TIDE BITS
CCANATIONAL
Sector separation draws heated response
In spite of opposition from gover- nors, Congress and the vast majority of recreational anglers, NOAA Fisheries recently unveiled a proposal for the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council to take red snapper from the private boat angling sector and give them away in a catch share program. This latest affront to anglers was out- lined as an item on the Gulf Council’s June agenda calling for a closed-door session to appoint an advisory panel to make recommendations on a new headboat Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program.
“It is infuriating that NOAA Fish-
eries is disregarding the very clear messages that have been delivered on catch shares and their impact on recre- ational anglers,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Govern- ment Relations Committee. “Four Gulf state governors signed a letter in 2009 warning about the negative impacts of catch shares on recreational angling. The Jones Amendment barring any NOAA funds from being used to implement new catch share programs was approved by Congress just a few weeks ago. Yet, somehow, NOAAFish- eries believes it is OK to proceed with a closed-door session to figure out how to do a new catch share program. This is an agency that seems almost com- pletely disconnected.” Catch share systems bestow a per- centage of a public fishery resource to a select group of fishermen to harvest. The commercial entities pay nothing back to the public for this right to har- vest a public resource and Coastal Conservation Association has contend- ed that these programs ignore the par- ticipation and beneficial economic impacts of recreational fishing. Accord- ing to a presentation by NOAA Fish- eries to the Gulf Council in April 2011, splitting the recreational sector and implementing a catch share program for charter/for-hire boats could short-
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en the private boat recreational red snapper season by as much as 20 per- cent. CCA is opposed to sector separa- tion and filed a lawsuit against the fed- eral government in 2009 over the Gulf grouper catch share program in a case that continues to make its way through federal district court. “NOAAhas funded economic stud- ies that show the vast majority of the value of Gulf reef fish fisheries is in the private recreational boat sector,” said Brewer. “Why would they insist on going down a path that discourages the most valuable part of this fishery? When you combine the public outcry with the economic data, it appears that NOAA Fisheries is intent on doing the wrong things to manage this fishery. It defies logic and common sense.” In response to the closed-door ses- sion to appoint an IFQ advisory panel, Gulf Council member Ed Sapp requested clarification from NOAA Counsel on the Jones Amendment that prohibits NOAA from expending funds to implement new catch share programs. “I’ve already received numerous phone calls from fishermen who believe NOAA and the Gulf Council are operating out of line,” he said. “I feel that it is vitally important that we have these public discussions before we proceed with any new catch share related issues.”
Short season for snapper prompts calls for reallocation
The long history of upside-down federal management of Gulf red snap- per continued when NOAA Fisheries announcing more good news about the health of the fishery contrasted against the shortest recreational season on record: just 48 days. Coastal Con- servation Association has warned that such absurd measures are inevitable until the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Man- agement Council conducts a reallocation of the fishery based on modern criteria. “It should be clear to everyone involved in this fishery that realloca- tion of Gulf red snapper should be a top priority,” said Chester Brewer, CCA National Government Relations Committee chairman. “NOAA Fish- eries seems much more intent on forc- ing unwanted Individual Fishing Quotas and days-at-sea programs into this fishery instead of doing the one thing that matters most — reallocating it to reflect massive demographic and economic changes that have occurred since it was divided 51 percent com-
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mercial and 49 percent recreational.” The shrinking season is tied to
directly to the recovering stock. As red snapper become more
plentiful,
anglers are encountering them more often and the fish they are catching are heavier. Since anglers are catch- ing bigger fish more often, the recre- ational sector hits its quota more quickly, resulting in a 48-day season in 2011. Even though NOAA Fisheries announced that the recre- ational quota was increasing
for
2011, the season is projected to be even shorter than last year. Evidence from offshore anglers indi-
cates a booming red snapper popula- tion in the Gulf that has benefitted wildly from a variety of factors, includ- ing a 74 percent reduction in shrimp trawl bycatch that was mandated in 2007. The recovering status is good news for a fishery that has long suf- fered from baffling stock assessments and suspect catch data. Awild card this year was whether NOAA Fisheries would elect to heed calls from the Gulf State governors and the recreational angling community to add some of the recreational quota that went uncaught last year due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Council elected to add 345,000 pounds, which may add five to seven days to the season. “This is a welcome measure for the Gulf Coast, but it does not get to the root of the problem,” said Brewer. “There is something systemically wrong with the federal fisheries man- agement system, and nowhere is it more obvious than in Gulf red snap- per, where the most economically beneficial sector of the fishery will sit at the dock for more than 10 months this year. Before the Gulf Council embarks on any more controversial management schemes, it has to get the allocation right.”
ALABAMA
State pulls together in wake of tornadoes
In the wake of the devastating tor- nadoes this spring that turned some of north Alabama into rubble, Alabam- ians showed their true resolve. While no one ever expects the wrath of these kinds of storms, they are usually not quite so destructive either. This spring, almost entire towns were wiped out, hundreds of people were killed and thousands more were left with nothing of their former lives.
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