3 minute read
Editor’s Log
Editor’s Log Reefi ng the sales
Jessica Hathaway
Editor in Chief jhathaway@divcom.com
T
he recreational eet in the Gulf of Mexico has long relied on the backward logic that over shing their quota should result in the reward of more quota rather than limits. And now NMFS is, perhaps unwittingly, coming to the aid of those sport interests with new surveys. (Read more in our Mail Buoy on page 5 and my report on page 10.)
NMFS implemented Fishing E ort Surveys in 2018. What they found is that sport e orts have historically been three to ve times higher than previously believed. This is valuable data, as it supports improved tracking of recreational landings around the country. Commercial shermen are under more intense scrutiny every year. But they are not the only ones using the resource.
However, NMFS’ tack instead is an e ort to adjust quota allocations retroactively to give the sport sector more quota. To use proof of over shing over the span of four decades to justify an increase in quota to the few over the many is the antithesis of sustainable shery management.
It is also the calling card of awed IFQ standards. One of the biggest hurdles of IFQ implementation is establishing the qualifying years so as not to reward shermen who continued to sh a depleted stock. The shermen who back o a stock in an e ort to preserve sustainability often fear being cut out of quota history for their e orts.
This retroactive reckoning of the gulf reef sh quotas is in e ect a reward for decades of over shing in the sport sector. And why are they supported? Because they’ve made persuasive arguments that sport shing is vital to Gulf Coast communities.
Between commercial shermen, seafood wholesalers, restaurants and the tourists who frequent them on the Gulf Coast, there can be no argument that feeding the market with local wild sh is invaluable to those communities. The sport sh lobby — which represents roughly 11 percent of the population — is using the consolidation of the commercial eet post IFQ implementation to its advantage.
Commercial shermen who target the Gulf of Mexico reef sh population are far fewer in number than they were 20 years ago. But the catch of these few feeds the many.
If sport eets represent 11 percent of the population, then perhaps they should work harder to justify why they get more than 11 percent of the quota. Commercial shermen aren’t taking their haul home for the freezer. They sell it into the domestic food supply so everyone can partake of our wild resources, not just those lucky enough to own a boat.
On the cover
Kimberly Ann (a Calvin Beal 42 with a 750-hp FPT) takes the win in a Maine Lobster Boat Race, followed by the Miss Madelyn (an Osmond 42 with a 700-hp Scania, right) and the Terrie J. (a South Shore 42 with a 750-hp FPT, rear).
Jon Johansen photo They sell it into the domestic food supply so everyone can partake of our wild resources, not just those lucky enough to own a boat.
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