Black Sea Bass regs/fight

[CaptainAlex]

From a top MA charter captain - write a letter, make a call, protect our rights to an abundant resource ...

"The current Black sea bass regulations for 2011 put forth by the ASMFC and Northeast Fisheries Science Center are totally unjustified and will cause all of us involved in the commercial, recreational, charter and headboat fishery unneccessary and undue economic hardship. We need to petition the ASMFC and Mass DMF to try and change the new regulations. According to the 2010 Black Sea Bass Assesment conducted by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, NOAA, NMFS,and Woods Hole, Black Sea Bass are not overfished, overfishing is not occuring, and the stock is above the optimal level of spawining biomass. It is ranked 4 out of 4 in the sustainability index and in fact according to the study, "An increase in fishing mortality will not result in a decrease in biomass below the optimal level of spawning biomass". Yet current proposed regulations will cut the quota by more than 40%. The sea bass stock is healthy and has remained healthy and sustainable with old regulations. Next year the proposed regulations will not allow you to catch a black sea bass until July 1 and will shut down Oct 1. The main charter and rec seasons for sea bass are May, June, Sept and Oct. We will lose three of our best four months. Last year the season was open from May 23- Oct 15th and Nov 1- Dec 31 and the years before open 365 days a year. Last year we saw a big increase in recreational landings in a much shorter season. This would lead me to believe that there were more sea bass around. The commercial boats will be cut from 200 lbs for rod and reel boats and 500 lbs for potters to a mere 50 lbs a day in the spring saving most of the commercial quota for August. In August we have many commercial and recreational options to fish for- Striped Bass, Tuna, Fluke, dogfish, just to name a few. In May we have scup which are not worth much in the spring and black sea bass. 50 lbs a day would make it economically impossible to even leave the dock to go fishing. Not only the recreational, charter commercial and head boats will be severly affected by this, tackle shops, motels resturaunts gas stations fish buyers, trap builders etc...will all feel the sting from these uneccessary regulations. My personal experience, I will lose all of my spring sea bass trips and will not be able to fish commercially for them at 50 lbs a day. The few scup charter trips I do the clients will be totally pissed off by having to throw back sea bass after sea bass over the side. I will be pissed off by not being able to go fishing for a fish that is 104% recovered and sustainable. Personally I last year was the most sea bass I have ever seen and we were seeing them in spots we have never seen them before. Dogfish is 104% recovered and getting an increase in quota to put things into perspective. Meanwhile Fluke which is ranked 3 out of 4 and only 77% recovered is also getting an increase this year.

The first thing we can do is call or email our reps to the asmfc- Dr. David Pierce 617-626-1532 or Melanie Griffith his assistant 617-626-1528, Bill Adler 781-545-6984 and Sarah Peake 617-722-2210 or 508-487-5694

There is a conference call on the 17th of Feb with asmfc we need to contacts our state reps and tell them how the shutting down of the spring fishery will effect us.
After the conference call from the 18th of Feb to the 19th of March the ASMFC will be open to public comment. This is when we need to write letters, petitions etc.....to them about their proposed regulations and quotas.

Points to focus on: May and June gone what you will lose, undue economic hardship, effects on other buisnesses
Cuts are unneccesary: According to them the stock is totally sustainable and has gotten there and remains there with the old management quotas and regulations. As the seasons get shorter, more and more sea bass are being caught- more around maybe?
In the tatoug and scup recreational spring fishery the amount of black sea bass that will be caught and not allowed to be kept."

[machaca]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, FEBRUARY 17, 2011
PRESS CONTACT, TINA BERGER, 703/842-0740

ASMFC Releases Black Sea Bass Draft Addendum XXI for Public Comment
Draft Addendum Provides Options for Regional and/or State-by-State
Management of the 2011 Recreational Fishery

Arlington, VA – Atlantic coastal states from New Jersey through North
Carolina have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft
Addendum XXI to the Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan. The dates,
times, and locations of the scheduled meetings follow. Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, Connecticut and New York will also be conducting hearings; a
subsequent press release will provide the details of those hearings once
they have been finalized.

New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife
March 3, 2011; 6:30 PM
Galloway Township Public Library
306 East Jimmie Leeds Road
Absecon, New Jersey
Contact: Pete Himchak at (609) 748-2020

Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
March 24, 2011; 6:00 PM
Richardson and Robbins Building Auditorium
89 Kings Highway
Dover, Delaware
Contact: Craig Shirey at (302) 739-9914

Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources
March 7, 2011; 6 - 7 PM
Ocean Pines Library
11107 Cathell Road
Ocean Pines, Maryland
Contact: Carrie Kennedy at (410) 260-8295

Virginia Marine Resources Commission
March 7, 2011; 6 PM
2600 Washington Avenue, 4th Floor
Newport News, Virginia
Contact: Jack Travelstead at (757) 247-2247

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries
February 23, 2011; 7 – 9 PM
NC DMF Manteo Office
1021 Driftwood Drive
Manteo, North Carolina
Contact: Red Munden at (252) 726-7021

Draft Addendum XXI proposes to establish a program wherein the Commission’s
Black Sea Bass Management Board could sub-divide the recreational black sea
bass coastwide allocations into regional or state-by-state management for
2011 only. Since 1996, a uniform coastwide size, season, and bag limit has
been set by the Commission and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council to
constrain the recreational fishery to the annual harvest target. The
harvest target was exceeded five times over the last 15 years, most
recently in 2009 and 2010 when the harvest target was the lowest in the
time series. It is estimated that 2009 and 2010 harvest targets were
exceeded by 1.18 and 1.15 million pounds, respectively.

The current management plan only allows for the implementation of measures
to be applied coastwide and not on a regional or state-specific basis. In
2010 all states, with the exception of Massachusetts, adopted coastwide
regulations of 25 fish, 12.5 inches TL minimum fish size, and an open
season from May 22 to October 11 and November 1 to December 31 in 2010.
Massachusetts opted for a more restrictive 20 fish possession limit, and
adopted all other coastwide regulations in 2010. The 2010 regulations
resulted in a preliminary estimated harvest of 2.98 million pounds,
approximately 1.15 million pounds above the 2010 target.

Given that the 2010 regulations were not effective in staying within the
target, harvest will need to be reduced by 40% to achieve, but not exceed,
the 2011 target of 1.78 million pounds. In order to meet the required
reduction using coastwide measures, the Board has proposed increasing the
minimum size limit to 13 inches and contracting the season to July 1 to
October 1 and November 1 to December 31. However, analyses have shown that
these proposed changes will impact states differently. The Board initiated
the Draft Addendum to provide the necessary management flexibility to
mitigate potential disproportionate impact on states that can result from
coastwide measures.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on
the Draft Addendum, either by attending public hearings or providing
written comments. The Draft Addendum can be obtained via the Commission’s
website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News or by contacting the
Commission at (703) 842-0740. Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM
(EST) on March 18, 2011 and should be forwarded to Toni Kerns, FMP
Coordinator, 1050 N. Highland St, Suite A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; (703)
842-0741 (FAX) or at tkerns@asmfc.org (Subject line: Black Sea Bass). For
more information, please contact Toni Kerns at (703) 842-0740 or
Tkerns@asmfc.org.