Making Waves Fall 2013

Making Waves |

Fall 2013

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NMFS Blinded By A Lack of Science PROFILE: RFA Board Member and Tackle Industry Executive Carl T. Huffman More Insanity in the Gulf Donofrio on our Elected Representatives in DC.

FLEECING OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE—More on Red Snapper MPA NEWS— Closures Proposed for the Keys & Massachusetts Volume2, 2, Issue Issue 31 Volume Fall 2013

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Making Waves |

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Making Waves |

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Page 32 Volume 2, Issue Summer 2013

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK Gary Caputi

The “Endangered” Red Snapper & Corruption in the Gulf I attended the Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association’s annual kingfish tournament in August, visiting with Capt. Tom Adams and his lovely wife Betty. I spent time with Nate Odum, the ‘soon-to-be’ newest member of the RFA Board of Directors, and hobnobbed with Congressman Steve Southerland, a true champion for recreational fishermen.

During my short stay I was able to sneak out fishing with Tom aboard his charter boat. Since the ridiculous 20-something-day red snapper season was closed to protect these “endangered” critters Tom decided we’d target red and gag grouper. Off we went, out about 25 miles to hit some structure spots, mostly manmade, that Tom had plugged into his plotter.

First spot, a small patch reef, the baits hit the bottom and we started hooking up. We reeled up one red snapper after another until a pair of bottlenose dolphins showed up and decided to eat the snappers off our lines. No grouper, just loads of red snapper. So we left Flipper in our wake and ran a couple miles to another spot. Repeat of the first, except the red snapper were so thick they were from the bottom up 50 feet in the water column. Every new spot was a repeat of the one before.

We hit a dozen spots in 5 hours with two anglers fishing. The day’s tally was one red grouper, one cobia, one lane snapper and over 130 red snapper carefully released.

Tom and other captains, anglers and divers I spoke with told me the same thing, that every structure area, shallow or deep, near of far, is blanketed with red snapper of all sizes and year classes eating everything in site. Now this begs the question—what is it that Dr. Roy Crabtree and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, along with their sponsors at NMFS, can possibly be using to justify the Draconian recreational fishing regulations on the species?

What is going on behind the curtain that is being hidden from the public, oh great and powerful Oz? It’s become glaringly obvious that the red snapper population is at an all-time high including the spawning stock biomass! Could it be incompetence? I doubt anyone is that incompetent! How about corruption? The money flying around the Gulf aimed at influencing the management of this fishery is unprecedented.

It’s time for an investigation of the workings of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, and the manner in which many of the advisory positions have seemingly been stacked with plants from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) or one of their ‘bought and paid for’ subordinate groups. From the Administration down to the regional council it’s apparent that the path is littered with visible evidence of fraud and collusion.

The goal seems obvious - steal the red snapper fishery from the public and turn it into a commodity that can be traded like soybean futures. Perhaps it’s time to pull back the curtain and see who’s really running Oz!

Inside this issue: Executive Director’s Report: On Our Elected Representatives

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RFA Issues & News

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Profiles: Carl Huffman RFA Board member; tackle industry executive

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John DePersenaire on NMFS’s Woeful Lack of Science

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MPA News: No Fishing in Key West Capt. Buddy Bradham

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MPA News: Mass. Anglers Facing Critical Area Closure Capt. Barry Gibson

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The Fleecing of the American People Capt. Thomas Hilton

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State Chapter News RFA Boots on the Ground Around the Nation

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Executive Director’s Report

THE DISTINGUISHED MEN & WOMEN OF WASHINGTON DC

By Jim Donofrio, RFA Executive Director Most of the claptrap coming out of Hollywood isn’t worth the time it takes out of our lives to go see it, but every once and a while a film hits the nail on the head. This one, starring Eddie Murphy, exposes DC politics for what it really is...

Jeff Johnson (Congressman): “Terry, tell

me something. With all this money coming in from both sides, how does anything ever get done?”

Terry Corrigan (Lobbyist): “It doesn't.

That's the genius of the system.”

Congress officially called recess at the beginning of August. Of course, not too many Americans noticed much of a performance drop since the month before, what with immigration reform, the Obama administration scandals and ongoing partisan bickering keeping a lid on most of America’s most pressing issues.

As the Washington Post recently reported, “Lawmakers hoping for a respite from

Washington’s intense lobbying climate won’t get a break back home during the August recess. Once a lull in the political calendar, August is now officially part of the high season. An array of interest groups has methodically plotted how to use the congressional recess to press causes.”

The recreational fishing industry is also a “cause,” and while we at the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) may take a little break on reporting back from Beltway politics, we are indeed an “interest group” – a political action organization that watches out for YOUR interests as saltwater angler and voter.

I don’t have to tell you, our most important issues – particularly denied angler access from a broken management system and flawed science – have gotten buried in the congressional gridlock. Yes, we do get a token hearing here and there as you’ll read in this edition of Making Waves, but it hasn't changed much since 2007 when we first called for Magnuson reform.

On the grassroots level, our teams on the

ground are trying to work the regional fisheries council process to get us better access to healthy stocks of fish, working what they can in a broken and flawed management process. But one of the toughest jobs I have as executive director and founder of the RFA is trying to explain what happens to common sense once those big wooden doors close on Capitol Hill.

If you’ve never seen the Eddie Murphy movie, The Distinguished Gentleman, I highly recommend that you look for it.

Yes, Murphy is a hilarious comedian, but the sad fact is that this 1992 comedy is more of a satire on our present political system.

The quotes at the beginning of this piece come from the movie, as rookie Congressman “Thomas” Jefferson Johnson, Murphy’s conman character, learns how to manage around the Beltway with the help of a top lobbyist named Terry Corrigan.

When trying to figure out his positions as newly minted Member of Congress whether for or against a particular issue Murphy’s character listens carefully to the advice of the powerful lobbyist.

“If you're for it, I can get you money from the doctors and the insurance companies," Corrigan says. "If you're against it, I can get you money from the trial lawyers."

You might laugh at some of the absurd interactions on the Hill during the satire, but it’s really no joke. There’s good reason why the American confidence level in Congress is somewhere around 10%!

When you watch The Distinguished Gentleman, pay particular attention to the discussion on committee assignment priorities as Murphy’s character tries to figure out how to get on the most powerful Committee in Congress, that which regu-

lates ‘power and industry’ (which he’s told is also called “the honey pot” because of all of the special interest money.)

“That would be seniority,” a legislative aide explains to Murphy’s character, adding “after six terms in office, say 12 years of

service, your name moves along the list, then before you know it you’re off the Fisheries Committee and on to Power and Industry.”

As horrific as that sounds, this my friends is what we are up against much of time.

Sure, there are plenty of legislators on the ‘fisheries committee’ in both the House and Senate who are there because of their strong ties to the coastal district and loyalty to the fishing community. Many Members of Congress don’t see ‘fisheries’ as a stepping stone to greatness, but we’re in a challenging battle against a well-funded majority that thinks nothing of our issues within the coastal district.

But surrender is not an option for us at the RFA, and when Congress returns in September we will be there, pushing for better transparency and fighting to make sense where there often is little commonsense. We believe strongly in the republic; and while Congress has a serious credibility problem right now, we will persevere on your behalf as the one political “interest group” with your rights defined by our mission.

I’ve been fighting for your right to fish for close to 20 years now, and while I agree this is about the worst I’ve ever seen it, I still believe that Congress can once again become an institution of distinction, recognized for excellence and respected for achievement.

It has to.

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RFA Issues & News

By Jim Hutchinson, RFA Managing Director

Each news item includes corresponding hyperlinks. For more information, simply click on the link to read the release in its entirety.

FIGHT OVER NATURAL GAS PORT OFF LONG ISLAND Liberty Natural Gas is hoping to build and operate what would be the first delivery port for liquefied natural gas in New York State, and one of just a few in the country. The company, along with its supporters, argues that the deepwater import terminal, which would be called Port Ambrose, would lower heating costs by increasing supply and competition, create hundreds of construction-related jobs and generate millions of dollars in state and federal tax revenue.

Opponents say that the port would deepen the region’s reliance on fossil fuels and stall efforts to shift toward cleaner forms of energy, like wind and solar. The Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) is monitoring the process, listening to both sides, and working to represent the recreational fishing community along the way.

As reported in the New York Times, RFA is is one of many groups in the region that are reviewing the proposal, though as RFA executive director Jim Donofrio points, the “showroom environmentalists” are simply trying to dismiss the Port Ambrose proposal on its face, without weighing all the facts. “I want to see them heat their homes on windmills,” Donofrio told the New York Times. http:// www.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/nyregion/plans-for-a-natural-gas-port-stir-concerns-on-long-island.html?_r=0

RFA’S 7-YEAR FIGHT FOR MAGNUSON REFORM GAINS NEW ALLY The ranks of supporters Magnuson flexibility are growing and in unexpected places! That’s the message heard by members of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard in a July 23 hearing looking at New England and Mid Atlantic region perspectives on the upcoming reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. It’s also a message greatly appreciated by the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) which has spent the past 7 years trying to build support for reforming the federal fisheries law to provide a better balance of commerce, conservation and access for recreational fishermen.

In opening testimony from a three-member panel of fisheries managers, a common theme was that changes made in the 2006/2007 reauthorization of the Act have had a major impact on the socioeconomic state of both commercial and recreational fisheries in the Northeast region, and not all of it good. Rip Cunningham, chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) noted that with little ability to predict and no ability to control the environmental changes that are key drivers in the rebuilding progress, “we think management should focus on ending overfishing and not arbitrary rebuilding timeframes.”

“The New England Council feels that the focus should be on preventing overfishing, not on a set rebuilding timeline,” said Cunningham, formerly a loud and vocal critic of efforts to amend the portion of Magnuson-Stevens to address the arbitrary rebuilding deadlines. “We don’t have the scientific information that’s exact enough to allow us to rebuild to that set time period.” Read more at The Fishing Wire. http://www.thefishingwire.com/story/294408

HALIBUT CATCH ‘SHARING’ PLAN THREATENS HOMER’S CHARTER FISHING FLEET A new Halibut Catch Sharing Plan published in the Federal Register on June 28, during the height of the fishing season, would reallocate up to 30 or 50 percent of the fish from the recreational anglers to the commercial sector. Under most circumstances, this would result in a reduction in the bag limit for “guided anglers” who fish on charter vessels from two halibut to one; then the plan would offer anglers the “opportunity” to “rent” a second fish by paying a commercial quota shareholder.

According to Jim Martin, RFA’s West Coast Regional Director, charter operators are justifiably worried about the viability of their businesses under this plan. In an editorial in the Homer Tribute of Alaska, Martin asks rhetorically if anglers would be willing to pay thousands of dollars for lodging, food, airfare and a fishing trip for one fish that may weigh 14 pounds, on average?

“When SE Alaska was limited to one halibut, charter operators suffered a 50% loss in their business,” Martin writes, explaining “many local charter operators fear a total loss of their business if this rule is implemented.”

How does NOAA Fisheries justify such a plan? Martin describes how the problem statement points to an “uncompensated reallocation” of halibut when guided anglers exceed their harvest guideline (this happened once in the last decade.) For the past several years, the guided angler harvest has been below its limit. The problem statement is no longer valid. The solution, according to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, is to allocate less fish to the guided angler sector and shift it to commercial harvest. Check out Jim Martin’s full column on the halibut catch sharing plan in the Homer Tribune. http://homertribune.com/2013/07/halibut-catch-sharing-plan-threatens-homers-charter-fishing-fleet/

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RED SNAPPER HEARING IN WASHINGTON The House Natural Resources Committee met in Washington DC on Thursday, June 27th to address red snapper management in the Gulf of Mexico with one word spoken more than just about any other except ‘snapper’ itself and that’s flexibility!

“Red snapper is one of the most valuable fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico, yet the management of the recreational sector of the fishery has not provided the flexibility for States and communities to maximize the economic value for the charter sector, the weekend angler, or the coastal communities,” said Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA).

Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) was invited to sit in on the Committee hearing on behalf of his coastal constituents and noted that he is an avid saltwater angler with an “extreme passion” for the sport. “Now that it’s been cut to 28 days it’s one of those things I won’t get to do this year, not for snapper anyway,” Scott said, criticizing NOAA specifically for failing to meet its commitment to the fishing community and misrepresenting their intentions with the fisheries restrictions in limiting the red snapper season for anglers.

“One boat dealer in Georgia went from selling $15 million a year worth of offshore boats before you changed your rules to about $3 million,” Scott said, adding “he went from 15 employees to where nobody other than the family and one mechanic works there. What you did hurt the economy in these states.”

Pam Anderson of Anderson’s Marina in Panama City Beach, FL also put much of the blame on the way the Magnuson-Stevens Act was rewritten leading up to its official reauthorization in early 2007. “Despite the good intentions of Congress to grow and maintain a healthy fishery, there have been significant unintended consequences with the 2007 Magnuson Act,” Anderson said.

“Though fishery managers have been slow and even derelict in updating stock assessments and catch surveys, make no mistake, all of the new Annual Catch Limits (ACLs) and Accountability Measures (AMs) of the 2007 Magnuson were put in place as quickly as they could implement them,” Anderson said, explaining how ACLs and AMs have crushed the recreational fishing industry.

RFA executive director Jim Donofrio said a recent trade industry survey showed that more than 61% of the nation’s boat owners use their boats for fishing, a key indicator of economic activity – or inactivity – in the coastal community. Click here to see RFA’s bulletin on this hearing, and view more press releases and announcements at www.joinrfa.org/blog.

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WHAT’S YOUR FREEDOM TO FISH WORTH What is your right to fish actually worth? A dollar a month? Ten dollars a month? How about $100,000 a month?!?! Actually, $100K a month is about what Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) pays on average to their lobbying firm at K&L Gates, the same firm hired to represent commercial fishermen in a recent Gulf of Mexico in a lawsuit that argues how recreational fishermen aren’t being punished enough by our federal government.

The federal lawsuit filed by the EDF-funded Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance said the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) doesn’t have strong enough measures in place to prevent recreational fishermen from exceeding our annual catch limit of red snapper, and it argues for more restrictive recreational accountability measures in the red snapper fishery. Click here to read more about the lawsuit.

Just days after exposing the lobbyists in this attempted takeover of coastal fisheries, Jack Sterne, EDF’s Director of Strategic Alliances and co-founder of the environmental lobbying organization called Oceans Champions, said that the problems with “short seasons and bag limits are robbing the recreational side of the fishery,” as he joined fellow EDF staffer Pam Baker in calling for recreational catch shares in the form of “harvest tags, similar to those used to allot hunting privileges for limited game populations like deer and elk.”

According to Baker, “tags could be allocated throughout the year to accommodate tourist seasons, tournaments, and other priorities.”

Very similar to the lead balloon introduced by a Houston-based conservation group at the Gulf Council back in 2009, Baker and EDF suggest that “Angler management organizations, which receive a given amount of fish to distribute at the local level and allow anglers to manage themselves in cooperation with regulators, also have promise.”

In this two-part series (Part I and Part II), RFA executive director Jim Donofrio asks the obvious question. “One has to wonder if EDF has already hand-selected the angler management organizations that they would support being given ownership rights of red snapper stock in the Gulf of Mexico.”

“I guess that organization or business owner probably sees dollar signs when thinking of the possibility of being the sole retailer of recreational fishing opportunity in the future,” he added.

Go to www.joinrfa.org for more.

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Making Waves |

Fall 2013

profiles Carl T. Huffman, Member RFA Board of Directors

Carl Huffman has spent a lifetime much mechanical advantage. One fishing and working for companies day P.T. had a brainstorm, he involved in the manufacturing of would develop an electric motor products used by recreational fishermen. He grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina at the feet of his father P.T., who owned one of the largest trucking company in the State.

P.T. was a fisherman, initially freshwater, until he was introduced to saltwater fishing and that quickly became his passion.

Young Carl followed in his father’s footsteps fishing with him as a boy and later when he returned from servicing his country.

Initially they trolled for the regions abundant gamefish, but when P.T. tried his hands at bottom fishing for grouper and snapper, the trolling went out the window and he became a devoted sinker bouncer. With so many great eating fish to be caught in 200 to 300 feet of water why waste your time on such mundane species as tuna and marlin.

math savant,” Carl told us. “He could work out complicated mathematical equations regarding gears, retrieve speeds, electric motor RPMs, torque, basically everything needed to designing an electric drive system, in his head! So once he put his mind to building an electric reel he was unstoppable. He spent time contacting electric motor companies to get just the right motors; searching out the right gears and bushings to meet his specifications, and machining the parts he would need to get it to mate to a Penn reel so he could put it all together.”

It was a process that had to take into account the weaknesses of the reels available in those days.

The old Penn Senators were good reels, but powering them with electric motors capable of putting The more they bottom Carl with a nice tuna caught recently while fishing out more torque fished, the more P.T. saw near Bimini in the Bahamas. than the gears and a need for a way to get shafts could handle around all the cranking associated and gear assembly to drive his old required a lot of thinking because with it. Remember, this was in the Penn reels and make deep drop any system is only as good as its 1960’s when reels were geared fishing a lot easier. weakest link. P.T. was very aware of very low and didn’t offer the angler “My father was something of a the fact that his drive systems were

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skills kept him out of the conflict and stateside. He completed his two years in 1970, the year EFRS was incorporated, and came home to Greensboro to work at the company with his dad.

P.T. Huffman, the man behind America’s first electric fishing reels.

capable of tearing the guts out of the reels if the user was to crank down on the drag too tightly so he would actually under power them so the reels would hold up at the expense of the drives.

“While he was working on his early system, which was really for his own use and not a commercial venture, he mentioned it to some of his fishing buddies and they told him, ‘If you’re going to build one for yourself you might as well make one for me, too’,” Carl said recounting the stories from so long ago.

“The word of mouth about his drives started getting around to charter captains and other fishermen and it created demand for the drives. In 1970 it spawned a new company—Electric Fishing Reel Systems, Inc. The drives became known as Elec-Tra-Mates and still are today.”

Carl entered college at Wingate in 1964 and finished the last two years leading up to graduation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was drafted into the Army in 1968 during the early years of the Vietnam War, but his

“The first Elec-tra-Mate system was designed to fit the most popular reel of the day, the Penn 6/0 Senator, so demand was pretty strong,” Carl recounted. “I took on the role of sales manager and started going after tackle distributors from North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico. If I couldn’t get a distributor to take on the product line I would go directly to the leading tackle shops and fish boat captains in their area and create a demand for the product. It worked and EFRS sales increased steadily.”

tional 130 big game reel. There are systems built specifically for people with physical disabilities so they can enjoy the sport Carl loves so much. EFRS systems are employed by fishermen on every continent in dozens of countries and offshoots of the main company manufacture specialty products for military and even use in space.

The introduction of the 1380GH drive system, the most powerful reel drive system in the world, allowed for the development of special teaser and dredge reels that meet the needs of the most demanding applications in saltwater.

The product line continues to grow in new and unexpected ways.

Watch for the new remotecomputer controlled teaser/dredge reel system and the new Ultimate In 1981 Carl yearned for a move to Dredge, too that were recently inwarmer climes. He left the compatroduced. ny and took a job with Fin-Nor reel company based out of Miami, Flori- But Carl isn’t just about business, da as the national sales manager. he has also been involved in fisherHe worked there for three years ies issues on a local and national dramatically increasing sales, leav- basis. After his company joined the ing for a job with ACR Electronics American Fishing Tackle Manufacin the Vexlar sonar division where, turer’s Association in 1974 he beas sales manager, he was equally came the North Carolina associasuccessful. His next stop was nation representative and testified on tional sales manager for Blackfin Yachts, but in 1990 a call from his father asking him to come home and run the family business brought Carl back to his boyhood home in Greensboro. After a long heart-to-heart with his father he took the reins of EFRS. He started off by designing bigger, faster, more powerful drive systems. Systems large enough to handle everything and anything, and he hasn’t looked back since.

Today the company offers 28 different drive systems for 48 different Penn, Fin-Nor and Shimano reels ranging from lightweight models for the Penn V4500 spinning reel and 320 GT2 levelwind reels to Carl with a massive lingcod caught in models that can drive an InternaAlaska. He does get around!

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Making Waves |

a number of recreational fishing related issues before various state agencies. The more he learned about the fisheries management system and how screwed up it can be the more he got involved. He started attending the meetings of the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council and then got involved in countering the Gulf Council on a number of recreational gear related issues that, like so many things the Gulf Council does, made little sense other than to confuse the issue or make life harder on anglers. More recently Carl was invited to become a member of the board of directors of the Recreational Fishing Alliance.

“The RFA is an important organization,” said Huffman, “one of the

very few that actually fights for recreational fishermen’s right to fish.

Conservation is always an important issue, but in recent years

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Managers restricting recreational fishing without good, solid data to back up their decisions are doing great harm to the sport, the industry, tourism and so much more. Recreational fishing is an enormous economic engine for the nation and it needs to be protected and nurtured, not shut down for no good reason. So when the RFA asked me to get involved I was proud to serve and still am.”

The RFA is just as proud to have a veteran of the industry like Carl T. Huffman on the board. His history and background in the industry are a huge resource. His love of the sport the overriding concern has been and desire to share it with people the loss of access to rebuilding or from all walks of life is commendarebuilt fisheries to recreational fishble. Thank you for your undying ermen and that is just plain wrong! help and support.

www.FLOSCAN.com

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RED SNAPPER, STRIPED BASS & SUMMER FLOUNDER: How NOAA is Blinded by a Woeful Lack of Science!

By John DePersenaire RFA Policy & Science Researcher

S

ummer is stock assessment season, and the 2013 season has been an important year for several key recreational fisheries, most notably, Gulf of Mexico red snapper, Atlantic striped bass and summer flounder. All of these assessments come at a time when debates are heating up in regards to management response for these important fisheries.

For red snapper, the assessment clearly illustrates how booming availability coupled with ever more restrictive regulations has pushed recreational discards over 1.4 million fish per year and making an even stronger case for federal fisheries reform.

On the Atlantic striped bass front, anglers are experiencing a predicted low point in stock size as the above average 2003 year class moves out of the fishery. Increased natural morality, especially in the Chesapeake Bay, the largest contributor to the coastal migratory stock, as well as below average recruitment, has caused a dip in the spawning stock biomass which will likely last until 2016. Preliminary information from assessment working papers suggests a reduction in fishing mortality of up to 20%.

In terms of summer flounder, projections being created by the southern demersal working group which runs the fluke assessment predict a slight downtick in spawning stock biomass over the next few years. Under a constant fishing mortality management approach, the overall catch limits will likely be reduced since quota set off of a constant fishing mortality rate are driven by stock size.

HOW FLEXIBILITY WORKS Let’s take a look at summer flounder a little further, particularly given the fact that the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is even looking at summer flounder management as one possible

model of regionalized fisheries management in the Gulf. Since the last reauthorization of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) in 2006, the collective fishing industry in concert with academics in the MidAtlantic region have put a great deal of effort and expense into the improvement of the summer flounder stock assessment.

This effort was paramount in moving toward the use of a stock recruit relationship model that addressed compensation, an ecological affect where stock production starts to slow and then decline when the stock size approaches then surpass its carry capacity. The previous model did not account for this ecological principle and predicted flat growth once the carry capacity was reached but no decline. This was not supported by empirical information.

The management effect of using this model manifested in NOAA threatening summer flounder quotas so low in the final years of the original rebuilding plan that directed fishing for fluke would be unlikely even with stock size being at or near historic levels of abundance. One positive outcome of this dire situation was that Congress was prompted into action and language was included in the 2006 MSA reauthorization to extend the rebuilding plan by 3 years. With the summer flounder fishery given now under a 13-year rebuilding plan (as opposed to the previous 10-year plan), the stock continued to grow and in fact, met its rebuilding target ahead of time while the commercial and recreational fishermen were allowed modest access to the fishery.

This exercised illustrated that firm adherence to arbitrary rebuilding deadlines is not always necessary and that conservation goals can be achieved with the use of limited management flexibility. Unfortunately, the environmental industry, many

members Congress and a small fraction of those in the recreational fishing community cry hysteria if arbitrary, non-science based rebuilding timeframes are not followed. Summer flounder is the perfect example for limited management flexibility – even with a limited 3-year deadline extension, anglers were still allowed access to a fishery as it reached its successful rebuild target.

NEW STAKEHOLDER SCIENCE Immediately after the reauthorization and extension of the summer flounder rebuilding plan, the industry, particularly through the Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund (SSFFF) and the Partnership for Mid Atlantic Fishery Science (PMAFS), embarked on a massive effort to bolster the amount and quality of data used to run the summer flounder assessment. In addition, the group brought in the best population dynamics modelers into the assessment process. The first product of this effort was the use of a more sophisticated catch at age model which could account for variable mortality and growth parameters by sex and age. This produced more realistic biological reference points such as rebuilding targets and maximum sustainable yield values. It also provided more accurate projections on future stock size.

The consequence of using the more sophisticated model was that it demanded high quality data on sex and age.

PMAFS, with support from SSFFF, undertook a 2-year sampling program to gather biological data from commercially and recreationally caught summer flounder.

This information is being incorporated into the current assessment.

Without a doubt, the summer flounder assessment, with the aid of the industry and academia, will be one of the best assessments for a fishery under federal management. However, don't start highfiving your fishing buddies just yet be-

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cause the stock assessment is just one part of the three-part pie that governs the recreational summer flounder fishery. The whole process consists of the stock assessment itself, our federal fisheries law (MSA), and the recreational data collection portion. Unfortunately, the recreational sector will be plagued be plagued by poor data collection programs for the near future (as expressed by Dr. Richard Merrick of NOAA Fisheries at a recent Senate hearing, testifying under oath that the agency ‘hoped’ to have improvements done "in the near future."

Loosely translated, NOAA Fisheries is not really motivated to make the changes and they have no real deadline for doing it.

OLD NEWS AT NOAA Despite the improvements to the summer flounder stock assessment, the recreational data collection programs that estimate recreational summer flounder catch contain massive amounts of error. Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection scientist Dr. Vic Crecco once found that the recreational data collection num-

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bers overestimated the number of saltwater anglers by up to 250% which has a huge impact on harvest estimates. This overestimation is inexcusable considering the universe of anglers is now known through the registry/license programs as mandated by MSA. Another study coordinated by Dr. Eleanor Bochenek and others demonstrated that angler recall on their own catch was significantly inaccurate. Their 2011 journal published paper found that anglers overestimated their summer flounder discards by 243% and their summer flounder landing by 180%. The Marine Recreational Fishing Statistical Survey (MRFSS) and Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) models for recreational data collection are primarily driven by angler recall and therefore, little confidence can be give to MRFSS/MRIP estimates even when the reported proportional standard error is low.

This is particularly troublesome when MRFSS/MRIP is used for the application of annual catch limit monitoring in the recreational sector.

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Don't despair that all the efforts to improve the summer flounder stock assessment are for naught due to the persistent inaccuracies and misuse of MRFSS/MRIP. If anything, the substantial commitment by Congress, the industry and academia to improve the summer flounder assessment should be provide motivation and leverage to force NOAA to make the required improvement to MRFSS/MRIP. There are answers to the troubling lack of data persistent in federal fisheries management; highly regarded scientists and fisheries biologists are working hand-inhand with members of both the commercial and recreational fishing community to help improve the science. With the help of both Congress and the Department of Commerce which manages NOAA Fisheries, perhaps the summer of stock assessments will lead to improved relationships between stakeholders and the bureaucrats.

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MPA News: NO FISHING IN KEY WEST!

By Capt. Buddy Bradham

D

id that headline get your attention? That could soon be the headline in Key West newspapers if NOAA Fisheries and the Keys National Marine Sanctuary have their way.

An advisory panel for theses agencies has mapped out over a 100 square miles that could be turned into Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Keys, Dry Tortugas, and Marquesas Keys. This panel held a meeting in Key West on August 20, 2013 to start the process of moving forward with closures.

As we have seen many times in the past NOAA has no sound science to make these decisions. When I was working in the marine science field, I took part in several MPA fisheries studies, one of which was in the Dry Tortugas. During this study I had to rely on my GPS to tell me if I was inside or outside the MPA because the samples were so close to the same. The reasons I have heard for making these MPAs is for more protection to the coral that has died off at alarming rates and to protect the spawning population of spawning grouper and snapper.

I do have to agree with one part, the coral reefs are dying in the Keys, however the primary reason I was provided from one biologist working with coral is that it stems from pollution run off from the Keys. This was very easy for me to believe with the rate the population has grown there.

It is interesting how this group talks of protecting the spawning populations.

Last year NOAA agreed for the Gulf Council to lift a long standing rule in the Gulf of Mexico for grouper being closed during the months of February and

March, the spawning season. My personal opinion on this is no one in NOAA has any idea about what other sections are doing. The National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) says the grouper spawn needs no protection yet the National Marine Sanctuary says we need to protect them. Wonder if they ever even talk to one another about what's going on?

If these closures take place it will put the Florida Keys in one of the biggest longterm economic disasters ever seen. The Keys survive because of tourists coming to fish, dive and go lobstering. This will all come to an end as we know it today.

With over 200 charter captains in the Keys, and hundreds if not thousands of private boats, it will not take long for the areas that will be left open to be overfished. "Islamorada's charter fleet would beat the hell out of unclosed areas because that would be the only place they can fish," guide Greg Eklund said. "You can't enforce the areas you have now...there are tons of options without these draconian closures."

I have talked with several of the local captains and they said that for a meeting held during work hours, there was a good turnout. These captains were not very happy when it came to giving testimony at this meeting; only 11 out of about 150 were able to testify and three of these were connected to the Marine sanctuary.

Capt. Rob Harris of Key West and owner of Easy Rider Sportfishing Charters was one of the few that were allowed to testify. "It was obvious that the Florida Keys

National Marine Sanctuary group intended to move forward with the closures,” Capt. Rob said, adding “if they had planned on abandoning the idea, they would have so stated instead of looking for a way to conduct the follow-up meetings. Had they planned on abandoning the ideas, they could have said so, and the 150 people would have gone about their business."

This fight has just begun. This fight is not just a Florida or Keys battle either, it is for every fisherman that has ever fished the Keys - or the ones like I, who once "dreamed” of the chance to fish the Florida Keys for bonefish, permit, tarpon, dolphin, sails, and a host of other fish. My dream came true, and I left the Carolina's, moved to Florida and have spent many days fishing in the Keys.

Plain and simple, we have got to keep these waters open for the others with dreams and our kids and grandkids, the future fishermen of America.

This was kept very quiet for a very long time. I only learned of it a couple of days before this meeting. I will tell you that the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) and the RFA-Florida West Coast members especially will be in this battle until the end. We have seen enough of these senseless regulations forced upon Florida, the Fishing Capital of the World. You will be see follow-up emails in the following weeks from the RFA and you can check Capt. Rob's website at www.EasyRiderChartersKeyWest.com or email me Buddy.Bradham@yahoo.com for updates and our game plan. We will win this battle.

Page 18 The Gulf Council meets the last week of August and we have several issues that we have been working on. Amendment 39 Regional Management is going to Final Hearing, which the Council has moved ahead of Recreational Data Collection. Can you believe that Congress mandated NMFS to have incorporated a better data collection effort by 2009 and this is the way the Gulf Council is still handling it? To just put it on a back burner and we will get to it later? Without proper data collection, Amendment 39 is a useless piece of paper.

This plan does have some good features to it, but are they really any good when NMFS is still setting the Total Allowable Catch? This plan would give states control of the red snapper fishery to 200 miles, allowing them to set the seasons, size limit, and bag limit. Quota will be set for each state by historical landings, but once again the NMFS is going to use its "fatally flawed� data to set that quota.

Making Waves | Take for example that the preliminary data for the new Louisiana recreational data plan shows how bad this data could be; it shows that NMFS has overestimated their landings by 70% or 1.5 million pounds for the last season. Each state will shut down the season in that state when the quota has been caught. How can the state know if the quota has been caught without a recreational data plan?

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ational date collection plan is in place in each Gulf Coast State. We have submitted letters to stop this to the council.

At this meeting the Council plans on having the first discussion on Inter-Sector Trading for the gulf red snapper. This is the same plan that Alaska is fighting that will allow charter for-hire boats and private boats to lease fish from the commercial sector at market prices. I read the paper released on this plan this week. It is one of the most unfair acts I have seen by the Council. The dual-permitted charter boats that hold a charter and commercial license will be able to use the quota they have on their boats to keep the price of charters down. The charter boat that has to lease quota has to pay fish house prices, which is about $5 a pound to the commercial fisherman after the fish has been weighed.

NMFS does not have a proper recreational data system, nor has the agency met the 2006 congressional requirements to utilize a universal angler registry. The only states to have their data collection in decent working order is Texas (where there are questions currently with the Texas methodology), and Louisiana. Florida is working on a recreational data collection plan; I sit on the working group for this plan and can tell you that it will be another year or two before the plan is ready to put to put in place. RFA-Florida West When you consider that the average red Coast has taken a stand that a plan like snapper weighs about 8 pounds, each this can't be moved forward until a recre- fish would cost about $40 in a leasing

This chart shows the massive expansion of MPAs being proposed for the Florida Keys.

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price. That of course will drive the price of a charter up, so most people will not take one. The commercial fishermen who own the red snapper shares will control to what boats they lease to and which ones they do not. This is just another unfair act that NOAA is using to reduce the fishing fleet, which ultimately is the long term plan.

We will tell you more as this moves through the Council process.

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is once again trying to push “sector separation” into the Gulf. This time they at using some of their backed charter for-hire boats from Alabama; they have applied for an Exempted Fishing Permit so they can take recreational quota and fish year around.

Tabbed the Alabama Charter For Hire Exempted Fishing Permit, this group of fishermen will only be made up of Alabama charter boats. We have found several problems in this application and have sent

Page 19 a letter to Council to try and stop this on the tagging database. Josh informed her the first reading. that this tag was not in the data base and that she may want to contact his dad, Ron The Council will pick members to a new Taylor, a respected snook biologist. Josh Ad HOC Red Snapper Individual Fishing also told her that his dad had done a red Quota Advisory Panel. With the talk start- drum tagging study a few years back and ing of inter-sector trading of IFQs. Capt. this may be one of his fish that was not in Tom Adams, RFA’s Forgotten Coast chap- the data base. Sarah went to Ron and sure ter chair and myself both thought it was a enough this was one of his fish. The “few good idea to get on this panel to support years” turned into 1989 when this fish was ideas from the charter for-hire and private tagged at 27 inches in length and estimatboats. We both applied and will know ed to be a 3-year-old fish at the time. after the meeting if we were chosen.

That makes this recently tagged red drum For some better news, Sarah Walters, a 27 years old - the oldest red drum that the biologist with Florida Fish and Wildlife Fish and Wildlife Commission has on reccaught a 39-inch tagged red drum in the ord is 35 years! Now you see why this nearshore waters off Tampa Bay. Catching was such a special fish. a tagged red drum in this area is usually a fairly common thing considering that Fish We have been very busy trying to get one and Wildlife have over 2000 tagged red step ahead of NOAA. Tight Lines and I drum - but this fish is different than most hope the fish gods smile on you until the recaptured. When Sarah returned to the next time. lab, she called Josh Taylor, who oversees

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More MPA News: Massachusetts Anglers Face Potential for Critical Closure!

By Capt. Barry Gibson, NE Regional Director Bay State anglers, as well as party and charter boat operators, who target bottom fish such as cod, haddock and pollock may soon be shut out of a productive 55square-mile area in the name of “research.”

where groundfish spawn.

Many of the alternative in the draft document are sensible and reasonable, but one proposal is of real

-square-mile Sanctuary Ecological Research Area, or SERA II, at the lower portion of the current Western Gulf of Maine Closed Area, which has been closed to commercial groundfish fishing (but open to recreational fishing) since 1994.

This area would restrict certain commercial fishing gears.

The New England Fishery Management Council, after years of investigation Howand discusever, a prosion, is in posed 55the process square-mile of finalizing “reference ara compreea” at the hensive plan southern end to manage of the SERA II and protect would be the ocean closed to recbottom reational within their groundfish purview, fishing (as part basically of the WGOMstate waters CA it has alPrivate anglers and for-hire vessels are faced with the proposed closure of one of the remaining pro- ready been out to the 200-mile ductive cod and haddock areas left after large trawlers were allowed on Stellwagen Bank compet- closed to comlimit. The mercial fishing with their sector and wiping out the stocks in one season. plan, known ing) for the as the next five years “Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat concern to sport fishermen. The man- or longer. “The idea is to assess what Amendment 2” contains a large num- agers of the Stellwagen Bank National effect fish removals have on the ber of options for closing sensitive hab- Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS), an 842stocks,” said Dr. Craig MacDonald, itat areas and restricting certain types square-mile stretch of bottom in feder- SBNMS’s superintendent. “Right now of fishing gears in others to either pro- al waters at the mouth of Massachuparty, charter, and private anglers are tect the bottom environment or areas setts Bay, are looking to establish a 251 catching fish in this area. We want to

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The darker blue area on the chart is the proposed Sanctuary Ecological Research Area, or SERA II. The red rectangle at the bottom, the "refrence area," is a section that would be closed to all recreational and party/charter bottom fishing for five years or longer if Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary managers get their way. The land mass at top left is Cape Ann (Gloucester), at the bottom left is Cape Cod.

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see what happens if all fishing is stopped. Perhaps the average fish size will go up.”

The SBNMS is using the Omnibus Habitat as a vehicle to put the closure in place, and MacDonald defends the process. “It’s not us (SBNMS) putting this in place, it’s the Council,” he said.

“We’re no different from anyone else who would like to see certain changes and restrictions in the plan.” His defense rings a bit hollow with area party and charter operators, who believe MacDonald and his staffers have been slowly working to restrict fishing and other activities in the Sanctuary for a number of years now.

Party and charter skippers, particularly those who run out of ports along Massachusetts’ South Shore and Cape Cod, are especially upset because the proposed reference area is where they are now forced to fish on many trips. Sector management, implemented by the NEFMC a couple of years

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ago, has allowed big draggers to work the top of Stellwagen Bank for cod, an area where the party and charter boats have historically done very well.

data is skewed. “Guys enter one set of coordinates into the VTR, but they actually fished many different spots during the day. If the initial set of coordinates is outside the reference area, no activity is recorded in there even if they spent most of the trip inside the boundaries.”

“Those cod have all been caught there,” says Capt. Tom DePersia of Bigfish Charters out of Green Harbor.

“They never should have allowed the There is no question that the draggers on top of the bank. They’ve proposed reference closure will have a significant impact on the party/charter ruined it for everyone else.” fleet, but so far the SBNMS and NEFMC Capt. DePersia said he now have appeared to turn a deaf ear. A often has to travel an additional ten number of Council meetings are schedmiles or more offshore to deeper water uled for the next several months, and to find fish. “We catch pollock and redthere will be a round of public hearings fish out there, and much of this activity when the plan document is finalized. is now taking place in the proposed RFA members are strongly urged to reference area. If that becomes closed attend the hearings and speak out to us, we have nowhere else to go.” against the reference area as it is currently sited. “They should get rid of it or NEFMC staffers defend the lomove it to the east where it won’t imcation of the proposed closure, citing Vessel Trip Report (VTR) data that they pact us,” says Capt. DePersia. feel shows little party/charter fishing in For more information on the the area. DePersia, however, along with plan and a schedule of public hearings, many other skippers, believe that the when available, visit www.nefmc.org.

AVAILABLE AT WEST MARINE AND OTHER RETAILERS

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Making Waves |

When he isn’t busy taking care of RFA business he can sometimes be found catching dinner.,

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The Fleecing of the American People

One Fisherman at a Time

By Capt. Thomas J. Hilton The Plan began in earnest back in 2006, when The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) began bragging about how their Oceans Team was instrumental in crafting and passing the changes to the Magnuson Stevens Act that introduced a marketbased approach to fisheries management called “Catch Shares.” These are the same

people who pushed for “Cap and Trade” in the carbon emissions industry a while back. Not surprisingly, Catch Shares are simply “Cap and Trade” for fisheries; the difference being fisheries are publicly owned resources. It is a way for wellfunded corporate interests in the fishing industry to fleece the American Taxpayer

in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago.

Environmental corporations, financed by hundreds of millions of donated dollars are changing the way our fisheries are being managed today, and most probably forever. Their approach is not good news for today’s fishermen, their children, or even the fisheries they claim to care so much about protecting for that matter.

NOAA Fisheries has been a willing accomplice in this scam as NOAA leadership and the fisheries management councils have been infiltrated and controlled by the enviro -ideologues over the past 10 or so years.

Starting in 2007, immediately after the “Hijacking” of our fisheries management process by EDF, the NMFS began micromanaging the Gulf recreational red snapper fishery. From 2000 - 2006, we fished 194 day seasons, enjoyed sensible fish bag limits, and stayed (for the most part) below our 4.5 million pound total allowable catch (TAC).

Fast forward to 2013, and the NMFS has the audacity to claim that we were somehow able to land about 7 MILLION POUNDS of red snapper in a mere 28 days. Never mind that their own data shows that the Gulf offshore recreational effort has declined by about 40% since 2007. Never mind that it defies not only logic, but the laws of physics for recreational fishermen to go from landing about 23,000 pounds per day (2000-2007) to over 250,000 pounds per day in 2013. It’s simply ludicrous.

It’s all about taking the valuable red snapper public resource and giving it to a small group of well connected businessmen.

It is my firm belief that these astronomical increases in our landings poundage are simply conjured up out of thin air in the NMFS offices in St. Pete, designed to act as a mechanism to exert pressure to accept the Catch Share Plan being force-fed

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to fishermen by EDF and the GMFMC. The whole idea is to keep artificially reducing the seasons and bag limits until there isn’t much in the way of fishing opportunities left, then offer their solution to the situation — a mechanism to ‘cap’ fishing participation while ‘trading’ away ownership of the resource.

recently suggested implementing recreational IFQs (catch shares) in the Gulf. I find it appalling that a state fisheries manager would promote a scheme to privatize our Public Trust Resource, that they supposedly provide stewardship of for their constituents. That’s just plain wrong, any way you slice it.

Catch Shares!

In my own state of Texas, fisheries managers seem to be as much a part of the problem as the NMFS, something I am sorry to report. This could be the beginning of a major disaster for Texas recreational fisheries if regional management is approved. Texas is unique among Gulf States in that our fisheries commission has retained responsibility for collection of private recreational and charter/for-hire red snapper landings data. According to their figures, Texas charter boats landed enough snapper for about 16 boats to fish 30 days in 2012. Never mind that we had a 47 day season and about 200 federallypermitted charter boats - if a more reasonable assumption was made, the landings would be much closer to 500,000 pounds not 39,000.

I was talking with a well-respected captain out of Orange Beach recently while at the San Antonio Gulf Council meeting and he exclaimed that all he was trying to do was SURVIVE. He had recently changed his stance on Catch Shares and was now willing to accept them. I told him that he was buckling to the EDF/NMFS plan of divide and conquer. I believe that if the NMFS had improved its data collections methods by January 1, 2009, as mandated

by Congress in the 2007 reauthorization of the Magnuson Stevens Act, then we wouldn’t be seeing these Draconian measures and it would have been revealed that there is an ample supply of fish to go around for everyone to fish at least 6 months out of the year without the need for Catch Shares.

But, since the NMFS controls the data, they control the perception that the fishery is still in dire straits and fishing mortality must be curtailed! In fishery management perception is reality when you get to make up the numbers as Congress sits on its hands refusing to put pressure on the Agency to get real catch data!

One big kink in their master plan occurred earlier this year when the State of Louisiana implemented its own data collection program through their Offshore Landings Permit. It revealed that the NMFS data collection techniques have been overestimating Louisiana offshore recreational effort by about 70%! You would think that this fact, supported by irrefutable evidence, would sound an alarm bell to the other four Gulf state’s fisheries commissions, but I don’t think it has. You would think that it is their obligation to implement their own state-run data collection systems to serve as a checks-and-balance to the Federal data program to ensure that their constituents are being treated fairly under the Federal Regulatory System, but apparently that is not the case.

The good news is that Louisiana has in fact now withdrawn from MRIP and Florida is looking for ways to implement its own boat permit system. The bad news is that Alabama is pushing for Sector Separation and Kevin Anson of the Alabama DNR

If they base our percentage of allocation on these egregiously low numbers, combined with payback provisions that require any overage to be deducted from the following year’s quota, then the reality is going to hit anglers in this state like running into a brick wall at 60 MPH in 2014.

I am still trying to wrap my head around why the State’s numbers are so far off and, even worse, why the Commission refuses to acknowledge that they are wrong.

Catch Shares have proven to be a monumental disaster in New England since Jane Lubchenco, former top dog at NOAA Fisheries, first implemented them in the groundfish fisheries in 2009. After just two short years of catch shares management the Northeast groundfish fisheries were declared a federal disaster in 2011 due to the removal of trip limits and allowing the larger commercial vessels to come in and vacuum many inshore areas dry of cod, haddock and flounder.

Lubchenco has since resigned her position as NOAA chief, but managed to take time to declare victory in ending overfishing, rebuilding depleted stocks, and returning fishing to profitability before making her exit. She claimed responsibility for those accomplishments during her tenure; not so with the federal fisheries disaster for the New England groundfishery declared by the U.S. Department of Commerce in

2012.

Back to the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery where the catch share debacle continues to press forward—a program that aims to fleece disenfranchised recreational fishermen, the charter/for-hire sector and the majority of commercial fishermen who have not signed on to the program.

Never mind the abject failure of the plan in New England, the exit of the enabler and chief, the great Dr. Luchenco and the huge push back by Louisiana, Florida and a general public that is becoming more and more educated about just what is really happening here…the fleecing of the American people to line the pockets of a wellconnected few while usurping a natural public resource.

Strange to trumpet the return of profitability to fishing in the wake of the nation’s biggest federal fisheries disaster, that Lubchenco herself brought upon us, but that’s fisheries politics I guess - let’s not let facts get in the way here!

Now, there is a concerted push to implement catch shares here in the Gulf of Mexico recreational fisheries. Never mind that their commercial Red Snapper IFQ program has gifted a majority of our red snapper to a handful of commercial sea lords to do with as they see fit. Never mind that these commercial sea lords do not pay a penny to the American People for the privilege to profit off of what we all own as Americans - our Public Trust Resource OUR fish. Sure, they pay a paltry 3% Cost Recovery Fee, but that falls far short of paying for the enforcement and management of the program. The American Taxpayer therefore, is saddled with having to subsidize this fisheries welfare program to the tune of millions of dollars thus far.

And now they want to expand this into the Gulf recreational fisheries to 10 times the number of participants? How many more millions of dollars is this going to cost us?

If they want to carve off portions of our Public Trust Resource for the personal benefit of a select few individuals/ corporations, then they need to be charging resource rent at the going rate of $3.50/pound to be paid annually, by the fishermen actually doing the fishing, to the government. That is what happens when other industries such as timber, mining, and grazing rights for example desire to profit off of our Public Trust Resource they pay the US Treasury for the privilege to do so....BUT NOT HERE IN THE GULF OF MEXICO RED SNAPPER FISHERY.

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Again, strange. Extremely strange.

And then there is the issue of Inter-sector trading, which encourages recreational captains to lease the fish, given for free to the commercials, from these same commercials. Seems to me, requiring recreational anglers to pay for quota from the commercial sector when these same commercial operators were not required to purchase this same quota violates National Standard 4, which states “If it becomes necessary to allocate or assign fishing privileges among various United States fishermen, such allocation shall be (A) fair and equitable to ALL such fishermen.”

How is it “fair and equitable” to gift access to our fish to a select few commercial fishermen FOR FREE, yet provide mechanisms to charge recreational fishermen for these same fish, with the monies going to commercial fishermen for their personal

Page 29 profit? If the commercial red snapper IFQ fat cats were paying resource rent to the nation, that would be a much different story, but they aren't.

That needs to change.

They want to push the idea, with InterSector Trading, of allowing charter-for-hire captains to lease red snapper quota from the commercial red snapper barons so that their recreational fishing clients can catch those fish. I believe that it would require the CFH captain to pay the COM captain the going rate of about $3.50/ pound. The idea would then provide the CFH captain the flexibility to charge his customers a premium if they want to go catch snapper. They would charge their going charter rate, then, let’s say you catch a nice 20-pound snapper, the captain then says; “Nice fish! Do you want to take that home? If so, you will need to pay

me an additional $100. No? That’s ok too, as I will simply sell it back at the local fish house on the dock.”

Somehow it’s okay for a charter-for-hire to lease his fish for $3.50/pound from a commercial red snapper fat cat, yet is it blasphemous to ask that the nation get something for their investment by charging resource rent to those in these exclusive clubs called LAPPs? Remember, this is not just about red snapper - it’s about creating revenue streams from every single federally-managed fish that swims out there.

Is this REALLY where we want to be going with our recreational fisheries?

I didn’t think so.

While the usurpation of the red snapper public resource isn’t on the radar screen of many representatives in Washington, Congressmen like Steve Southerland (pictured at a recent rally with Capt. Tom Adams (L) and Gary Caputi (c)of the RFA,) is leading the charge to stop this blatant theft through legislative and regulatory actions.

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RFA CHAPTER NEWS Reports & Updates from RFA State Chapters and Regional Directors

RFA-Oregon Update John Hollow, Co-Chair RFAoregon@comcast.net

Is fishing a hate crime in Oregon?

It appears that fishing is viewed as a hate crime by the majority political establishment in the Oregon state government. Marine reserves have been approved by statute in spite of a total lack of evidence supporting their necessity.

The state has also just completed an ocean zoning process for state waters. This is to pick locations for siting ocean energy. Once again the fishing industry was involved more than four years, serving on two separate advisory panels.

The recommendations from both panels were ignored by the state. RFA Oregon will be monitoring future developments in the hopes that the political culture in this state will be unable to fund all that they have created.

Fortunately, fishing is not viewed as a hate crime by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) and NOAA

Fisheries. RFA Oregon has been involved in attempting to create a new sport fishery for the west coast. We have been at this for over five years now. RFA Oregon ran two years of midwater fishing with charter vessels through the federal Exempted Fishing Process. Our goal was to use gear that would target abundant midwater species while avoiding impacts on bottom dwelling yelloweye rockfish in normally closed waters. We were wildly successful. Thirty trips were conducted catching over 5.4 metric tons of rockfish and only two individual yelloweye. We have successfully moved this concept to the agenda queue of the PFMC for consideration of being placed into regulation for all sportfishers.

RFA Oregon membership has been active in many processes at the federal, state and local levels for many years. Our persistence has been effective with many issues. We plan to continue this pestering far into the future.

RFA-NY New York Sportfishing Federation Jim Hutchinson RFA & New York Sportfishing Federation Soliciting Angler Feedback On Stripers

John Holloway, Co-Chair RFA-OR and RFA members Walter Chuck, Fred VanNatta

with some nice albacore.

If you striper fish in New York marine waters, New York Sportfishing Federation and the RFA would like to hear from you!

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC), fisheries managers will not be taking any official action on striped bass management along the Atlantic Coast until a coastwide benchmark stock assessment is completed and peer-reviewed later this summer.

Jim Gilmore, director of the NYSDEC's Marine Bureau said his department has received several inquiries about the status of the striped bass assessments, but said he won’t have anything to report or reply on until the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) finalizes the stock

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report and makes it available to member states.

“Currently, we understand the assessment has been completed and is being peer reviewed; we have not seen the results,” Gilmore said, adding “the ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board will not be taking any action until the October meeting based upon the current schedule.”

Gilmore noted that many fishermen believed that results of the stock assessment might be available for review by the public this summer, but said it is not at this time, though as information becomes available, he will communicate back to the New York fishing community.

The status of the striped bass population along the coast has been a heavily debated issue in recent years, as many coastal regions are reporting fewer striped bass catch reports in recent years, and in some cases a complete loss of fish. ASMFC in turn has been targeted by some anglers and writers as “turning a blind eye” to the situation, and “often siding with commercial interests.”

According to feedback received by coastwide members of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), in addition to the localized comments received by the New York Sportfishing Federation (Federation), what will happen after the release of the stock assessment is just about anyone’s guess – and the answers to any future problems will not be easy to find.

“We’ve had numerous discussions among the Board of Directors at the Federation, and have heard various input from anglers throughout the New York marine district, and I can tell you that there is no common bond in terms of a recreational management approach to striped bass,” said Jim Hutchinson, President of the Federation and the managing director of the RFA. “There are some folks who would like to see a slot limit in the neighborhood of 24 to 30 inches for a keeper striper to protect the bigger breeders, while others would like to see the bag cut in half and the size limit increased to 32 inches,” Hutchinson said. “East End captains have a view different from those on the West End, while the surfcasters as a whole are looking at options differently than guys who run center consoles, so there’s really just no angler commonality right now, except of course in terms of gamefish protection,” he added.

"From what I have observed here on the West End, something has changed over the last 4 to 5 years, and it has not been an increase in the 'schoolie' bass population," said Federation board member Dr. John Meringolo of Brooklyn, who personally prefers to see a one fish bag limit with a slot size in the 28- to 40-inch range. "The bigger issue we see as recreational fishermen is the 'poaching' of the stock," Meringolo added.

Bob Danielson, a Federation board member from the Great South Bay Anglers club who also sits on the New York Marine Resources Advisory Council (MRAC) said angler feedback is important at this time, particularly considering the statistical predictions. "The models prior to the stock assessment were already predicting a downturn in striped bass populations through 2017," Danielson said, explaining that mycobacteriosis (or fish handlers disease) found in many migratory stripers associated with the Chesapeake Bay stock could be a wild card in the final assessment.

Page 31 “No one really knows what effect it will have on either the total biomass or the spawning stock biomass, we all presume that it will exacerbate the downturn in population," he added.

“I think the results from the stock assessment will be interesting and maybe educational,” said Federation board member Capt. Joe Paradiso who runs a charter boat out of Greenport on the East End. “Despite what the conclusions are you really can’t deny the fact that our striped bass fishery is on a dangerous decline.”

Paradiso is also a member of the New York MRAC who believes that smaller fish have become less abundant over the last 10 years, which he said may be indicative of poor young of the year classes. “There is a good argument out there regarding a reverse slot to protect the teen-size fish which some believe are the more successful breeders,” Paradiso says of the fish between 28 and 36 inches in length.

“However, that leaves it open to taking those ‘cows’ which are also main breeders. I think cutting the bag in half, doing away with the one fish over 40 inches, and increasing the size limit to 32 inches is a start,” said Capt. Paradiso, who said he would also support doing away with the special party/charter boat permit which allows anglers two fish at 28 inches.

For marine anglers south of the G.W. Bridge, the striped bass season is open from April 15 to December 15 with one fish at 28 inches to 40 inches in length, plus one fish greater than 40 inches (the party/charter boat limit is two fish at 28 inches).

"It is evident that something needs to be done," said Alberto Knie, president of Tactical Anglers. "As an avid striper fisherman, seminar speaker, publication distributor and a tackle industry manufacturer, for years I’ve been pleading that we need a change and history is repeating itself."

Hutchinson said the bottom line is that the suggested regulatory changes offered by anglers prior to the release of the benchmark assessment and subsequent management advice from the ASMFC striped bass technical committee is based solely on hunches or gut feelings and not necessarily based on the condition or needs of the Atlantic striped bass stock.

“We are all experiencing the effects of the historically strong 2003 year class moving out of the fishery combined with the relatively recent elevation of natural mortality but it is important to reserve absolute support for altered regulations until the release of the assessment,” Hutchinson said. “That way any changes can be tailored toward particular management objectives for the stock.”

New York Sportfishing Federation is interested in your thoughts on striped bass management in the New York marine and coastal district and will begin collecting opinions over the next couple of months. Would you like to see a change in bag, season or size limits to better conserve striped bass? What are you thoughts and opinions on striped bass management?

Go to www.nysf.org/contact and put Striped Bass in the ‘subject’ field followed by ‘your message.’ You can also send us mail at New York Sportfishing Federation, 72-11 Austin Street, Suite 144, Forest Hills, NY 11375.

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Gulf Coast Update Capt. Tom Adams RFA Forgotten Coast Chapter Why our Red Snapper seasons are getting shorter During the weekend of August 23 at the 17th annual MBARA kingfish tournament, a reef was dedicated to our congressman Steve Southerland (R-FL, 2nd District) for his unending work for fishermen and the economies of the panhandle of Florida - and for all fishermen in the United States for that matter!

The reef dedicated to Rep. Southerland was donated by Bill Mulligan and Nate Odum, their families and the Mexico Beach Marina as a testament to the work being done by our “Forgotten Coast” congressional fishing champion.

Rep. Southerland also stopped by the Recreational fishing Alliance-(RFA) to show his support for the organization and the work that the RFA is doing in Washington (with the help of Steve Southerland and other Congressmen) to get our fishing seasons back. Of course, this work has made Rep. Southerland a target for the people in organizations

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like the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Pew Environment Group, Oceans Conservancy and others including national political action committee called Oceans Champions based in California - these are groups working to take away our right to fish to give away the resource to a select few fish barons that are directly backed by the environmental organizations (EDF in particular.)

You may have seen articles published many times by Jim Clements or one of his aliases, like Capt. Jims’s Charters(Capt. Clements he is not a licensed charter captain in the state nor does he have federal Permits as a charter captain, but that didn’t stop him from securing the web domain www.captainjimscharters.com in 2012 and spending $7,500 on anti-Southerland billboards in Panama City, Apalachicola, Crawfordville, and Tallahassee prior to the last election under that particular alias.)

IRS records show that EDF and their political action committee (EDF Action Fund) have invested close to a million dollars during the past 3-1/2 years on establishing their own fishing organizations, including Capt. Clements’ Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance, as well as the Gulf Fishermen's Association and South Atlantic Fishermen's Association. Why you ask? In an effort to manipulate the public and legislators into thinking that privatizing our public marine resource is in the best interest of the public. Essentially, the money is being spent to take away our

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natural resource – the fish – and divvy it all up amongst a few well-connected ‘individual fishing quota’ (IFQ) owners.

In fact, EDF has recently gone public with their belief that ‘fish tags’ should be purchased by all fishermen, commercial, charter or head boat operators, even private anglers.

Now thanks to a new program that has already been pushed through the Gulf Council and NOAA by the EDF, Our snapper seasons will be even shorter this coming year and the next. They are giving a portion of our red snapper to a select few head boat operators to fish for year round, while the rest of us fishermen get a 27 day season. Why do we stand by like lambs being led to slaughter and just accept these atrocities? We have to join together and fight back, or soon, we will not be fishing at all!

Imagine what Panhandle fishing will look like in the future when the average angler will be forced to purchase a ‘share’ in order to go out and catch a snapper or grouper and possibly any other popular species of fish down the road.

In spite of the EDF-backed push to stop recreational fishing as we know it today, RFA is working closely with Rep. Steve Southerland and others in Washington to stop this effort dead in its tracks. RFA is really expanding on both coasts of Florida now, with Rick Hale pushing hard for members in his hometown of Jacksonville and all the way south, while representing the Gulf coast we have Capt Buddy Bradham

Page 33 in the Tampa area and the chairman of Florida West Coast RFA and myself chairing our Forgotten Coast efforts in the Port St. Joe-Mexico Beach area.

Nationally, the RFA is represented by Board-elect Nate Odum of Mexico Beach Marina, as well as Panama City resident and longtime RFA Board member Jamie Wilkinson (along with fellow Floridian Jack Holmes of the Southern Kingfish Association). Together, we are working on gathering fresh ideas for fishermen to build a group large enough to have the loudest voice on Capitol Hill. Much the same as the NRA is for the second amend, the RFA was founded as a political action organization designated a 501(c)(4) with a singular, unchanged mission to protect the rights of saltwater anglers and recreational fishing business owners, while also ensuring that there are plenty of fish!

We want our fishing seasons back – that’s why RFA Florida is asking fellow anglers in the state to join the RFA today, to help keep Rep. Steve Southerland in office, to beat back the environmental groups who are trying to take away our public resource, and to fight for our right to fish in America’s saltwaters!

Watch These Pages for more Breaking RFA News!

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The RFA Mission   

Safeguard the rights of saltwater anglers Protect marine, boat and tackle industry jobs Ensure the long-term sustainability of our nation’s fisheries.

Anti-fishing groups and radical environmentalists are pushing their agenda on marine fisheries issues affecting you. The Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) is in the trenches too, lobbying, educating decision makers and ensuring that the interests of America’s coastal fishermen are being heard loud and clear. Incorporated in 1996 as a 501c4 national, grassroots political action organization, RFA represents recreational fishermen and the recreational fishing industry on marine fisheries issues on every coast, with state chapters established to spearhead the regional issues while building local support.

“The biggest challenge we face is the fight to reform and bring common sense and sound science into the fisheries management process, says James Donofrio, RFA founder and Executive Director. “Anti-fishing and extreme environmental groups are working everyday to get us off the water.” Despite the threats to diminish access to our nation’s resources, Donofrio says that RFA offers members hope in an organization that’s designed from the ground up to fight back. “As individuals, our concerns will simply not be heard; but as a united group, we can and do stand up to anyone who threatens the sport we enjoy so much – fishing!”

After more than a dozen years working inside the Beltway and within state capitols along the coast, RFA has become known as one of the nation’s most respected lobbying organizations, and our members have a lot to celebrate.

The Recreational Fishing Alliance Headquarters Mailing Address P.O. Box 3080 New Gretna, New Jersey 08224 Phone: 1-888-564-6732 toll free Fax: (609) 294-3812 Jim Donofrio Executive Director

Kim Forgach Administrative Assistant

Jim Martin West Coast Regional Director

Jim Hutchinson Jr Managing Director

Gary Caputi Corporate Relations Director

John DePersenaire Policy & Science Researcher

Capt. Barry Gibson New England Regional Director

Cover Background Design: Mustard Seed Graphics