fish Advisory Commission, made a motion during the next meet- ing that cited the three points, and the motion passed unanimously.
THE FUTURE
The future of nets in the Chesapeake is unclear at this point, but one thing is certain — CCA Maryland will watch closely to see if there are additional
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infractions. “We were very pleased that DNR
Secretary John Griffin publicly called for recommendations on reforming gill net fishing while also saying that if the gill net fishery could not be properly managed, the Department would have to consider phasing out the gill net industry,” said Liccione.
Our commitment is to watch both the ini- tiative the Department takes to manage these fisheries and whether our laws continue to be disregarded by members of the commercial industry.
CCAMaryland has written a second letter to Griffin, calling for more action regarding gill and pound nets. The let- ter raised the issue of whether the com- mercial gill net fishery is financially viable if major enforcement activities must be in place, such as monitoring check-in stations and excessive on-the water patrols. “Is there a place in Maryland for a fishery that so easily leads itself to abuses?” the letter asks. CCA Maryland has also called for analysis of the impact of the pound net fishery and whether bycatch mortality is having a negative impact on the striped bass, American shad, hickory shad, and river herring populations. “Our commitment is to watch both the initiative the Department takes to manage these fisheries and whether our laws continue to be disregarded by members of the commercial industry,” Liccione said. “We are ready to contin- ue our action to protect the resource whenever necessary.”
The experience early in 2011 helped
CCA Maryland in any future action to impact public policy. “We are making a difference,” con- tends Friedrich. “I have never been prouder of any group I’ve worked with than our CCA Maryland volunteers. They have the hearts of lions while maintaining the highest integrity.”
Lew Armistead chairs the CCA Mary- land Communications Committee and is a member of the Patuxent River Chapter.
TIDE
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