WEEKLY UPDATE: 08/10/2007
NORTH CAROLINA FISHERIES ASSOCIATION
“Serving Commercial Fishing Families of North Carolinaâ€ÂÂÂ
Still no word on whether the General Assembly’s actions were legal/ethical regarding the suspicious vote to ban menhaden fishing off the Brunswick County coast. We have asked several legislators and others to ask the Attorney General to look into the issue, notably how does this vote reflect on the State of NC and its relation to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the Interjurisdictional Management Program the state is party to. Do the likes of Bonner Stiller and those who allowed this vote to go forward even care about the unethical behavior they have exhibited in this manner? Probably not, and unless action is taken to prohibit this type of thing we can expect more end-runs around the process in the future; some people don’t like shrimp boats off the coast. NCFA also attended the Finfish Committee’s meeting last week and asked that body to weigh in on the matter as the Finfish Committee is the state’s advisor to the IJFMP referred to above. Billy Carl Tillett brought the issue up and other than Chairman of the Finfish Committee David Beresoff stating that he agreed with NCFA’s position, absolutely no one else said a word and no action was taken to send a letter or weigh-in on the menhaden vote. Why does the state bother spending so much time and money on Committees, Departments and Commissions when all of them are effectively neutered by the General Assembly’s actions?
Paradoxically, Gov. Mike Easley signed government ethics reforms into law Thursday, but he said the work was not done. In the menhaden case “government ethics†is an oxymoron.
Here we go again; the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is holding a series of 6 public scoping meetings to solicit public comment on an amendment to reduce both commercial and recreational harvest of gag grouper and vermilion snapper. According to SAFMC stock assessments show that overfishing is occurring for these economically important species. During its June 2007 meeting, the Council received a report from its Scientific and Statistical Committee stating its approval of the Southeastern Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) stock assessments for gag and vermilion snapper. The Council is charged to end overfishing within a one year period and in response, has begun development of Amendment 16 to the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan for the South Atlantic. The Scientific and Statistical Committee determined that in order to fish at the Council’s Optimum Yield (OY), a reduction of 61% is needed for vermilion snapper. Substantial reductions in harvest are also anticipated for gag in order to end overfishing. Everyone is encouraged to attend the meetings.
September 4, 2007 Hilton Wilmington Riverside301 N. Water Street Wilmington, NC 28401Phone: 910/763-5900
September 5, 2007Sheraton Atlantic Beach2717 W. Fort Macon Road Atlantic Beach, NC 28512Phone: 252/240-1155
One fisherman put it this way: “[What’s] going on with that Council in my view is making the rationale for LAPP's. Without a crisis as they had with the Gulf red snapper derby they don't have a reason for LAPP's. Now we have kings on the edge, gags as well as vermillion and all of a sudden there is a crisis looming. As for whether it is a manufactured crisis or not you need only look to the soon to be destroyed shark fishery to get your answer. Two years ago the fishery was listed as extremely healthy as far as sandbars were concerned. That same year we caught almost 2 1/2 times the quota in one short trimester. Now all of a sudden it is going to take up to 400 hundred years to rebuild the fishery. All that changed in the last two and a half years was the model used to reassess it which the Agency (NMFS) won't even allow the fishermen access too to defend themselves. If this council can get away with changing socio economic documents it can sure manufacture or ignore any science to make the case for anything it desires just like it did with the snowy peer review. The key word with this council now is PRECAUTION, of course that only applies to us. After all if it didn't they would have shut the reckies down on snowies along time ago. But that is not the intent. We are their relief valve; we are their precaution, which in effect is another form of reallocation…don't expect to get 100% of your history from the LAPP's.....I won't be able to redirect more than 10% of my history to other species. There goes not only my versatility but also another form of reallocation since that will just go to appease the reckies increasing effort. And all of this comes after the council moves ahead with reallocation efforts ongoing on not only snowies but gags and vermilions. HOW MANY WAYS CAN YOU SPELL REALLOCATION; the bottom line is we’re on our way to the slaughter house.â€ÂÂÂ
NOAA Fisheries Service is proposing that commercial and recreational fishing for sandbar sharks be significantly reduced and limited to only those commercial vessels that take part in a shark research program. The proposed changes to the Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan would reduce the quota for sandbar sharks by 80 percent as part of the rebuilding plan. This action is based on data that has not been entirely available to the public because NMFS tells us they do not own the data; they merely use it to regulate and used tax funds to pay for it…we have been working with our Congressional delegation to see if we can remedy this situation, but time is running out for the commercial shark fishery.
PROCLAMATIONRE: COMMERCIAL GILL NETS - PAMLICO SOUND GILL NET RESTRICTED AREA (PSGNRA) Call Division for details. 252-726-7021 http://www.ncfisheries.net/procs/procs2k7/M-12-2007.html
MEETINGS:
August 13, 2007 1 p.m.
NCMFC Habitat and Water Quality Advisory Committee
NCDENR Regional Office - 943 Washington Square Mall - Washington, NC
Contact Mike Street 800-682-2632 or 252-726-7021 or MFC Office 252-808-8020
August 13 - 16, 2007
ASMFC Summer Meeting
Crowne Plaza
901 North Fairfax Street
Alexandria, VA
(703) 683-6000
August 13, 2007 6 p.m.
NCMFC Oyster and Hard Clam FMP Advisory Committee
Room 305 - C-Mast Building - 303 College Circle.- Morehead City, NC
Contact Mike Marshall 800-682-2632 or 252-726-7021or MFC Office 252-808-8077
August 14, 2007 6 p.m.
NCMFC Southeast Regional Advisory Committee
NCDENR Regional Office - 127 Cardinal Drive - Wilmington, NC
Contact Rich Carpenter 800-248-4536 or 910-796-7215 or MFC Office 252-808-8077
