Making Waves - Fall 2017

waves

M A K I N G

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page Page

The Official Publication of the Recreational Fishing Alliance

MSA REFORM NOW! Finding & Catching Tilefish Florida Long Line Debacle Improving Reef Fish Data News & Views & More

Fall 2017

Page

Making Waves Fall 2017

waves

M A K I N G

Page 33 Page

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

The Official Publication of the Recreational Fishing Alliance

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK

By Gary Caputi

A

pologies for getting this issue out a few weeks late, but like so many others we were concerned with the damage done by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and had many corporate supporters, RFA members and friends who were in their path and affected by their passing. It seems that after so many years of almost nonexistent tropical storm seasons this one is one for the record books. And, unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be over yet. As I write this last minute note Hurricane Maria has just ravaged Puerto Rico and is somewhere just north of the Dominican Republic. For all those who and are trying to put their lives and businesses back together, our hearts and prayers go out to you.

The hot topic in fisheries management is, once again, MSA reform and it's really heating up. Read Jim Donofrio's column and his recent testimony before a Senate sub committee that will have a lot to do with it moving forward and it's eventual passage. There is great optimism.

Another hot topic is the bogus use of Experimental Fishing Permits. This time NMFS approved one that will reintroduce long lining into the Straits of Florida, a closure the RFA fought so hard to have put in place over a decade ago. Bad news and cause for a battle with Secretary Wilbur Ross.

There's lots more so read on!

INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the Publisher’s Desk

3

Exec. Director's Report: MSA Reform within Sight?

7

RFA's Testimony Before Senate Sub Committee on Magnuson Reform

9

Improving Science: Counting Sea Bass by Hook & Line

16

Red Snapper Inequity in the Gulf

17

BREAKING NEWS: NOAA Allows Reintroduction of Long Lining in Florida Closed Area

22

RFA-TBF-Viking Yachts Call 24 Out Dept. of Commerce The Problem with Exempt- 27 ed Fishing Permits Dial in for Tiles: Fishing for Tilefish and Current Regs

33

News & Views: Breaking Fisheries News from

50

On the Cover:

Capt. Amy of the McMullen family who operate Ocean Isle Fishing Center in Ocean Isle Beach, NC. RFA friends and supporters.

Page 4

Making Waves Fall 2017

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 55 Page

Page 6

Making Waves Fall 2017

Page 77 Page

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Executive Director’s Report

By Jim Donofrio

MSA Reform Within Sight?

O

n Tuesday, September 12, 2017 I testified before the Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard on the reauthorization of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). You can read the transcript of my testimony starting on page 9.

This was the third and final Senate hearing held on MSA reauthorization and cause for optimism in what has been a 10 year quest by the RFA to get Congress to address the inequities and gross failures in the current federal law driving fisheries management.

It's been a long and oft times lonely battle, but over the past two years we have been joined in our efforts by a coalition of recreational fishing groups and key industry associations including the National Marine Manufacturers Association and the American Sportfishing Association. Together, this coalition identified the recreational fishing industry's legislative priorities which were then used by members of the House and Senate to craft a bill called the Modernizing Recreational

Fishing Management Act that, if passed, will help restore balance to the management process and bring an end to the folly of closed seasons on healthy fish stocks and inequitable distribution of public resources while providing more accurate scientific data and harvest statistics and restore a modicum of common sense to the management of recreational fisheries.

It appears that we finally have Congress' ear and an administration willing to sign reform legislation passed by Congress, but we must not become complacent.

You can be sure that certain environmental groups and their minions are gearing up to put on a full court press to prevent any changes to the current legislation. Passage of the Modern Fish Act is not a foregone conclusion unless anglers and industry unite and work as diligently to get it past as our opposition will surely be working to prevent it.

To see the bill through the process and onto the President's desk we must undertake a unified and sustained effort to be sure each and every Congressman and Senator hears our voices and understands the urgency

of the situation.

Recreational fishermen and the industry have been waiting patiently for Congressional action on MSA reform for far too long.

Recent events like the untenable situation with the red snapper fishery in the Gulf, simultaneous closures of both the summer flounder and black sea bass fisheries in the Mid-Atlantic must stop. The almost incomprehensible patchwork of openings, closures and Draconian bag limits on one fishery after another, especially when stocks are rebuilding or even beyond their rebuilding target, has tarnished fisheries management as a whole and become cause for talks of civil disobedience and outright ignoring of regulations. It has cost jobs, business hardships and community unrest with little conservation benefit.

It's time for anglers and the industry--from for-hire boat operators to boat builders, bait and tackle dealers to manufacturers of fishing tackle and boats, motors, electronics and accessories--to impress Congress with one loud unified voice to get this done and get it done now.

Page 8

Making Waves Fall 2017

Page 99 Page

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

WRITTEN TESTIMONY BY JAMES A. DONOFRIO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE RECREATIONAL FISHING ALLIANCE For, LEGISLATIVE HEARING HELD BY, THE SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE’S SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANS, ATMOSPHERE, FISHERIES, AND COAST GUARD On, THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE MAGNUSON-STEVENS FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT: OVERSIGHT OF FISHERIES MANAGEMENT SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES Introduction

We have been talking about the need for MSA reform since the ink Good afternoon Mr. Chairman, dried on the 2007 MSA reauthoriRanking Member Peters and zation. There have been numerMembers of the Committee. It is ous congressional hearings on an honor to appear before you the topic, more than I care to today and a privilege to speak to count. Two national rallies were the Committee. My name is Jim held in the Capitol and attended Donofrio and I am the Executive by fishermen, both commercial Director of the Recreational Fishand recreational, from across the ing Alliance (RFA). It is my intencountry. The theme of both raltion today to discuss the managelies was MSA reform. I will not ment challenges facing the recrebore the committee with statistics ational fishing industry and to ofand specific examples of problem fer suggestions for the Commitfisheries. The problems in red tee’s consideration to address snapper, cod, summer flounder, these challenges. These suggesblack sea bass, amberjack, and tions will be directed toward many other species are all well amendments that should be documented and have made to the Magnuson Stevens been discussed and analyzed in Fishery Conservation and Mangreat detail. The limitations of agement Act (MSA) with the goal recreational data collection and of spurring growth and prosperity lack of confidence in the stock in our industry while ensuring assessments for many fisheries are long-term conservation and susalso well known. The problem tainability of our nation’s marine has been identified through some resources. brilliant testimony given by wit-

nesses, particularly Mr. Nick Wiley and Mr. Ben Speciale, at the two previous field hearings held by the Committee. What our industry and the recreational fishing community needs now is action.

In simple terms, we need your help. We have been asking for your help since MSA was reauthorized in 2007 when amendments were made to the law that created a systemic management problem on a national scale and which is most acutely felt in the recreational sector. Looking back at original intent of MSA (public law 94-265) signed into law on April 13, 1976, one objective of the law was to promote domestic

commercial and recreational fishing under sound conservation and management principles. This objective seeks to strike a balance between sound conservation and the needs of the fishing industry for our federally managed species

Page 10

Making Waves Fall 2017

Page 1111 Page

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

which RFA very much supports.

Unfortunately, this noble objective was altered in the 1996 and 2007 reauthorizations and currently, management can only be described as a failure, a total imbalance with recreational fishermen and the recreational fishing industry losing out. The needs of fish have been put at an inordinate level of priority while the needs of the fishing community and industry have been made an afterthought. This is not sound resource management and this approach is not in line with the original intent of MSA. We are asking that the Senate, along with the House, pass MSA reauthorization bills as soon as possible to bring back a balance to management of our nation’s marine resources.

I think it is important to impress upon the Committee three key points; urgency, jobs and fragility. First, our industry has been losing businesses and jobs at an alarming rate as a direct result of failed management measures forced upon the recreational sector due to MSA. These are businesses that once lost do not come back and our community permanently losses necessary recreational fishing infrastructure. For this reason, it is imperative that Congress make reauthorizing MSA a top legislative priority. Our industry expects and requires a bill to be passed and sent to President Trump’s desk before the mid-term elections in 2018 at the absolute latest. Second, I ask that you look at

the recreational fishing sector as an industry where access to fisheries afforded to individual anglers supports a $60 billion industry comprised of thousands of businesses, large and small. Recreational fishing businesses are not confined to coastal regions but span nearly all 50 states. Those businesses and jobs can be protected by giving anglers access to fisheries which in turn spur economic activity. Finally, our industry is extremely fragile. History has clearly proven that the recreational fishing industry is far more fragile than many of the stocks of fish that anglers pursue and MSA is charged with managing. The businesses in the recreational fishing industry cannot simply close their doors and wait until managers allow anglers to fish on rebuilt stocks again. Greater consideration must be given to the fragility of our industry when working to achieve conservation goals.

What we are talking here is a political problem, not a conservation problem. The solution will only come from political action. There are currently two bills that have been introduced in the Senate and seek to amend MSA; S1520 and S1748. Notwithstanding some refinement, RFA supports S1520 and S1748 , with S1520 being our preferred bill of the two. RFA offers the Committee comments on S1520 and has included them below. RFA supports S1520 over S1748 due to its broader geographic scope and

issues it addresses and it being the bill with the best likelihood of moving through the Senate at this time. We look forward to seeing this bill move through the Senate in an expeditious manner.

As written and if passed, S1520 would address specific needs of the recreational fishing industry. Historically, MSA has focused on commercial fishing and has mandated a commercial style management approach for the management of the nation's marine fisheries. It is undeniable that this approach is the cause of many important fish stocks being rebuilt to historic levels of abundance. However, the consequence of this approach, particularly the use of annual catch limits, has had a deleterious impact to the recreational fishing industry. We believe S1520 takes a step in right direction by allowing recreational anglers to be managed different from the commercial fisheries so they too can enjoy the benefits of rebuilt fish stocks.

The RFA offers the following comments to specific sections of S1520. We would ask that these comments be taken into consideration and incorporated into S1520 during markup. In addition, RFA would support the language of S1520 being included in a larger MSA reauthorization bill if one is introduced.

Section 101. RFA would not oppose any modification to section 101(a) which would expand the geographic range to include the

Page 12

Mid-Atlantic and New England regions. This section would charge the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to provide guidance to the regional fishery management councils with regards to allocating fishing privileges which would be beneficial for the regional councils since they are the regulatory bodies that set allocations for federally managed species. This section merely advises that guidance be developed for allocation; it does not mandate allocation changes. While the MidAtlantic and New England regions would benefit from their inclusion in this section, the RFA does not support amending the section if such changes would slow or derail the passage of the bill. Allocation of fish stocks between the commercial and recreation sectors is often a contentious issue. Guidance on allocation decisions is desperately needed due to recent judgments that ruled that National Marine Fisheries Service has a legal obligation to enforce allocations just as it does annual catch limits.

Section 102. RFA supports section 102 as written. If implemented, this language would allow for alternative management measures in the recreational component of a fishery while the commercial sector would continue with traditional management approaches. Having access to such an approach would allow for a management style that would better accommodate the nature of the recreational fishery while taking into consideration and addressing the limitations of the recreational data collection programs. A very

Making Waves Fall 2017

successful example of this type of management approach can be seen in the Atlantic Striped Bass fishery which utilizes annual quota based management for the commercial component of the fishery while utilizing fishing mortality targets for the recreational component.

Section 103. RFA supports section 103 and provides the following justification. LAPPS, IFQ or catch shares have undeniable impacts on the resources and recreational fishing opportunities in mixed fisheries. RFA supports a temporary moratorium on new LAPPS in mixed fisheries and a thorough review to be conducted by the NAS on the comprehensive and long-term impacts of LAPPS on the resource, the fishing communities and any sectors or individuals not assigned quota.

Section 104. RFA supports minor revisions to section 104 of S1520. At a minimum, RFA supports amending (A)(i) by changing possible to practicable. Such a change is consistent with the findings of the NAS which recently published a report which found that rebuilding fish stocks as quickly as possible based on arbitrary time frames provided no additional long -term conservation benefits and results in unnecessary lost opportunities and negative socioeconomic impacts to fishing communities. This group of experts found rebuilding timeframes should incorporate some flexibility to accommodate the needs of the fishing industry. For this reason, we believe that

the language in HR200 section 4 represents our preferred language with regards to rebuilding fish stocks. If such language cannot be included in S1520 or another senate bill, RFA would support having language similar to that in HR200 Section 4 be the preferred language rendered during conference.

Section 105. Annual catch limits are particularly problematic in the recreational sector for two key reasons. First, when scientific information is poor or unreliable for a stock, setting the annual catch limiting is done with a considerable amount of uncertainty. Uncertainty leads to precaution which can result in a significant downward adjustment to an annual catch limit. Section 105 (a) addresses this issue. The second issue is the lack of an accurate and precise recreational data collection program that can monitor recreational harvest relative to an annual catch limit. As written, this issue is not addressed in section 105. The NAS recently conducted a multiyear investigation on the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP), the primary federal data collection system used to estimate recreational landings. This report did not determine if MRIP was adequate for the implementation of annual catch limits in the recreational sector. MRIP was simply not designed for year to year catch data but for long-term, broad geographic scale trends on effort, participation and catch. Therefore, RFA believes it is essential that the recreational fisheries be granted

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 1313 Page

Page 14

Making Waves Fall 2017

some exemptions from the annual catch limit requirements. As cited above in the striped bass fishery, the recreational sector can operate in the absence of an annual catch limit, even in an extremely popular species like striped bass, and the stock can still meet and exceed long-term conservation goals. RFA supports the inclusion of an addition subsection (C) in 105 to read;

guage in this section which would give states and state conservation agencies greater input on the issuance of exempted fishing permits. Exempted fishing permits can serve as a valuable tool to gather necessary information and advance management decisions.

However, they should not be used to circumvent existing fishery management plans or the regional council decisions. In recent years, 105(a)(m)(2)(C) an annual exempted fishing permits have catch limit that based on a been used as loopholes to advance range of Allowable Biologiunpopular agendas and allow cal Catch on an annual or commercial exploitation in areas multiyear basis consistent closed for conservation purposwith the confidence interes. Greater oversight and state levvals of the primary data colel input is needed over the issulection programs and asance of exempted fishing permits sessments used to monitor and we believe language in section the sector of a fishery that is 106 achieves that necessary overmeasured by a surveysight.

based data collection system not designed to monitor annual catch limits or provide guidance on inseason adjustments;

To eliminate any legal inconsistencies, MSA 302 (h)(6) will also need to be amended and RFA offers the following suggestions to be included in S1520;

(6) develop annual catch limits or a range of catch for each of its managed fisheries that have an acceptable probability that such limits will not result in overfishing the fishing level recommendations of its scientific and statistical committee or the peer review process established under subsection (g); Section 106 RFA supports the lan-

Section 201 RFA supports the intent and language of this section. This section of the bill would improve cooperative data collection efforts and allow the greater use of non-governmental sources of information such as fishermen, fishing communities, universities and research institutions. Fishermen are often the first ones to observe changes in the marine resources and if enacted, this section of S1520 would afford fishermen greater opportunities to contribute their information and data which could be useful for the assessment and management important fisheries. Under a careful review process, RFA believes greater sources of data will provide a more comprehensive view of the fishery resources and increase our capabili-

ties to identify and respond to changes with the fisheries.

Section 202. RFA would like offer a suggestion with regards to a(E) which deals with funding for the development of state partnerships to improve recreational data collection programs. RFA suggests adding and The Sportfish Restoration Fund after (15- U.S.C. 713c-3). The Sportfish Restoration Fund is a federally managed account that is funding by an excise tax on recreational fishing related products and a percentage of marine fuel. Using this money to improve recreational data collection through the advancement of federal-state partnerships is a productive and appropriate use of these funds.

Conclusion In closing, I would like to express my appreciation for the opportunity to discuss the importance and urgency of amending MSA. There has been roughly 10 years of debate on the issue and the problems have all been laid on the table. The recreational fishing industry is in a precarious situation and it cannot wait any longer. S1520 has been introduced in the Senate and represents a bill, notwithstanding a few modifications, which would address many of the issues negatively impacting the recreational fishing industry. I use this opportunity today to urge you to make MSA a priority, to take into consideration RFA’s suggestions to refine S1520 and pass a MSA bill. Thank you.

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 1515 Page

Page 16

Improving SCIENCE: Counting Sea Bass by HOOK & LINE

Making Waves Fall 2017

By Jim Hutchinson, Jr.

Reprinted with permission of

For-Hire Sector - 49 day season Private Boat Recreational - 3 days

Could Rutgers University hold the key to improved reef fish assessments throughout the country?

F

or the past few years, the coastal black sea bass fishery in New Jersey and Delaware hasn’t opened up until the middle of May. As each state staggers seasons to compensate for overlaps in other fisheries - like the start and end of summer flounder or the arrival of migratory striped bass - keeping track of the open days and size limits has been next to impossible without an advanced degree in statistics.

Adding to the complexity of seasons, sizes and bag limits is the actual science and statistical data.

It’s been years for example since a winter fishery in January and February has been allowed, and while many anglers claim to be “tripping over sea bass” wherever and whatever they fish, regulators have been stubborn with the quota increases.

When the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s (Council) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) met on January 25, they released some rather staggering new numbers. As per the latest stock assessment, the spawning stock biomass of black sea bass was estimated to be 48.9 million pounds, roughly 2.3 times higher (or 130% greater) than the 21.3-million pound target. So yes, the population is in good shape, which isn’t exactly a surprise to anyone.

But while the latest assessment information is now more in line with the so-called “anecdotal” data experienced by anglers “tripping” over sea bass, the topsy-turvy trends in the sea bass data could certainly be improved with better science and data collection; perhaps with help from hook & line fishermen!

Page 1717 Page

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

STRUCTURED ANALYSIS Black sea bass associate with structure, which means data collected using bottom trawl gear alone may not be appropriate for gathering superior population estimates (Trawl gear can only get so close to structure before it becomes entangled and rendered useless.). To complicate the issue further, recent genetic research provides evidence of two population segments for black sea bass along the Atlantic Coast, with a break point considered around Cape Hatteras, NC.

and line fishing to perform the very basics that trawl surveys cannot accomplish.

I have to admit that I was feeling a bit guilty climbing aboard Capt. Adam Nowalsky’s Karen Ann II charters out of Snug Harbor at Kammerman's Marina in Atlantic City. It was October 21, a day before the official start of the 2016 fall/ winter black sea bass season in New Jersey, and here I was heading out with the Rutgers University team to fish for black sea bass. Respectfully, I left the cooler in the truck, a good thing too because no take home biscuits, regardless of the In cooperation with Jersey Coast Anglers Associareasons for the trip. tion, the New Jersey Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), Rhode Other than the Grunden’s to handle rainy condiIsland Party and Charter Boat Association and the tions, there was also no need for my own equipment; Dr. Bochenek and her team had that alNational Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Dr. Elready accounted for in their approved project, eanor A. Bochenek and her team from Rutgers specifically a Hook and Line Survey to Assess SpaUniversity’s Fisheries Cooperative Center and Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory in Cape May tial Population Dynamics of Black Sea Bass. My responsibility, along with my friend John Deperare looking at an alternative approach to assenaire at the RFA was specifically to support the sessing the black sea bass stock through hook

Dr. Bochenek takes samples from a limited number of sea bass that are used for further study back at the lab.

Page 18

Making Waves Fall 2017

scientists as a volunteer angler to fish for black sea bass on the trips.

bass would be placed in buckets, registered in a logbook, and analyzed by Dr. Bochenek and fel“Hey Jim, we need your help catching fish for our low researcher Jason Morson for size and sex.

When rigs were pulled up, those outfits were survey.� God, I love science! stowed until the end of the time series, whether A HOOK & LINE APPROACH there was a fish on or not.

Identical rod and reel combinations were used, each fitted with the same top/bottom rig and a sinker appropriate for conditions. Each rig consisted of a loop at the bottom for the sinker, a drop loop for a hook 4 inches above the sinker, and an additional drop for a hook 10 inches above the first. We used two different hook types, the first a Gamakatsu size 2/0 circle octopus hook; two of the PENN rod and reel outfits were rigged with these hooks. The second was a size 2/0 Mustad j-hook and the other two PENN outfits rigged with these hooks.

At the two-minute mark, the other port-side rod was reeled in with any fish caught registered by the scientists, and finally the other two outfits with the circle hooks at the end of the 5-minute timeframe. Fish were lost here and there based on inattentiveness to the dancing of the rod tip, but that was all part of the scientific process.

Each rod and reel was timed independently using an electronic digital timer, with additional line with a hobo logger attached near a sinker dropped down to within a few feet of the bottom to measure water temperature and depth.

All caught fish, which included a few bluefish At the very first drop as well, were worked up somewhere amidst the by the science crew and Atlantic City Reef structhe appropriate inforture, we baited each of mation was recorded in the five rigs with clam a log including the reef and awaited Dr. location, drop number, Bochenek’s instrucand gear type. All fish tions. Two outfits at were measured and sex the starboard side was also determined for were dropped for five sea bass; any fish that minutes with circle hooks untouched, one was could not be sexed using non-invasive methods placed in a midship rod holder on the port side was dissected in the field to determine the sex. for two minutes, while Depersenaire and I man- Scales samples were also collected with inforaged two other port side outfits baited with high- mation for further research in the lab. low rigs.

After any hour of fishing at one given reef locaThe instructions were very specific; at each of sev- tion, Capt. Nowalsky would pull anchor and eral locations, we would manage the outfits until move to a new location for representative sama fish was on; once reeled to the surface, the sea pling. Even when the bite was hot and heavy,

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 1919 Page

Page 20

Making Waves Fall 2017

science dictated that we move from spot to spot after a certain number of drops were made at any given location; sex and length of every sea bass at each individual outfit was determined onboard, with some of the fish brought back to the lab for further analysis. Scales were also collected from a subset of black sea bass taken during the day. At each new drop, Dr. Bochenek would also record into the reef log the latitude, longitude, depth, and time.

COOPERATIVE RESEARCH

The work has not been without a couple of coastal hitches. “While we made every effort to find a captain that would be agreeable to anchoring over a reef, in North Carolina this proved difficult, Dr. Bochenek noted, explaining how captains there don’t have the gear to support anchoring on a reef, nor the desire to anchor, given their normal drift fishing practices for sea bass.

“For this reason, in North Carolina, the captain stayed as close to a single fishing location as possible using the vessel’s enSome quick vital statistics and back gine,” she noted. It’s similar in Rhode Island where capover the side for this biscuit. tains explain how structure is spread out along the bottom and that normal fishing practices was to drift.

As far as fishing out of season, the scientists were awarded a federal exempted fishing permit to allow the hook and line survey to occur in federal waters in the time that the recreational black sea bass fishery was closed.

At the conclusion of the two-year study - paid for in part through the federal Saltonstall-Kennedy (SK) program, a fund used by the Commerce Department to provide grants or cooperative agreements for fisheries research and development projects addressing aspects of U.S. fisheries – the results will hopefully provide a new way of assessing structure -dwelling species like black sea bass at reef sites where trawl surveys are unable to provide sample.

“The captains in Rhode Island were at least agreeable to anchoring, however, they also requested that we make one ten-minute drift at each reef once we completed all standardized and unstandardized fishing that we could later compare to the standardized fishing method,” she said, adding that a single 10-minute drift was also logged at each reef that used what was an “unstandardized approach,” with each angler allowed to catch fish, rebait, and continue fishing using their own bait and tackle while drifting.

The concept is that a lot can be learned from recreational fishermen and the sportfishing industry through our method of fishing with rod and reel.

“It is essential for the recreational fishing industry But as I joked to Depersenaire on about the 20th to become more involved in cooperative research drop of the day, “catch-and-release sea bass fishand to play an active role in contributing to a reing sucks.” He laughed and reminded me of that search project that will provide data directly to very fact when guys are fishing for cod, pollock, the stock assessment,” Dr. Bochenek said in the ling and porgies on the structure in January and proposal. “In the past, the marine recreational February and can’t get away from the sea bass; fishing industry has not been actively involved in and that’s probably the most frustrating part of collecting scientific data especially data that will all. benefit the stock assessment.”

SCIENCE:

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 2121 Page

Page 22

Making Waves Fall 2017

BREAKING NEWS

NOAA FISHERIES TO ALLOW REINTRODUCTION OF LONGLINING IN STRAITS OF FLORIDA CLOSED AREA NOAA Fisheries Announces the Issuance of an Exempted Fishing Permit for Pelagic Longline (PLL) Research in the East Florida Coast PLL Closed Area August 10, 2017 NOAA Fisheries announces the issuance of an exempted fishing permit (EFP) to Dr. David Kerstetter of Nova Southeastern University to conduct research within two sub-areas in a northern portion of the East Florida Coast (EFC) PLL Closed Area and in one area open to fishing with PLL gear (see Figure 1). The overall purpose of the research project is to evaluate PLL catches and catch rates of target and non-target species from within two sub-areas in the northern portion of EFC PLL Closed Area and compare those to catch rates obtained from an area outside of the EFC PLL Closed Area to evaluate the effectiveness of existing closures at meeting current conservation and management goals under current conditions.

NOAA Fisheries published a notice of availability in the Federal Register for a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) that analyzed the potential impacts to the human environment of granting this EFP application for experimental PLL fishing and included a 30-day public comment period (82 FR 4856; January 17, 2017). On February 15, 2017 (82 FR 10746), NOAA Fisheries extended the public comment period from February 16, 2017, until March 29, 2017, to accommodate additional public comment.

NOAA Fisheries also announces the availability of a Final EA, which includes responses to public comments. The Final EA notes that the vessels participating in this research project are already otherwise permitted to fish with PLL gear through their existing permits (tunas, swordfish, sharks). Among other analyzed impacts, the Final EA projects the annual catches of all HMS species, as well as some non-HMS species interactions, that could be expected to occur during the research. Additionally, the Final EA describes the rationale for selecting the preferred alternative and other alternatives considered for this research. Through this EFP, NOAA Fisheries is authorizing exemptions from regulations regarding two sub-areas within in the EFC PLL Closed Area and associated prohibitions, but all other requirements (e.g., size limits, seasons, quotas, reporting requirements, vessel monitoring systems (VMS), gear restrictions, individual bluefin tuna quota (IBQ) requirements) would continue to apply to the participating vessels. The research conducted within the two sub-areas in the EFC PLL Closed Area and in the open area would be carried out by no more than six PLL vessels at any one time.

An additional six “backup� vessels could conduct research if any mechanical or technical issues arise on the other six vessels. The project would be authorized for 12 months and, pending annual review of any changed environmental conditions or impacts and of catches and catch rates of all species, as well as individual vessel performance, could be re-authorized for two additional 12- month periods. In response to public comment, NOAA Fisheries is limiting the research to a maximum of 720 sets per year (12 months) authorized between the six vessels. All sets would be distributed evenly between the two sub-areas

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

in the EFC PLL Closed Area and the open area.

Each set would consist of a maximum of 600 16/0 or larger circle hooks.

Page 2323 Page

Division (F/SF1), NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. The Final EA and the EFP application may be found on the HMS Management Division’s website. For more information Copies of the Final EA may be requested from the contact either Craig Cockrell at (301) 427-8503 or Rick Pearson at (727) 824-5399.

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Management

Page 24

Making Waves Fall 2017

Recreational Fishing Alliance - The Billfish Foundation & Viking Yacht Company Respond to approval of the Longline Exempted Fishery in the Straights of Florida Closed Areas.

Department of Commerce.

August 29, 2017 The Honorable Wilbur Ross Secretary of Commerce 1401 Constitution Ave., NW. Washington, D.C. 20230 Jan 20, 2017 Dear Secretary Ross, As President of Viking Yachts, the largest sportfishing yacht builder in the U.S., I wish to make you aware that the sportfishing and boating industry in this country is a multi-billion dollar industry. Our industry includes yacht builders, fishing tackle manufacturers and sales centers, service centers, marinas, apparel manufacturers and points of sale, electronic equipment manufacturers and points of sales and service, boat captains, mates and millions of anglers and boat owners, sportfishing conservation organizations including the Recreational Fishing Alliance and The Billfish Foundation, which represent anglers, captains and mates, all of whom are passionate about sportfishing. Fishing for billfish (marlin, sailfish, spearfish), swordfish and tunas comprise the high end of the sportfishing world.

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Division of Highly Migratory Species, all charged with conserving and responsibly managing highly migratory fish, have taken an action that is both illogical and threatening to our industry. Specifically, the NMFS issued an Exempted Fishery Permit (EFP) on August 10, 2017 to a favored scientist, meaning he has received a significant number of NOAA/NMFS grants totaling $747,811.00 since 2007, to conduct experimental research that allows pelagic longline boats back

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 2525 Page

into a closed conservation zone off the east coast of Florida. This zone is extremely important to anglers who fish Florida waters and to the businesses that benefit from each fishing and boating trip.

The east coast Florida zone has been closed for sixteen years to protect juvenile swordfish, billfish, sea turtles, marine mammals, and sharks. The permit will reverse 16 years of conservation when the permitted boats kill and sell the conservation benefits. A few federal bureaucrats have made this decision without knowledge from time spent on the docks or on boats, or from experience in a recreational fishing or boating jobs. Their decision will have strong negative impacts to our industry, a multi-billion dollar industry. Just in Florida our industry generates an economic impact of $7.6 billion (2015/16) and supports 109,300 jobs. The State of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission opposed issuing the permit and did many members in our industry.

The Division of Highly Migratory Species maintains that the research is “to collect data”, data that confirms the obvious – closing an area to longline gear for 16 years will allow fish stocks and fishing to improve. The project’s rationale is more threatening as it holds that “if the conservation goals of the time-area closures have been achieved, then closures should be reopened to the fishery.” This means the “experimental research” is really to justify allowing pelagic longline gear to fish again in the east coast closed zone and next likely in the closed zone in the Gulf of Mexico, where the sportfishing and boating industry has a significant impact on the socioeconomic wellbeing of the coastal communities in the region.

The hypocrisy of the situation is blatant as the permitted scientist, along with the owner of many of the longline boats that will fish in the zone, were part of a CNN interview in 2012 (click here to view), in which they made the argument that longlining was not a clean gear and should be replaced by buoy gear. The very scientist and longline boat owner in that CNN piece are now the ones who requested and received the permit. They can now sell the conservation benefits from the zone.

Viking Yachts, the Billfish Foundation and the Recreational Fishing Alliance respectively request you withdraw the issued EFP for the east coast of Florida closed zone.

Sincerely, Patrick Healey President Viking Yachts Ellen Peel President The Billfish Foundation Jim Donofrio Executive Director Recreational Fishing Alliance

Page 26

Making Waves Fall 2017

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 2727 Page

The Problem With Exempted Fishing Permits

by John DePersenaire, RFA Managing Director/Fisheries Policy Specialist

T

he Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) program as originally conceived would allow scientific research to take place for the betterment of fishery management and conservation where the activity would otherwise be prohibited. (600.745 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations (b) Exempted fishing—(1) General. A NMFS Regional Administrator or Director may authorize, for limited testing, public display, data collection, exploratory fishing, compensation fishing, conservation engineering, health and safety surveys, environmental cleanup, and/or hazard removal purposes, the target or incidental harvest of species managed under an FMP or fishery regulations that would otherwise be prohibited. Exempted fishing may not be conducted unless authorized by an EFP issued by a Regional Administrator or Director in accordance with the criteria and procedures specified in this section.)

The program has informed better management at times. However, in recent years the permits have been abused by operators focused on selfenrichment rather than any public or conservation benefit from their efforts. Below are a few troubling examples of how loopholes in the program have failed to protect America’s public marine resources.

Headboat Collaborative EFP - 2013 Exempted Fishing Permit (RIN 0648-XC528) allowed a pre-selected subset of less than a dozen Gulf headboat operators to be gifted recreational quota to use for their individual harvest of red snapper and grouper for two years. Touted as an experiment to provide accurate and timely landings data, this EFP paved the way for allowing separate allocations of common property resources to the for-hire and private boat recreational fishing sectors and the ultimate creation of a catch shares program in the recreational sector.

This EFP simply did not produce conservation gains or enhance efficiency. Any “academic study” designed to quantify the stated goals of this EFP were negated by the non-random selection of the subject vessels. There was no evidence that the decline in for-hire reef fish permits in the Gulf has affected any of the operators who are applying for this EFP as the decline cited in their application has affected primarily the smaller charter vessels. There was also no history of project management and oversight by the “Headboat Cooperative” that would provide the agency with the standard assurances that the conditions and requirements of the EFP could, in fact, be achieved.

Page 28

Making Waves Fall 2017

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

The most that could be hoped for by this EFP is that it would show a small number of vessels, when granted the right to fish when it is illegal for everyone else to fish, will be more profitable.

That conclusion needs no test. Artificially controlling supply in the face of pent-up demand will increase prices, pure and simple.

Despite overwhelming public sentiment in opposition, this EFP was granted. Before it had fully run its two-year course and the results evaluated, the Gulf Council had approved the creation of a new charter-for-hire/headboat sector with its own allocation of red snapper (Amendment 40).

South Atlantic Collaborative EFP Application – Feb. 2017 An exempted fishing permit (EFP) to initiate a commercial privatization program for at least six species of fish in the South Atlantic was filed by a newly created group called the South Atlantic Commercial Fishing Collaborative, which was comprised of exactly four individuals, including two sitting South Atlantic Council members and one former member. The EFP outlined two-year pilot program to assign private ownership privileges for those six species to up to 25 commercial vessels, although those vessels were not identified in the permit. The permit did not address how shares would be assigned, how they would be traded or ownership limits. There was no mention of resource rents or any sort of payment for the right to harvest these fish for their personal financial benefit, a topic that has come under increasing scrutiny.

The permit was withdrawn from consideration after an outpouring of public opposition and is likely to be re-submitted.

Page 2929 Page

Exempted Fishing Permit to Reintroduce Longlines into South Atlantic conservation zone – Aug. 2017 More than two decades ago swordfish in the Western Atlantic were in serious trouble. Swordfish were overfished and overfishing was occurring. The initial problem with the fishery was that too many juvenile swordfish were dying due to longlining off the coast of Florida and the Charleston Bump. As a result, those nursery areas were identified and closed to the United States pelagic longline (PLL) fleet in 2001. Ever since, there have been ill-conceived attempts to reopen the closed areas to commercial harvest and expose it to the types of intense commercial fishing pressure that drove stocks into an overfished condition in the first place.

In August 2017, the Office of Highly Migratory Species approved an EFP that will allow a fleet of six longliners owned by a single company back into the nursery areas to “evaluate the effectiveness of existing area closures at meeting conservation and management goals under current conditions using standardized Pelagic Longline gear.”

Despite overwhelming public opposition, the EFP was allowed to be used as a tool of convenience for a single longline operator to gain access to nearby pristine fishing grounds, jeopardizing a proven billfish nursery area and the considerable economic impact of a healthy billfish fishery on the region.

Page 30

Making Waves Fall 2017

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 3131 Page

Page 32

Making Waves Fall 2017

Dial in for

Page 3333 Page

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Tiles

by Gary Caputi Once the target of a significant commercial fishery, tilefish have made yet another comeback and anglers willing to do a little exploring and a lot of reeling can catch them. The question is, "will NOAA and the Councils force us out of the fishery by advancing a program of unnecessary over-regulation?"

T

he baited hooks were firmly on the bottom, 600 feet below the boat, when the rod tip bounced once, then twice. With a few turns of the reel handle the interloper was neatly impaled on a circle hook and it was time to go to work…for real.

Cranking up that much line with a pugnacious, bucking fish intent on getting back into the hole where it lives is akin to reeling a running jackhammer up 50 stories on the end of a standup rod. Lift and crank, lift and crank, lift and crank, the line seems endless until finally, way down there, you catch a glimpse of a bright shape spiraling toward the surface. After you crank up a few of these babies by hand most fishermen are begging for power tools and we came

equipped with them, too.

Okay, I can hear some of you saying, “that’s not sport fishing, na na, na na,” and maybe you’re right, but figuring out these unusual deep water dwellers, catching them and enjoying the incredible feast of fine dining they provide makes it interesting, fun and rewarding and isn’t that what fishing is all about? Besides, I prefer to catch them the old fashioned way with a conventional hand-crank reel.

My introduction to deep drop fishing way back in 1999 when I was hired to develop a fishing tournament for a resort in the Bahamas. I always added a couple of extra fishing days to each business trip to the resort during the year leading up to the event. I

Page 34

had a friend who kept a boat at the resort so we would leave the dock, initially to do something sporty like troll for marlin or wahoo, but each day ended deep dropping with electric reels in ridiculous depths to bring back some tasty critters for dinner and, I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. In the ensuing years the practice migrated north as enterprising Mid-Atlantic canyon fishermen started using the same techniques during their tuna trips, but here target species are blueline and golden tilefish instead of queen snapper and deep water grouper. So if you haven't tried fishing for these denizens of the deep here’s the skinny on how to get in on the action. It’s challenging, enjoyable and tiles are available year round, if you have the mettle to go after them in winter.

There are a limited number of charter and headboats that offer special tilefish charters, too.

Making Waves Fall 2017

and caught strange, yellow fish that amazed the biologists of his day. He discovered tilefish, a deep water bottom dweller that lives in colonies and makes it home in burrows in clay-like sedimentary bottom.

A few years later, in the summer of 1882 , there was a mass die-off of tilefish. Sailing ships coming in from Europe reported passing through miles of floating dead tilefish and armored sea robins from George’s

The Great Vanishing Act Golden tilefish, also called great northern tilefish (Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps) are beautiful, in a fishy sort of way, with silvery sides flecked with gold spots and white bellies streaked with bright yellow.

Their most distinguishing characteristic is a rudder-shaped flap of skin just behind the head. They have a large, toothy mouth with serious crushing power that they use to subdue some of the weird bottom creatures they eat. Young tiles devourer stuff like brittle stars and crabs called squat lobsters, but they move up to eating more fish and real lobsters as they get bigger.

A look into the historical archives revealed that the existence of tilefish was unknown until the late 1870’s when a commercial fisherman out for cod was pushed considerably further offshore than his usual haunts by a freak gale. Taking the storm as providence from Tiles range from a few pounds to over 50 with most caught the Almighty, the old salt deployed weighing 5 to 15 pounds. Size limits are ridiculous since they his bottom gear in deep water do not survive the trip to the surface and back if released. somewhere near Block Canyon

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 3535 Page

boats. In one instance, recounted by an elderly gentleman of German decent who was one of the last of the tilefish dory fisherman and who is since deceased, a U-Boat approached his mother ship and prepared to sink it when he realized he knew the captain of the sub from his school days in the old country.

After a quick reunion, the sub captain ordered everyone off the sailing vessel and into the dories before sinking it with the deck gun. The sub then towed the dories within view of Montauk and cast them off so the fishermen, including his old friend, could row to safety.

The commercial fishery was redisGolden tilefish live in burrows they make in the bottom or in covered yet again in the 1970’s with far more mechanized bottom longcanyon walls. This can only be done accomplished in areas lines and annual landings jumping composed of clay-like sedimentary deposits. quickly to 4000 metric tons in 1979, but began declining to half that Banks to the Wilmington Canyon. Upon closer examishortly thereafter. The overfishing was halted not by nation the fish showed no signs of disease and some management, but by the big money being paid for years later it was surmised that they were killed by a swordfish, which attracted a lot of the boats away freak movement of unusually cold water into the arfrom tilefish and into pelagic drift longlining for ea. This event leads us to an interesting characteristic broadbills. One fish’s downfall was another’s salvation of these fish. Even though they live at considerable and the reduction in commercial pressure allowed the depths ranging from about 400 to 800 feet, they are stocks to rebuild. Tilefish are currently under the manactually warm water dependent. There is a band of agement of the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management water that hugs the bottom around the canyons that Council and the most recent stock assessment indiremains around 50-degrees year round, even while cates that the stocks are no longer overfished and the temperatures above it can be 10 to 20 degrees colder. small number of commercial boats targeting tiles fish During an exploratory tilefish trip with Capt. Tim under strict quotas that keep their landings from doTanghare on the charter boat Clean Sweep, a 38’ ing the stocks any harm. There is such a small recreaFountain center console out of Cape May, New Jertional component to the fishery that it is not even sey, in early May we both noted how warm the fish considered in the current management plan so there felt when brought up from 550 feet. The surface temare no seasonal closures, size or bag limits. perature was only 51 degrees and the tilefish felt at least that warm.

Finding Gold But I digress, back to the history lesson. Tilefish were Catching tilefish, like football, is a game of yards. The rediscovered as a commercial fishery in 1915 and sail- key is finding them, and then dropping your baited rigs into the colony and the game can vary depending vessels would tow dories offshore where they would use short, bottom longlines, deployed and re- ing on the area you’re fishing. Golden tile range from Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico, but the largest contrieved by hand, with the sailing vessel acting as the centrations are found from George’s Banks to the Balmothership. In 1915 the recorded commercial landtimore Canyon. Scientists surmise that the composiings were 148 metric tons, but that jumped to 4500 metric tons in 1916 just before the fishery came to an tion of the sea floor within their preferred temperature and depth ranges has a lot to do with it. Tilefish abrupt halt with the start of World War I when Germake burrows, which they dig into flat or sloping areman U-Boats began harassing U.S. shipping in the as along the sea floor. It’s tough to burrow in rocky approaches to New York Harbor, including fishing bottom, it’s too hard, or sandy bottom because it’s too

Page 36

Making Waves Fall 2017

ing him to believe colonies migrated from shallower to deeper areas. One of his charters, Paul Brady of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, broke the world record on April 14, 2003 fishing with him on a spot in 700 feet of water. That same day they caught several other goldens over 30 pounds, which are unusually large.

Mentioning Tim’s theory to tilefish expert Bruce Freeman, the then head of marine fisheries for New Jersey, he explained that such migrations could very well take place with the seasons and from year to year.

Tilefish are temperature sensitive and studies Freeman was involved with in the 1980’s indicated that the band of warm bottom water they rely on tends to exManual or electric reels work and braid is a pand and constrict with the seasons. During the winmust to feel the bites while letting you use ter it tends to contract to a narrow band of ten miles or less in width while during the summer it widens

less weight to reach bottom.

unstable and slides back in. Clay is ideal and there seems to be more expansive areas of it from the Hudson Canyon running east along the Shelf. As you range south from the Hudson clay bottom becomes harder to find. While exploring the areas around the Wilmington and Baltimore Canyons with Capt. Tim Tanghare on the Clean Sweep out of Cape May, NJ we found some interesting clues. The majority of this area seems to be sand bottom that appears as a solid, dark red reading on his depthfinder, but we encountered a number of localized areas where slides occurred exposing clay substrates. They appeared as sudden depth changes of 60 feet or more within a hundred yards where the bottom color on the scope would change indicating softer composition. While you rarely mark tilefish, remember they live in burrows, most of these spots held fish and it wasn’t hard to get their attention once located.

Tim told me that he had a few such spots he’d found on previous trips, but they didn’t always hold fish lead-

This high-low bait rig for a conventional outfit consists of a 32 ounce sinker and two circle hooks on dropper loops. Those are mackerel strips being used for bait.

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 3737 Page

This mixed bag in a single drop includes (from left to right) a blueline tilefish, a black sea bass and a golden tilefish.

Yes, an electric reel was used to winch them up from 550 feet of water.

considerably. This lends credence to the movement of these fish. Tuna fishermen deep dropping along the edge of the canyons during the summer months seem to encounter tilefish in more spread out areas than the few head boats that target them during the winter.

Gearing Up Obviously fishing for tile is accomplished with bottom fishing tackle, either conventional rods and reels or electric reels. Tim uses Elec-tra-Mates mounted on Penn reels for those who prefer power tools. There are certainly other choices. If you go conventional, use a large enough reel to make picking up all that line an easier chore. The line of choice is super braid for sensitivity. The stretch in monofilament means you can barely feel a fish hit, while braid telegraphs even the subtlest nibble to the rod like a message from Western Union. Use at least 50-lb. test on conventional reels and 100 on the electrics. Sinkers can vary from 24 ounces to five pounds depending on the depth and drift speed. Tilefishing is accomplished from a drifting boat and you will find it becomes important to keep a person at the helm to bump the boat in and out of gear in an attempt to keep the boat over the

spot you’re fishing as long as possible. The rigs we use consist of large circle hooks, 12/0 or better, with two to five on a line strung using dropper loops above the sinker. The jury is still out on whether deep drop lights help or not as we get hits on rigs with and without them.

Tilefish have a varied diet so the baits you use can vary, too. We fished a mix of surf clams, mackerel fillets, squid and even chunks of fresh bluefish we caught. That’s right, we actually caught a bluefish on the bottom in 500 feet of water and when we chunked him up for bait the tilefish loved it! They will respond equally well to crabs, herring and other baits.

You could even try shrimp and lobster, but not if I’m on board because I’ll be cooking up a pot of bait in the galley before you get a chance to put it on your hook.

When you locate a colony chances are you will catch the largest fish first since they are the more aggressive than the smaller ones. On a party boat trip on the 125’ Jamaica out of Brielle, New Jersey last January I caught a dozen tilefish with my electric outfit set up with a stand up butt and shoulder harness that

Page 38

ranged from 3 to 12 pounds. On the last trip on the Clean Sweep we really started figuring out the right places to fish and five anglers, including Paul Brady, the world record holder, caught about 50 tilefish, but not all goldens. There has been an influx of gray tilefish, also called blueline tilefish (Caulolatilus microps), usually associated with more southerly waters off North Carolina, into the Wilmington-Baltimore Canyon area and they comprised half the fish we caught.

Bluelines don’t get as large as goldens and, in fact, we caught one that weighed 15 lb. 5 oz. and would have broken the current world record of 10 lb. 9 oz. if it hadn’t hit on one of the electric reels. Electric reel

Making Waves Fall 2017

catches do not qualify for IGFA record status.

Now here’s the really great news about tilefish. They are a culinary delight! Few fish ’ve tasted compare with the delicate flavor and snow white, firm, lobsterlike consistency. Interestingly, the grays and goldens taste the same. Steamed, baked or sautéed you can’t go wrong and once you try it you’ll agree. Vacuumed packed you can freeze tilefish and it holds up beautifully for future meals. Sort of makes me hungry just thinking about it so I think I’ll pop downstairs to the freezer and thaw some out for dinner this evening.

And no, I don’t have enough for everyone so you’ll just have to go catch your own!

TILEFISH RULES, REGS AND FUTURE MANAGEMENT MEASURES IN A NUTSHELL Management of golden tilefish has been pretty straightforward for the past few years with the exception of the assumption that recreational landings of goldens has been "creeping up" when in all actuality the landings are so small as to be considered deminimus within the management plan. Jose Martinez of the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council oversees the Tilefish Management Plan and reported that there is no closed season and a daily bag limit of 8 fish per person, conventional rod and reel and electric reels are acceptable, but no more than 5 hooks may be used on a line. He said that while the commercial fishery, which consists mostly of bottom long line gear, is managed with an annual TAL (total allowable landings) no individual TAL is in place for recreational, but should landings increase significantly one might be instituted along with more restrictive landing criteria.

Amendment 6 to the Tilefish management plan was recently approved that ratchets down the recreational landings of blueline tilefish, which can be found in shallower water that has recreational fishermen unhappy and the RFA calling it into question for a number of the provisions it

includes. The blueline bag limit is inequitable by design. Private recreational fishermen will be allowed 3 fish per person per day; for-hire boat anglers will be allowed 5; and if a for-hire boat spends the extra money to gain Coast Guard Certification anglers aboard can keep 7.

It also includes a provision that could lead to the requirements to obtain a permit and a report landings for both for-hire and private boat vessels wishing to fish for tilefish. While the concept has been approved by NMFS, another round of public hearings and a second comment period would be needed before implementation.

"These actions comes after measures were imposed in 2016 to restrict recreational blueline tile fish harvest despite not having a clear conservation need to reduce recreational harvest or an understanding of how extremely limited the universe of recreational anglers was that fish for blueline tilefish," said John DePersenaire of the RFA. For these reasons, RFA opposed these measures as they were inconsistent with several provisions of the Magnuson Act and represented an overreach of federal jurisdiction."

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 3939 Page

Page 40

Making Waves Fall 2017

RFA NEWS & VIEWS MBARA Dedicates Artificial Reef to NMFS Implements New England Recreational Groundfish RegulaRecreational Fishing Alliance tions Three Months Late!

The Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association (MBARA) was formed in January of 1997 and has since deployed over 150 artificial reefs. The primary function of the organization is the conservation and environmental improvement of our natural and artificial marine reef systems in the Gulf of Mexico near Mexico Beach, Florida, but that is not all that has been done by the organization. Since its inception, the MBARA has also worked very hard to conduct and promote scientific research and evaluation of reef designs, biomass development, and fish productions.

The folks at the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) in Gloucester, MA, claim that the recreational sector is important to them, but that assertion rings hollow to a lot of us.

The fishing year (for management purposes) starts every May 1st, and normally NMFS has the new recreational Gulf of Maine cod and haddock rules on the street by the end of April. But not this year -- they didn’t even send the proposed regs out for public comment until May 24th, and The third function of the MBARA is educating the the regulations weren’t implemented until Aupublic about the importance of reef systems to gust 1st, a staggering three months late! the marine ecosystem, and the impact they have on the coastal communities where they are built. In my opinion this is disgraceful. NMFS has 250 All parties benefit when the information on reefs people working at GARFO -- and they can’t get a non-controversial rule changes is disseminated to the public. School children, the couple of simple, st organization's members, and the general public made by May 1 ? Basically, the changes are a need to know all about reefs and reef building in total recreational prohibition on the possession of order to help promote conservation and environ- cod for 2017, a decrease in the haddock daily mental improvement of the marine reef systems. bag limit from 15 fish to 12, and some relatively minor changes in the haddock seasonal closures.

Recreational Fishing Alliance Reef is dedicated to Recreational Fishing Alliance (Joinrfa.org) by Mexico But it actually gets worse. NMFS also inserted a proposed measure of their own into the mix at Beach Marina. It consists of steel cable reels mounted on a steel stand and was deployed on the last minute, which would have shut down recreational haddock fishing completely for the August 10, 2015. It is 38 feet long, 22 feet wide entire month of September. This was not an opand 23 feet high with the location verified by MBARA divers Bob and Carol Cox on August 18, tion that the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), its Recreational Advisory Panel 2015. (known as the RAP, on which I serve) or the public had seriously considered earlier this year when LOCATION: new regulations were discussed. The NEFMC and Reef Area: Crooked Island Site the RAP had chosen a closed season from Sept.

LAT: 29 55.108 17th through October 30th, which we were led to LON: 85 35.834 believe by NMFS staffers would be OK and not put the recreational sector over its haddock sub-

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

quota. However, NMFS brass decided that closing the entire month of September would be better since it was more restrictive, and would further reduce the recreational catch, so they simply added it in as an alternative – and never even bothered to tell anyone they were going to do so.

Page 4141 Page

Panel (RAP) meeting in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on June 12th.

We continue to be disappointed by the lack of representation by recreational anglers and/or forhire captains on the NEFMC. Each state has appointed representatives -- one from its regulatory At first blush it may seem that extending the fishery management agency, and one from the 2016 haddock bag limit of 15 fish per day for an public that typically consist of an individual who extra three months could be considered a “gift” to represents the commercial fleet. New Hampshire anglers. However, NMFS Science Center folks and Rhode Island are the only two states with a made it very clear last winter that a reduction recreational angler appointed to the NEFMC. from 15 to 12 haddock was necessary so that the Other Regional Fishery Management Councils recreational sector wouldn’t exceed its very small typically have equal commercial and recreational (157 MT) sub-quota of cod via bycatch mortality representing (or close to it) but that has never when anglers fished for haddock. been the case with the NEFMC. So now we have three months of 15 haddock per person (instead of 12) that wasn’t supposed to happen. What will that do to the cod bycatch mortality? And what will it do to the haddock mortality? Will the recreational sector have to endure more cutbacks in 2018 simply because NMFS couldn’t get the 2017 regulations out in a timely manner? Why couldn’t NMFS have implemented some interim Brody or emergency rules if they needed that much extra time?

The inequity continues, due in part to the fact that the RAP reports directly to the Council’s Groundfish Committee. The Groundfish Committee then approves, disapproves or modifies decisions made by the RAP, and then forwards them to the NEFMC for approval. The purpose of the Groundfish Committee is to manage groundfish, not the whole range of other species and fishery management issues that impact the recreational sector. The RAP should be its own committee and Wilson Fortunately NMFS ultimately decided against the report directly to the NEFMC. A motion to request full-month September haddock closure and went this change was voted up by the RAP at the June with the September 17th closure date, so the for- meeting. and was forwarded to the Groundfish hire fleet as well as private-boat anglers caught a Committee. We will see what actions are implemented, if any, that indicate that the NEFMC bit of a break. But for NMFS to add an option at takes the recreational sector seriously. the last minute that had not been discussed by the RAP, the Groundfish Committee, the Council, There has been lots of talk about Carlos Rafael of or the public is a dangerous precedent and we New Bedford, MA, who owns a seafood compawill have to watch this type of thing carefully in ny and possibly the biggest commercial fishing the future. fleet in the entire country. Rafael pleaded guilty in March to falsifying fish quotas, conspiracy, and The whole recreational groundfish debacle this year is a huge black eye for NMFS, in my opinion. tax evasion. His conviction is pending. His comWe’re hoping it won’t happen again. --Capt. Bar- mercial fleet in New Bedford has a number of permits to land and sell groundfish that may be ry Gibson, New England Regional Director revoked by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

NEFMC’s RAP Pushes for Greater Representation and Recognition There were a number of fishery related matters discussed at the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC), Recreational Advisory

There has been an ongoing push by the commercial fleet (and lots of press coverage) to reallocate the fishing privileges associated with his permits to other eligible permit holders in the commercial fleet. But how about the recreational sector? He illegally landed groundfish, which negatively impacted recreational anglers and the for-hire com-

Page 42

Making Waves Fall 2017

munity, all of who rely on these fish to make a living. Recreational anglers and for-hire operators are subject to zero cod landings north of the 42 degree latitude line (approximately north of Chatham) for all of 2017, which has had a devastating economic impact on all of us.

ational south of 41° 43’ N latitude (near Chatham, Massachusetts – the northern extend of the dusky shark’s U.S. Atlantic range), except when fishing with flies or artificial lures.

Attention Shark Fishermen!

Regulatory Changes to Take Effect January 1, 2018

These regulations will not apply to shore-based anglers who fish for sharks since they are not required to possess an HMS permit.

This means if a recreational boat is fishing for We are once again the “forgotten sons” whereby sharks south of Chatham it will be required to all the press coverage talks about how Rafael’s have an HMS permit and a shark endorsement. illegal activity has negatively impacted the com- That boat will also be required to use a nonmercial fleet, but not us. Will the NEFMC conoffset, non-stainless steel circle hook if not using a clude the same? The RAP voted up a motion refly or lure. questing that recreational anglers and the forhire fleet also be provided compensation for the These regulations will only apply to HMS permitfish illegally caught and sold by Carlos Rafael as ted vessels that are fishing for sharks, or that poswell as the commercial fleet. His dishonest activisess or retain sharks. If you are boat fishing tarties impacted all those who fish for groundfish. geting sharks, or if you incidentally catch a shark So, I ask, will our voice be heard at the NEFMC? and want to land it, you will be required to have Will they prove to us that they are taking us serian HMS permit with a shark endorsement. All ously? By the time this article is published we will sharks, except smooth and spiny dogfish, are inlikely have an answer. –Capt. Mike Pierdinock, cluded in the broad category of sharks for the Massachusetts Chapter Director purposes of these regulations.

NOAA Fisheries finalized Amendment 5b to the consolidated Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Plan on April 4, 2017. This action was directed toward ending overfishing and initiating rebuilding of the dusky shark population. The amendment will require recreational anglers who fish for, retain or possess Atlantic HMS (defined as tuna, billfish, sharks and swordfish) to comply with two NEW regulations beginning on January 1, 2018. Those regulations are as follows: Require HMS permit holders fishing for sharks recreationally to obtain a “shark endorsement,” which require completion of an online shark identification and fishing regulation training course, plus additional recreational fisheries outreach.

Require the use of non-offset, non-stainless steel circle hooks by all HMS permit holders with a shark endorsement when fishing for sharks recre-

Watch These Pages and Our Website for more Breaking RFA News!

waves

M A K I N G

MakingWaves Waves Fall Summer Making 20172016

Page 4343 Page

The Official Publication of the Recreational Fishing Alliance

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 nearly 20 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 P.O. Box 3080 New Gretna, New Jersey 08224 Phone: 1-888-JOIN RFA toll free Fax: (609) 294-3812

Jim Donofrio Executive Director

Capt. Barry Gibson New England Director

Jim Martin West Coast Director

John DePersenaire Managing Director

Gary Caputi Corporate Relations Director

T. J. Cheek Southeast Director