RFA: NOAA'S catch share policy sets a treacherous course

[LuckyLady]

RFA: NOAA'S catch share policy sets a treacherous course
By RFA

Fri, Nov 05, 2010
Assistant Administrator of Fisheries Eric Schwaab this week announced that recreational anglers were being completely ignored by the administration. In the National Catch Share Policy release issued by NOAA Fisheries Service, Schwaab said angler opposition to privatizing our national oceans was being disregarded, and announced that NOAA Fisheries would not be listening to individual anglers anytime soon.

While NOAA's new federal policy of ignoring input from within the coastal communities was embraced by some members of the national fishing tackle industry, the new policy has raised serious concerns with grassroots political organizations and coastal legislators.

"I have expressed considerable concern over the impact that catch shares may have on the recreational sector," said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ). "I believe our priority should be improving the science and management of fisheries and that promoting another management tool until those issues have been fixed will only continue to hurt our coastal communities."

As a national grassroots political action organization representing the rights of saltwater anglers, the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) is extremely frustrated by NOAA's new direction. "Mr. Schwaab's take on this dangerous policy is laughable at best," said RFA Executive Director Jim Donofrio. "Mr. Schwaab claimed to hear from the angling community, but I'm not sure where he was at the time he heard it, perhaps at some Environmental Defense Fund junket, certainly not anything that local anglers were invited to."

On Thursday, NOAA officially released their new national policy "encouraging the consideration and use of catch shares," a fisheries management scheme which Schwaab called "an effective tool for ending overfishing." According to Donofrio, catch shares will end overfishing primarily by eliminating fishermen. "When we testified before Congress about catch shares in April, we made it clear that our allied groups do not support catch shares in the recreational sector," Donofrio said. In testimony on behalf of RFA, Marine Retailers Association of America (MRAA), Fishing Rights Alliance, United Boatmen, United Boatmen of New York, Maryland Saltwater Sportsmen's Association (MSSA), National Association of Charterboat Operators (NACO), Southern Kingfish Association (SKA), Conservation Cooperative of Gulf Fishermen (CCGF), New York Sportfishing Federation, and New York Fishing Tackle Trade Association, Donofrio told a congressional committee that the use of catch shares in the recreational fishing sector "would destroy the traditional open access structure and collapse the entrance of new participants in the fishery."

"All of the aforementioned groups, including the RFA, are adamantly opposed to any catch share program in the recreational fishing sector, in any way, shape or form," Donofrio testified, adding "This is a fact that cannot be compromised. We do not want any discussion on any program that compromises traditional open access of seasons, size limits and bag limits."

"I also believe that by specifically targeting local fishing businesses for catch shares will only continue to hinder growth in our coastal economies," Pallone said, adding "overly restrictive management of fisheries is already hurting coastal businesses and we need to pursue policies that promote growth in coastal communities which is why I introduced the Coastal Jobs Creation Act and the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act."

"We've fought too hard and for too long to keep this catch share policy out of our sector, we cannot let NOAA continue to ramrod this policy through Councils in direct contradiction to the wishes of our fishing community," Donofrio said. "Clearly our federal bureaucracy is not listening to the will of the people."

"At a time when our retailers are suffering from reduced participation due to the struggling economy, the last thing we need is a new federal policy designed purely to reduce angler effort," said MRAA President Phil Keeter. "We need more recreational fishermen, not less."

"Obviously you've got a public resource which should remain public, and no one should have to pay to access it," said SKA Director Jack Holmes. "It's been a tradition in America since before the Declaration of Independence was signed."

"MSSA remains adamantly opposed and wants no part of catch shares," said Dave Smith, President of the Maryland sportfishing group.

"When the draft Action Agenda was sent to us to review, I made it clear to Russ Dunn (NOAA National Policy Advisor for Recreational Fisheries) and Eric Schwaab that we did not want any catch share plan in the Gulf," said CCFG and NACO representative Capt. Bob Zales, II. "When we were asked to attend the Recreational Fishing Summit back in April we were told that business as usual from the past was over and there would be a new effort of cooperation between NOAA/NMFS and all recreational anglers. It is clear to me that we have been duped once again." Zales added that as a member of the federal Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC), he was "grossly offended" by references made to "pilot recreational catch share programs" which NOAA included in their Recreational Saltwater Fisheries Action Agenda released last week.

RFA says the NOAA Catch Share Policy is wrought with catch phrases and flimsy definitions, some of which are especially dangerous to future sportfishing opportunities, even non-commercial gamefish species. "We're extremely concerned about the impact the NOAA catch shares policy could have on Highly Migratory Species (HMS) fisheries and offshore tournaments," Donofrio said, explaining how the final policy includes a catch share definition that unequivocally stops all fishing once limits are met. "The way it's written, this excessively restrictive definition could even prohibit catch and release fishing which is a major component of the nation's recreational billfish fisheries including sailfish and marlin."

Donofrio said the idea of individual catch share privileges and fish tags in mixed commercial/recreational fisheries like red snapper, sea bass and scup were bad enough before the policy was set. "We knew that assigning privilege and charging royalties for harvested species would eliminate the average center console angler, but now the fate of offshore access is completely thrown into question when you read the whole policy."

In an article by Richard Gaines of the Gloucester Times, RFA managing director Jim Hutchinson said "When you read this release and see how Mr. Schwaab is promoting catch shares through a $2.2 million funding initiative supported by Wal-Mart and Intel Corporation, it's hard to think how anyone in our recreational fishing industry can be anything other than outraged at this announcement."

"This is bureaucracy at its best, you have a federal law which mandates you fix the data problem, but instead of meeting the initiative in the allotted deadline, you host outreach sessions, reallocate funding toward new initiatives and send out press releases," Hutchinson told John Oswald of the Asbury Park Press.

"There's nothing palatable about this catch share manifesto, especially the way that NOAA is jamming it down our throats," Hutchinson said.

[Capt Lindsay]

This issue should be of HUGE interest to all recreational fishermen. Remember that if catch shares take effect, and you are not assigned any shares, you can't catch fish. Isn't that a fine legacy for our children?

If you are not an RFA member now, please go to http://www.JoinRFA.org and join.

[LuckyLady]

This issue should be of HUGE interest to all recreational fishermen. Remember that if catch shares take effect, and you are not assigned any shares, you can't catch fish. Isn't that a fine legacy for our children?

If you are not an RFA member now, please go to http://www.JoinRFA.org and join.

I'm suprised that there hasn't been more press on this

[fishingkdr]

We probably won't have to worry about it because Obama's Oceanic Task Force will close the region to fishing first! What BS!

Good Read on it here also:

http://islandfreepress.org/2010Archi...gWatermen.html

Here come catch shares: How NOAA and the Environmental Defense
Fund plan to destroy North Carolina’s working watermen
By: Ernie Foster


When my late father was 24 years old, he returned to Hatteras from Long Island, New York. He returned because the Great Depression had left him jobless and standing in a bread line. He came back home and he moved back in with his parents. He returned so that he could have a place to sleep and a meal that he had provided for himself, a meal that he earned by commercial fishing with his father on the family-owned boat.

While fishing the family boat commercially for the meager income provided by fish prices during the depression, he did what young people in America have always done --- he dreamed of his future and he hatched a plan. The plan he hatched was crazy. The elders in the village told him so. They said it would not work. They shook their heads at his ideas.

And he did what the young in America have always done -- he put his crazy plan in motion. He started an offshore charter fishing fleet. He launched the first of three Albatross boats in 1937 with charter fishing as his top priority and with commercial fishing as Plan B.

And just how did that crazy charter fishing concept work out?

Well, in a study sanctioned by North Carolina Sea Grant and carried out by economists and a sociologist from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and North Carolina State University, the charter fishing business is now a $650 million dollar a year industry for North Carolina with two thirds of that revenue coming from visitors from out of state. Not so crazy after all.

And how much does the state of North Carolina spend promoting its charter fishing industry? The answer is zero ($0.00) dollars. That lack of government support has never been an issue or concern for North Carolina’s fishermen. Why? Because the same independent -- some would say hard-headed -- drive and determination that fueled my father’s belief in his dream continues to fuel the dreams and ambitions of the men and women who make a living by fishing both charter and commercially today.

Since the founding of this state, it has been accepted as fact that if you work hard, if you persevere, if you are determined, and if you are lucky, you can be a fisherman. You can own your boat. You can be your own boss. You can feed your family and the larger community. And you can put smiles on the faces and adventurous memories in the minds of countless charter customers who you help experience the wonder and mysteries of our waters.

The only apparent problem with this scenario of being independent, of being a self reliant contributor to society, of providing a service for others is that you do not necessarily get rich. The fishermen do not seem to find this to be a problem, but an alleged environmental group called the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) does.

That’s right, even though its employees do not live here or fish for a living, this group has decided that North Carolina’s fishing communities need to be fixed. Or, in their words, they need to be “more vibrant.”

EDF has published an endless stream of slick brochures and publications, held numerous conferences, and attempted to enlist numerous fishermen in an attempt to explain how society -- make that the government -- can implement a plan that will “create vibrant fishing communities”.

The plan is called catch shares. If you eat fish or like to catch fish, catch shares will affect you.

Catch shares are here. They are, as you read this, being implemented by NOAA through the National Marine Fisheries Service. The goal is to reduce the number of working watermen in the United States by more than 60 percent. The propaganda “informs” fishermen that the ones left standing, after their neighbors are economically destroyed, will be able to get rich and somehow fishing towns and villages will then “be vibrant.”

Welcome to catch shares. They are designed to kill off the fishermen. The infrastructure will then die and then somehow, according to the slick brochures produced by EDF and edited by the finest legal minds they can hire, fewer fishing boats and fewer fishermen will result in “vibrant fishing communities.”

Just what is a catch share? A catch share is an exclusive guarantee that whoever holds the catch share has the exclusive right to harvest a certain percentage of the total allowable catch of a particular species of marine life. That’s a mouthful, and you read it correctly.

It does not grant the right to catch a certain number of fish each year. How many fish can be caught is a number that National Marine Fisheries Service already determines and has imposed on fishermen for years. So if catch shares is not about saving fish, since we already have that scientific process in place, you may be wondering just what the purpose is.

The catch share program is not about how many fish can be caught. Catch shares is only about who gets to catch fish. Catch shares can be bought, they can be sold, and they can be leased or traded.

So the logical question is what is the conservation advantage of catch shares? The answer is that there is no conservation advantage. Catch shares policy is about taking the right to fish away from the masses, from those individuals who want to become fishermen for a lifetime or for a day, and giving that right to harvest fish to a select few. Catch shares is designed to privatize the ocean. As a free American citizen, you might want to think about that one for awhile.

Who will get catch shares? Basically, it will be those with the best past history of landings. That’s right -- those who have caught the most in the past will be selected to keep on fishing -- in the name of conservation and, of course, “vibrant fishing communities.”

But it gets a lot more interesting and complicated than the simple picture I’ve presented. You see, the Environmental Defense Fund has been the driving force behind this concept. The group has spent thousands and thousands of dollars promoting this concept. (In the name of full disclosure, I went to Vancouver, B.C., on EDF’s dime to learn about it.)

Now what did EDF do in the spring of 2009? Why they sent their second ranking employee -- a $300,000-a- year lawyer -- to a national conference of investment brokers and venture capitalists to spread the word about an investment opportunity, something called catch shares. That’s right. EDF thinks that Wall Street should own catch shares!

So if Wall Street owns catch shares, where do you think North Carolina’s small-time fishermen fit in? Seen any evidence lately that Wall Street has any concern about increasing the number of “vibrant fishing communities?” And yet apparently EDF wants Wall Street to own catch shares.

This corporate ownership of exclusive rights is not a wild guess. It is a reality.

The Alaskan king crab fishery is Exhibit A, and in the four years since the imposition of catch shares the crew member shares of the catch have dropped from 50 percent to 30 percent, while the fleet has decreased by two-thirds.

Okay, so most of you are not worried about what happens to the commercial sector of fishing.

Well, last week NOAA publically announced that it wants all professional fishermen to be controlled by catch shares. That’s right. Charter boats and headboats are the next to have catch shares. Having previously begun implementation in the commercial sector in Alaska and New England, NOAA and National Marine Fisheries have made public the plan to begin implementation in the recreational sector -- with charter boats and headboats the first targets.

Worldwide various forms of catch shares have been in place for over 25 years. Where implemented, the least amount that the local fishing fleets have been diminished is 30 percent.

I suspect that I am not the only one who thinks that what North Carolina needs right now is an economic boost rather than another economic hit. Further reducing the ability of the charter/headboat industry to produce revenue sounds like economic insanity.

Well, you may be thinking that at least that those who want catch shares are leaving the recreational fishermen who do not fish on charter boats alone. You might want to be aware that a plan has already been suggested that, in the Gulf of Mexico, recreational fishing rights should be sold to the highest bidder. First, we come after the commercials, then we get the charters, and next we go after those recreational types.

The concept of catch shares is straight forward. The exclusive right to harvest fish will be owned by the entity with the most money, period! And those individual owner/operators? Well, they are quaint and they might be good for tourism because of all that local color stuff, but they are just going to have to adjust and get a job with a corporation. After all, coastal fishing communities are just filled with job opportunities.

Catch shares policy is about ownership not conservation! We already have Total Allowable Catch (TAC). TAC already controls how many fish are caught annually. In spite of what you may have read, TAC controls are already in place. For example, North Carolina’s bluefin tuna landings in the recreational sector were completely shut down in the late ’90s during the height of our season for two years in a row because of TAC concerns. Violators were fined $25,000, and, needless to say, they were few and far between.


I’ll repeat. Catch shares is not a stock management issue. It is an ownership issue.

How soon will catch shares be coming to a marina near you? The answer is that they will be coming very soon unless our elected leaders act immediately. The head of NOAA, Dr. Janet Lubchenco, worked for and closely with the Environmental Defense Fund prior to her appointment to head NOAA by President Obama.

In recent weeks, EDF had a conference in Wyoming (yes, Wyoming) to develop final implementation plans for the recreational sector catch shares. Why an ENGO – environmental non-government organization -- is about the business of developing government policy is, to say the least, interesting.

On Nov. 4, Eric Schwabb, assistant administrator for fisheries, released the formal NOAA announcement that catch shares are coming to the recreational sector.

If we want to see coastal heritage and traditions vanish, we should simply do nothing. If we believe that the right to fish should be the exclusive right of those who have the deepest pockets, we should simply do nothing. If we believe that reducing the ability of coastal citizens to generate income and pay more taxes is good for our state’s economy, we should simply do nothing.

On a personal note, I suspect -- perhaps hope is the better word – that, as the owner of a long standing and reasonably successful charter fishing operation, I will get enough catch shares to continue in business.

However, when I went to Vancouver to learn about catch shares, I heard incessantly about their great monetary value and that raised a question. So, I asked the man who developed the Canadian plan, “How could a young person ever become an owner/operator fisherman with this additional expense?” And he answered after a long pause, “We’re still working on that!”

There is something sadly, tragically wrong when a nation’s government deliberately creates a mechanism that denies the next generation its right to dream. I want no part of catch shares.


(Ernie Foster is a Hatteras Island native who, after a career in education, returned to Hatteras village and is now captain of the Albatross Fleet. He supports groups that fight to save the heritage of fishing, such as North Carolina Watermen United, and is also a board member of the North Carolina Coastal Federation.)


Shout NO to Catch Shares

Please contact our representatives in Washington, D.C., and tell them you support their fight against catch shares. Phone calls are the most effective means.

U.S. House of Representatives: Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., who is leading the charge
Joshua_Bowlen@mail.house.gov
202-225-3415
State Office: 800-351-1697 (free from NC only)

U.S. House Of Representatives, Mike McIntyre, D-N.C.
Stratton Kirton
Stratton.Kirtin@mail.house.gov
202-225-2731
State Office: 910-815-4959


V.S. Senate, Richard Burr, R-N.C.
Kara_Weisharr@burr.senate.gov
202-224-3154
State Office: 800-685-8916 (free from NC only)

U.S. Senate: Kay Hagan, D-N.C.
Patrick_Brennan@hagan.senate.gov
202-224-6342
State Office: 336-333-5311


Please let Governor Beverly Perdue know of your actions with a call or copy her on the e-mail.

NC Governor: Beverly Perdue
Brynn_Thomas@nc.gov
800-662-7952
919-733-2391

[LuckyLady]

From NOAA
NOAA Policy Encourages Catch Shares to End Overfishing and Rebuild Fisheries
November 4, 2010



NOAA today released a national policy encouraging the consideration and use of catch shares, a fishery management tool that has shown it can help rebuild fisheries and sustain fishermen, communities, vibrant working waterfronts and culturally important fishing traditions.

“Catch share programs have proven to be powerful tools to transform fisheries, making them prosperous, stable and sustainable parts of our nation’s strategy for healthy and resilient ocean ecosystems,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator . “NOAA’s policy encourages fishery management councils and stakeholders to explore the design possibilities of catch shares to tailor programs to best meet local needs.”

Catch share programs, which include limited access privilege programs and individual fishing quotas, dedicate a secure share of fish to individual fishermen, cooperatives or fishing communities. Catch shares are used in 14 fisheries managed by six fishery management councils from Alaska to Florida and are being developed in additional fisheries. Both here and in other countries, catch shares are helping eliminate overfishing and achieve annual catch limits, improve fishermen’s safety and profits, and reduce the negative biological and economic effects of the race for fish that develops with some traditional fishery management.

After considering extensive public comment on its draft policy, NOAA added several important guiding principles to the policy, including a recommendation that regional fishery management councils periodically revisit allocations between commercial and recreational sectors in fisheries.





Fishing boats in New England. A new catch share program based on sectors is being used in the New England groundfish industry.

The policy also does not advocate individual catch shares for private recreational anglers. Councils will have NOAA support to consider catch share programs for charter boat and head boat sectors to explore recreational catch share pools that could benefit the health of the resource and the charter industry.

“The purpose of this policy is to provide a strong foundation for the widespread consideration of catch shares, which have proven to be an effective tool to help rebuild fisheries,” said Monica Medina, principal deputy under secretary for oceans and atmosphere. “ The key to a successful catch share program is extensive stakeholder involvement in the design of catch shares that take into consideration each community’s particular fishing traditions and goals.”

David Walker, a commercial fisherman who is part of the Gulf of Mexico red snapper individual fishing quota program, has seen how a catch share program can transform a fishery.

“This program has been a phenomenal success for the fish, and when you take care of the fish, you take care of the fishermen,” said Walker, who fishes from the homeport of Destin, Fla. “Before the program began in 2007, we were having to fish under derbies and having to go farther and farther to fish. We were getting fewer and fewer days as efforts were intensifying. Everyone raced for the fish and we were fishing in weather conditions that were dangerous at times. Fishing under the IFQ program implemented in 2007 has been a blessing to us. Now we have a year round season with very few discards. Fish prices are good. And the fish stock is rebuilding.”

On the West Coast, Steve Bodnar, the executive director of the Coos Bay Trawler Association, has been working with the Pacific Fishery Management Council to help develop a catch share program for the West Coast bottomfish trawl fishery.

“We’re on the edge of doing something great,” said Bodnar, who represents a group of fishermen based in Coos Bay, Oregon, who own and fish from nine trawlers. “This program is opening up communication between fishermen who were used to working alone. We're going to swap quota to keep as many boats on the water in order to keep our port whole. We’ll also work together to share resources, to develop gear that will avoid fish that are not as abundant and catch the healthier stocks, and to market our catch to help consumers support local fishermen. By working together, we will survive.”

To read the policy and profiles of catch share programs, go to http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/catchshares

NOAA has partnered with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to create a new NFWF grant program called the Fisheries Innovation Fund that will award $2.2 million to support local fishermen and fishing communities that want to consider catch share programs and put their ideas into action. NFWF is providing grant writing training via a webinar on Thursday, Nov. 11, from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EST.

To register for the webinar go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/635451856

To learn more about the fund go to http://www.nfwf.org/fisheriesfund

To learn more about catch shares go to http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/catchshares

[Prime Time]

I'm suprised that there hasn't been more press on this

Mary,
We have been covering this in the last few issue's...Check out Len's editorial in the Sept/Oct issue.

[LuckyLady]

Mary,
We have been covering this in the last few issue's...Check out Len's editorial in the Sept/Oct issue.

Can you maybe post up an article or two?

The boys run off with my magazines and they end up in the bathrooms and I don't spend enough time in there to read em.

[Prime Time]

Can you maybe post up an article or two?

The boys run off with my magazines and they end up in the bathrooms and I don't spend enough time in there to read em.

http://www.biggamefishingjournal.com/editorial06.html


http://www.biggamefishingjournal.com/

[Prime Time]

http://www.biggamefishingjournal.com/editorial06.html


http://www.biggamefishingjournal.com/

http://www.biggamefishingjournal.com/editorial.html

[LuckyLady]

http://www.biggamefishingjournal.com/editorial.html

Perfect THANK YOU!