FryingPanTower.Com - WEEKLY UPDATE: 03/07/008

WEEKLY UPDATE: 03/07/008
NORTH CAROLINA FISHERIES ASSOCIATION
“Serving Commercial Fishing Families of North Carolina”

ALLOCATION,ALLOCATION,ALLOCATION, that’s the issue at the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council meeting in Jekyll Island, Georgia despite the fact that the meeting schedule had lot’s of other issues to attend, such as: Snapper Grouper Amendment 15B (modifications to the sales provision for snapper grouper, allocations, permit renewal and transfer, bycatch assessment/monitoring, etc.) Snapper Grouper Amendment 16 - (measures to end overfishing for gag grouper and vermilion snapper) Snapper Grouper Amendment 17 (Annual Catch Limits, snowy grouper regulations, overage alternatives, etc. And of course, LAPPs (Limited Access Privilege Programs) What is driving everything at the Council level, and in most fisheries as well, is an obstinate refusal by Council heads (in this case Council Chair George Geiger, snapper grouper chair Mac Currin, etc.) to address in any meaningful way recreational overages and accountability measures. What they are attempting to do first and foremost is allocate (reallocate) fisheries to the recreational sector and then look at accountability. Their argument is revealingly similar to that advanced by the CCA in its Comments to the SAFMC’s Allocation Amendment. The CCA Draft document stated, “CCA supports a new, forward looking approach to allocation…minimizing past catch history.” (Emphasis mine) They continued, “[T]he use of past landings data to set future allocations is inherently a backward-looking management measure that does not account for future changes within the fishery.” Ironically, LAPP programs are entirely built on past catch history, and the Council is very much in favor of that type management scheme. So pay attention fishermen who think LAPPs are a panacea; if the CCA driven SAFMC has its way your catch history won’t amount to a hill of beans because the overall allocation will favor the recreational sector, your initial allocation will be a percentage of the newly established quota, not a percentage of the “backward-looking” history you paid for and think you will receive. Then finally, in case anyone had their doubts as to the CCA’s opinion of our industry, they write this to the Council: “[R]eliance on domestically caught fish for protein will continue its downward slide, reducing the importance of the commercial industry in supplying U.S. protein needs…The concept that a private commercial enterprise is necessary to provide the public with the enjoyment of those resources [fish] by selling them to consumers so they can eat them was rejected by the federal government and state wildlife managers before 1900. There is no basis in any federal common law, any wildlife law or constitution for such a proposition.” In other words, we don’t need the commercial industry, forget their historic importance and history, let’s just get on with their demise…allocate to us.

The SAFMC agreed to postpone action on limiting recreational bag limit sales of grouper, choosing (as of this writing) to wait until June to address the issue. Apparently the NC Governor’s office heard from many recreational fishermen who did not like the idea of this restriction on their fishing habits and that concern was made known in Georgia.

SAFMC LAPP Committee heard very little interest in LAPPs and that more education of fishermen needs to be done before the Council can go forward with an amendment on LAPPs.

Summer Flounder:

2008 NC Atlantic Ocean Summer Flounder Quota: 2,558,524 pounds
Cumulative Harvest for 2008 winter fishery: - 1,757,366 pounds

2008 winter fishery summer flounder quota remaining: 289,453 pounds

PROCLAMATION

RE: STRIPED BASS SEASON – OCEAN TRAWL: ATLANTIC OCEAN
effective at 12:01 A.M., Saturday, March 1, 2008, the season for the harvest of striped bass with ocean trawls in the Atlantic Ocean waters of North Carolina SHALL OPEN. The following restrictions will apply: I. SIZE LIMIT No person may possess, transport, buy, sell, or offer for sale striped bass less than 28 inches total length taken with ocean trawls from the Atlantic Ocean. II. HARVEST RESTRICTIONS No ocean trawl operation, regardless of the number of persons or vessels involved, may land or sell more than 100 striped bass per trip during the harvest period beginning at 12:01 A.M., Saturday, March 1, 2008 and ending at 6:00 P.M., Monday, March 31, 2008. http://www.ncfisheries.net/procs/procs2k8/FF-30-2008.html

RE: BLACK SEA BASS – COMMERCIAL FISHING OPERATIONS – ATLANTIC OCEAN Effective at 12:01 A.M., Saturday, March 1, 2008, the following restrictions shall apply to the commercial black sea bass fishery north of Cape Hatteras (35° 15.3’N. Latitude):

SIZE LIMIT it is unlawful to possess black sea bass less than 11 inches total length north of Cape Hatteras. Total length shall be measured along the lateral midline from the tip of the nose to the tip tail, excluding the caudal fin filament. HARVEST LIMITS During the period beginning at 12:01 A.M., Saturday, March 1, 2008 and ending at 6:00 P.M., Saturday, March 15, 2008, no commercial trawl, fish pot or hook and line fishing operation, regardless of the number of people involved, may have total landings of more than 5,000 pounds of black sea bass taken from the Atlantic Ocean north of Cape Hatteras. The Atlantic Ocean black sea bass fishery will close immediately after the Director issues a public notice that the quota of black sea bass has been landed from the Atlantic Ocean north of Cape Hatteras, or at 6:00 P.M., March 15, 2008, whichever occurs first. http://www.ncfisheries.net/procs/procs2k8/FF-28-2008.html

MEETINGS TO DISCUSS FUTURE RED DRUM MANAGEMENT

Tuesday, March 11 6:30 p.m.
Dobo Hall
Room 103
University of North Carolina-Wilmington
Wilmington
Wednesday, April 2 Noon
Department of Environment and
Natural Resources Regional Office
943 Washington Square Mall
Washington

MEETINGS:

March 11, 2008 6:30 p.m.

NCMFC Southeast Regional Advisory Committee
Dobo Hall - Room 103 - UNCW - Wilmington, NC
Contact Rich Carpenter 800-248-4536 or 910-796-7291 or MFC Office 252-808-8022

March 11, 2008 10 a.m.

NCMFC Strategic Habitat Advisory Committee - Region One
NCDENR Regional Office - 943 Washington Square Mall - Washington, NC
Contact Jeanne Hardy 800-682-2632 or 252-808-8066 or MFC Office 252-808-8022