The NMFS held a meeting last Thursday night in Lower Township to go over the draft of the Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan. In it they are proposing changing they way they manage billfish, closure of white marlin landings, circle hook regulations, Blue Fin Tuna mangement changes and more. There were a lot of people involved at this meeting. The chamber of commerce, Mayor of Cape May, the Weber family of SJ Marina & Canyon club, the Healey’s from Viking, many Viking employees, the RFA, the JCAA, Charter boat associations, tackle stores and more. I learned a lot from many of them and I thank them for that and their support of these issues. What was even more impressive is that everyone in attendance all felt the same way, and it was not the same as the NMFS on the most important issues.

This was my first NMFS meeting. My summary of the experience is that I was scared by what the NMFS presented, and anyone that fishes recreationally should be too. I knew there were issues there but I had no idea how bad it is or how little substance there seems to be in the NMFS approach to dealing with the difficult issues we face. With every big issue that was presented they would highlight facts showing that recreational fishing is not the problem however the actions they proposed were almost entirely against recreational fishing and not the real problems. The commercial fishing steps they are taking to reduce bycatch are minimal (I'd go so far to say non-existent) and in some cases look like they could make things worse. For example, recreational fishermen kill far less than 100 white marlins in the entire country per year; yet to save this species the only step they are taking is to eliminate recreational fishing (which even they seem to agree will make no difference). They were not proposing anything significant to reduce bycatch from the commercial fleet, and are only hurting our position with ICAAT negotiations which are really where the problem lies.

We must get this organization more in touch with the reality of what they are managing, and better able to deal with the international issues. If you're not able to get directly involved I encourage you to join the RFA, or organization of your choice that is involved. The RFA made some great points at this meeting and seems to be leading a good charge.