Making Waves - Winter 2021

M A K I N G The Official Publication of the Recreational Fishing Alliance

RFA’s Jim Donofrio to Retire Robert T. Healey Passes Away at 92 New Directions in Recreational Management Summer Flounder Allocation an Unforced Error

Winter 2021

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M A K I N G

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Making Waves Making Waves Summer Winter 2016 2021

The Official Publication of the Recreational Fishing

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK

By Gary Caputi

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his issue is dedicated to the two people who created the Recreational Fishing Alliance, Robert T. Healey and Jim Donofrio. Through their vision and abilities what began as a desire to provide political representation for the millions of saltwater anglers in this country became a reality and then a force that had a significant impact on the discourse that governs fisheries legislation, regulatory actions and conservation.

We lost Bob Healey mere days before this newsletter was scheduled for release. He passed at the age of 92 having led a truly remarkable life. His passing is mourned by his family, friends and associates and by everyone at the RFA. If you are not familiar with his accomplishments I urge you to read about him in the pages immediately following these comments.

Jim Donofrio, Healey’s collaborator in the creations of the RFA and the person who was its heart and soul, is stepping down as our executive director and chief lobbyists as of December 31, 2021 after heading up the organization for the past 26 years. You can read his last executive director’s report, a real barn-burner, along with a feature on his background as a fisherman and professional captain turned political activist.

While Jim will relinquish the day-to-day responsibilities of running the RFA we expect he will never be very far away from the action and will remain a guiding light to the current and future endeavors that face us as recreational fishermen. It seems that no matter how hard we fight, the major issues and inequities that have plagued us remain and the system that seems rigged against us can never be left unchallenged.

As always, there’s lots to keep up with so read on. You’ll see more about the evolution of the RFA in future issues.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Publisher’s Desk

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Tribute to Robert T. Healey (1929—2021)

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Executive Dir. Report:

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RFA Commentary: 30—30 Update

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Who is RFA Exec. Director Jim Donofrio?

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26 Years of Dedication to the Mission

RFA Accomplishments 26 Under Jim Donofrio RFA Commentary: Initiative for Change

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Breaking News:

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Breaking News: $10 Million for Chesapeake Restoration

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Regulatory Updates:

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News & Views

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Allocation Dislocation

What’s Shaking in FMP Land

About the Cover Jim Donofrio, deck brush in hand, on a cod trip some years back. Always cleaning up someone else’s mess.

Photo: Gary Caputi

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RFA Founder, Marine Industry Leader Robert T. Healey (1929—2021)

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become the largest manufacturer of sport fishing yachts in the world. But that success may have never been achieved without the determination obert T. Healey Sr., the visionary be- and perseverance of Bob Healey. When a federal hind the creation of the Recreation- 10 percent luxury tax was imposed on yachts in al Fishing Alliance, and co-founder of the Viking 1991, thousands of people were laid off and hunYacht Company, passed away last week at the dreds of companies went out of business. Viking age of 92. He helped build the company into an nearly went bankrupt, closed a plant in Florida industry leader and led the fight that repealed the and laid off all but 65 of its 1,500 boatbuilders.

Federal Luxury Tax on yachts in the early 1990s while simultaneously working with Jim Donofrio Bob was instrumental in organizing a national, to create an effective political action organization grass-roots campaign to fight the tax. He took the to represent all saltwater recreational fishermen. industry lead, organizing busloads of out-of-work boatbuilders to converge on Capitol Hill for “My father was a true leader, and his vision will demonstrations, and setting fire to a boat on a always guide us,” said his son, Robert Healey Jr. barge in Narragansett Bay as a highly effective “He believed that the people around him – symbol of protest. The tax was repealed 20 his family, friends and employees – lifted him to months later in 1993. success and it was his obligation to leave the “My uncle’s efforts to repeal the Federal Luxury world a better place.”

Tax on yachts will never be forgotten,” said Bill’s Bob Healey Sr. and his brother Bill established Vi- son and Viking Yachts President and CEO Pat king Yachts in 1964, and the company went on to Healey. “He saved not only Viking but the entire

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My father was a man who saw the potential in every person he met, including me. His passion, his love was in lifting people up and helping them reach their potential.

Robert T. Healey, Jr. , RFA Chairman of the Board marine industry. He was the catalyst and leader, and he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He was a brilliant lawyer and savvy businessman who was able to convince the politicians in Washington that this was very much a JOBS ISSUE. It was about good hardworking people losing their ability to provide for their families.

Executive while his brother built the boats.

Bob graduated from Camden Catholic High School, attended St. Joseph’s College in Philadelphia, graduating with a B.S. in Political Science, and earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He practiced law in Camden County, N.J., for 25 years before retiring as a senior partner in the firm of Healey, Mueller and Tyler to devote himself full time to business interests.

Together, Bill and Bob Healey achieved many milestones. In 1996, they founded the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), a non-profit organization formed to promote sustainable fisheries and a healthy marine environment. Viking has contributed well over $1 million to the RFA.

Committed to their mantra to build a better boat every day, Bill and Bob pushed Viking to the pinnacle of their industry with more than 5,000 boats delivered. They successfully steered the company through the ups and downs of economic cycles. “My father always said, ‘We’ve Bob’s 11th-hour lobbying efforts with Congress- worked hard to get to the top of the mountain, man Bill Hughes, who represented N.J.’s Second we’re enjoying the view and we’re not going to District, helped secure the votes needed to repeal give it up,’ ” remembers Bob Jr., currently the Cothe Luxury Tax in 1993. “It was a great victory for Chairman of the Viking Group, which manages our family-owned-and-operated boatbuilding Viking Yachts, Viking Investments, Viking Associcompany, the people of New Jersey and everyates, Viking Residential and Viking Developers. one in the marine industry,” said Pat. As Viking's Chairman of the Board for 57 years, With Bill’s help, Bob privately funded the compa- Bob Healey Sr. diversified their financial interests ny out of his own savings, allowing Viking to tool into multi-family, industrial and commercial real up new models. The company came out of the estate, oil and gas exploration and development, gate running when the tax was finally repealed – and the financial management of the Healey famand they never looked back. ily assets.

In the 1950s, his brother Bill joined Bob in the real-estate development business. Among other projects, the two brothers acquired and developed the Bass River Marina in New Gretna, N.J. In 1964 a small, local builder of wooden boats, Peterson-Viking, was having financial trouble, and the brothers agreed to buy the company, changed the name to Viking Yachts, and relocated the business to their property adjoining the marina. The boatbuilding business soon occupied much of their time, so the brothers sold the marina and concentrated on building yachts. Bob was the company lawyer, moneyman and Chief

“It was a great honor to work with Bob Healey on the creation of the Recreational Fishing Alliance,” said Jim Donofrio, RFA Executive Director.

“During those early years we became close friends, but he was so much more to me. Father figure, mentor, councilor, confidant, and a calming influence through times of disfunction in our industry and during our fight to try and positively impact the legislative process that had done so much damage to recreational fishing and boating. With his passing, the marine industry lost a giant. Although modest in stature he towered over those who were called leaders. His positive outlook and unbridled fortitude made tackling even the biggest challenges like the inequities in

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fisheries management always seem achievable.

Time and again he proved they were. He frequently made his critics eat their words through his actions and successes, but always remained the humble, soft-spoken Bob Healey I came to love. I will miss him more than words can express.”

worth and value in life is in our contributions to others.”

In 1996, the brothers established Viking Sport Cruisers, a company that has been highly successful distributing British-built, high end cruising yachts, built to Viking's specifications, through its dealer network in North America. Bob, Bill and Pat received the Ernst & Young 1998 New Jersey Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Fifteen years later, the family would earn a second award from Ernst & Young.

With his wife Ellen, Bob founded the Gleneayre Equestrian Program for at-risk youth. The program uses the powerful connection between horses and people to support learning, growth and healing.

A devout Catholic and product of Catholic school education, Bob brought his business skills to the challenges facing Catholic schools in the U.S. and formed the Healey Education Foundation and the Catholic Partnership Schools in Camden.

For his philanthropic efforts, Bob received the Lewis Katz Excellence in Education Award, the Beacon of Light Award, the Catholic Charities Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio Award for Leadership, an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Scranton University and the Shield of Loyola Award from St. Joseph's University.

Ironically, the Healey’s bought back Bass River Marina in 2002 and reopened it as the Viking Yachting Center. They were inducted in 2003 into the National Marine Manufacturers Association Hall of Fame for their outstanding contributions Beloved husband of Ellen J. (nee Baldino), loving father to his seven children: Lizanne H. Jenkins to the marine industry.

(Thomas), Christine L. Healey, Caroline H. Adillon, In honor of their service and commitment to the L. Toland Sherriff (Robert), Robert T. Healey, Jr. marine industry for more than a half a century, (Bobbi), M. Alexis Iaccarino (Jonathan) and Leigh Bill and Bob were honored with the 2019 IBIH. Hughes (Gabriel), and adored grandfather of METSTRADE Boat Builder Lifetime Achievement his sixteen grandchildren. He was predeceased Award, which was accepted by his son, Bob Jr. by his first wife, Louise L. (nee Lucas), and his two brothers, Patrick J. Healey and Edward J. Healey.

Bob received many more awards for his achieveHe is survived by his brother William J. Healey, ments, including induction into the NJ Marine and many nieces and nephews.

Trade Association Hall of Fame and the Rowan University Milestone Award. Bob also channeled Relatives and friends attended his viewing on his financial success into philanthropic interests, Thursday, December 16, at Healey Funeral Home, which included building schools in impoverished 9 White Horse Pike, Haddon Heights, NJ, and Friareas of Mexico, and providing housing, medical day at 9:00 am at the Cathedral of the Immacuassistance, education, food and clean water to late Conception, 642 Market St., Camden, NJ, imthe people of war-torn Sierra Leone through the mediately followed by a Funeral Mass . Masks Healey International Relief Foundation. “My fawere required. In lieu of flowers, Bob requested ther was a good man with a deep faith donations to charities supported by The Robert T and commitment to service,” said Bob Jr., who Healey Sr. Charitable Trust, which include the recently announced his candidacy for Congress Healey International Relief Foundation (hirf.net), in New Jersey’s 3rd District. “No person or misthe Healey Education Foundation sion was ever a lost cause to him. He saw the po- (healeyedfoundation.org), and the Gleneayre tential in everyone and believed that our true Equestrian Program (gepnj.org).

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Executive Director's Report

by Jim Donofrio

26 Years of Dedication to the Mission

“To safeguard the rights of saltwater anglers, protect marine, boat and tackle industry jobs and ensure the long-term sustainability of U.S. saltwater fisheries.”

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t was in early 1996 when Bob Healey Sr., CEO of the Viking Yacht Company, and I founded the RFA. We realized that the organization would need a strong mission statement, one that would stand the test of time. One that clearly defined what the organization stood for and that would guide us in everything we did. That misPhoto Courtesy: NBC 6 South Florida sion statement encompassed the three simple caveats seen above.

years which, in my opinion, only shows their weakness.

The RFA mission has led to many successes on the marine fisheries legislative and regulatory battlefield. But it also became a lightning rod for the established groups that for years willingly let our anglers and our industry fall victim to Washington DC politics through their employ of former Hill staffers as contract lobbyists who brought Twenty-six years later those mission pawith them the go along to get along rameters are still carved in stone. The RFA measures that got us nowhere. has never altered its mission and by comThere were so many times during my tenparison there is not another fishing organure at the RFA when we were on the right ization in the nation that has a similarly side of critically important issues only to be bold and defining statement of its purpose sabotaged by one established group or and its goals. In fact, two of the longest esanother who danced with our adversaries tablished fishing organizations have on a regular basis. All this damage was changed their mission statements over the wrought by the work of these DC insiders.

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When the smoke cleared and recreational fishermen and the industry had either lost or been encouraged to settle for far less than we could have achieved by sticking to our guns, we would hear the same tired cliches. “We lived to fight another day,” or my favorite, “We got a bite of the apple.” Instead of accomplishing the critical goals all we got were pathetic DC catch phrases thanks to the incompetence that infects Capitol Hill lobbying.

Making Waves Winter 2021

ational fisheries and allowed the continuation of the use of flawed practices unabated. The other was the Modern Fish Act, which was promoted to the angling public as some huge win for fishermen and fish but was nothing more than a hoax perpetrated on our industry after all the important issues we were attempting to fix were stripped out of the final bill.

Agreeing to that made our negotiators the laughingstock of the Beltway. By the way, those important fixes—the good stuff After the failures followed the spin as in the original legislative language, was these same lobbyists tried to put lipstick on developed and introduced by the RFA. a pig. Legislation given names that made them sound laudable and important but We have accomplished a lot of beneficial accomplished little or nothing. In some work for anglers under the guiding princicases, their willingness to capitulate hurt ples of our unchanged mission statement, our ability to go back to the table to try even in the face of opposition from groups and make the major corrections needed outside the recreational fishing communibecause those representatives showed ty, and also by groups considered to be their weakness to the very politicians we part of that community. I leave with one needed to impress with our strength. I’ll regret, that the usual suspects, as I have bet that 99-percent of the industry CEOs called those who have let anglers and the never read the words in the bills they, industry down repeatedly while putting through their chosen lobbyists, agreed to. on a happy face, will continue to bamboozle them with worthless legislation and Here are two perfect examples of worthspin it out at the next annual tackle indusless legislation that had the potential to try get together. I worry that Magnuson truly benefit recreational fishermen, fisherand data collection issues will never get ies and the industry, but were allowed to the reform so desperately needed if recrefail. The Fisheries Science Improvement ational fishing is to be a true equal partner Act was sold to all the industry members in the management system. I pray someat their annual legislative meeting, but the one will emerge as an outspoken leader final wording agreed to by our lobbyists and call out the hypocrisy before it’s too does absolutely nothing to improve the late. science behind the management of recre-

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MANHATTAN CUP STRIPED BASS TOURNAMENT June 3, 2022 Liberty Landing marina, Jersey city, NJ Www.manhattancup.com Underwritten by the Fisheries Conservation Trust

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Commentary

By John DePersenaire RFA Managing Director, Fisheries Specialist

30/30 Executive Order Update America the Beautiful Preliminary Report and Forthcoming Atlas

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n the first month of the Biden administration, the President issued an executive order (EO 14008) that seeks to conserve 30% of the nation’s public lands and waters by the target year 2030—hence the 30/30 initiative title. This executive order is in step with a program that was enacted by the United Nations Convention for Biological Diversity back in 2015 that was subsequently adopted by 193 nations, the United States included.

Department of Interior released a preliminary report entitled Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful. The report outlines a plan to tackle the climate crisis and provides recommendations that the government can take to address the anticipated changes. The recommendations are meant to be guided by 8 key principles. The report also mentions producing an American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas to include areas of protection, conservation, and restoration that will catalog The Biden executive order charges the secrethe cumulative areas already in existence and taries of Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce those added in the future that will be applied along with the Chair of the Council on Envitoward the goal of conserving 30% of the naronmental Quality to develop clear and transtion’s public lands and waters. parent guiding principles to steer the nation-first, by producing a report on the current in- After reviewing the preliminary report, the ventory of already protected lands and waRFA joining with a broad group of fishermen, ters, and second, by establishing mechanisms hunters and sportsmen, submitted a letter to measure future progress towards reaching that included recommendations for the develthe ultimate 30 percent goal. opment of the American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas.

In response to the Biden executive order, the

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Those recommendations included 3 key points.

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RFA and many other organizations have expressed concerns about the application of the 30/30 initiative since the signing of the Biden The need to clearly define conservation to Executive Order. While there may be areas on ensure it is consistent with current, scithe globe where the broad-brush approach ence-based fish and game manageof conserving vast areas of lands and ocean ment plans, and makes sense, especially areas with poor or no That collaboration between the federal management or enforcement, such an apgovernment, state fish and wildlife proach does not make sense in most areas of agencies, regional management bodthe United States. RFA recognizes this probies, the fishing, hunting and sporting lem and cautions about the impact on recreacommunities and private landowners is tional fishermen should vast swaths of land or essential, and the water be closed to public use as we have seen attempted with the aggressive use of Recognition of all current efforts that are the National Monument designations in the directly contributing to conservation marine environment. and biodiversity.

The US currently has an extensive inventory In addition to outlining key concerns with the of protected and managed areas that RFA principles as presented, the coalition provided and others believe must be counted towards government agencies involved with the no the 30/30 goal. Furthermore, US fishermen less than 34 examples of terrestrial and aquathave played a significant role in the overall ic protected areas that have been instrumenconservation success of both marine fish spetal in advancing conservation goals and incies and marine habitat over the past 50 creasing biodiversity that are already in place. years. To ignore those hard-fought successes The coalition made the argument that these would be a slap in the face to those who sufexisting protected areas and numerous other fered through years of strict regulation to conservation programs and projects must be achieve those conservation results. Marine included in the inventory when calculating fishery management in most US waters is so progress toward the 30% benchmark outentrenched that one could easily say the enlined by the executive order. Preliminary estitire US EEZ is a marine protected area worthy mate put progress already achieved at of inclusion in the 30/30 inventory, but makaround 12% but the RFA believes that numing that case will be a battle royale with conber is actually much higher; perhaps high servation groups pushing the 30/30 agenda enough that we have already exceed the to expand areas that prohibit recreational 30% goal at the domestic level. Keep in mind and commercial fishing activities. that the United States has been implementing protected areas with various forms of re- RFA will continue to monitor the implementastricted use long before this initiative was ev- tion of EO 14008 and advocate to ensure recer conceived and those areas protected prior reational fishermen are not excluded from to the Executive Order must be included in public lands and waters. the inventory.

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Jim Donofrio to Step Down as RFA Executive Director

Donofrio leaves a 26 year legacy of achievement as the leader and chief lobbyist at the Recreational Fishing Alliance. He is a passionate advocate for this nation’s recreational anglers.

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years were not always the most popular, but time and again they proved to be the right positions in hindsight. On those issues where he did not prefter 26 years as the founder and vail, it frequently cost the angling community executive director of the Recreadearly and led us down a road to a place where tional Fishing Alliance, Jim Donofrio will be step- conservation benefits were not realized by the ping down, although probably not stepping com- anglers who sacrificed dearly to make them possipletely away, as of December 31, 2021. Jim has ble. He always understood the process and knew been the guiding force that envisioned and then the issues intimately, and his ability to see the immolded the RFA into an effective political action pacts of political and regulatory decisions two, organization with the simple goal of giving saltthree even ten years down the line was nothing water fishermen a voice in the political and legis- short of prescient. He rarely got the credit he delative process they never had before. The list of served for the countless hours of hard work he achievements the RFA has accomplished on their put into the job, the network of political contacts behalf is impressive, especially when you take in- he established and nurtured, and for his ability to to consideration that other angler organizations make things happen and take great strides for frequently opposed RFA’s stance on substantive marine conservation, the angling community and issues and worked to discredit and even defund the sportfishing industry. His legacy cannot be the organization. The accomplishment list is actu- denied. ally longer than what you will see on the followJim Donofrio didn’t plan on getting involved in ing pages, but some of what lobbyists do is acthe political process or becoming a lobbyist, at complished without fanfare at the behest of the least not early on. His interest as a kid growing up politicos they work with when they have constitin a suburban town in Bergen County, New Jeruents who might not be pleased with the deals sey was fishing. As he grew into his teens and they made. early twenties it blossomed into a deep and abidDonofrio is something of an anomaly among lob- ing love of the ocean and its creatures. Fishing as byists. He is passionate about fishing and even a job started with a short stint as a deckhand on more passionate about representing recreational for-hire fishing boats, but he quickly advanced to fishermen. When you learn more about his back- become a professional captain at the age of 21. ground you will understand why. It was this pas- He combined his innate ability and seamanship sion that guided him to study history and the leg- with a thirst for learning the science behind fish islative process with the goal of creating the RFA, and the ocean environment to become a highly a goal he achieved working in concert with Rob- regarded captain who consistently put his clients ert T. Healey, CEO of the Viking Yacht Company. on fish. His reputation grew quickly as other anUnlike many so-called lobbyists, Jim wanted to glers and captains took notice of the young skipget things done, right the wrongs, and fix the per, but running general for-hire vessels was not broken rather than nibble around the edges of where his heart led him. His next step was into thorny legislative problems, thus insuring the fu- the rarefied atmosphere of running private sportture of their own position through inaction. The fishing yachts for owners who pursued their paspositions he staked out with the RFA over the sion for fishing further offshore, trading in stripers

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tournament circuit frequently finishing in the money against the very best captains and crews on the water at the time.

During his tenure on the water Donofrio watched as the fisheries that had for so long supported both commercial and recreational fishermen began to dwindle.

He saw first hand the decimation of the bluefin tuna fishery as school bluefins that inhabited inshore waters were wiped out by a From angler, to deckhand, to captain, Donofrio rose quickly transitory purse seine fleet . through the ranks to gain a spot at the wheel of for-hire fishing To this day he calls bluefin vessels. This picture is a young Captain Jim Donofrio at the helm of the “poor man’s big game the charterboat Drifter. and bluefish for tuna and marlin, following the seasons from north to south and into the Caribbean. He ran a number of corporate and privately owned vessels, and his fishing exploits took him from the bluefin tuna grounds of New England to the gentle seas of the islands in search of marlin and sailfish.

The boats he ran became formidable Always a threat at tournaments, Donofrio (in red sweatshirt) was at the competitors on the helm to find, hook and boat this massive blue marlin in the Mid-Atlantic bluewater fishing Canyons.

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Donofrio (center) has always had a great love for the bluefin tuna fishery and with RFA has fought to protect it for future generations of anglers for the past 26 years.

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Donofrio worked with the White House under four administrations, Congressmen and Senators too numerous to name, always in a bipartisan way with one guiding principle—get the job done. His relationships with members of the Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump Administrations was key to numerous victories on behalf of our ocean resources and recreational fishing. species” because when they were abundant, they were often found close enough to shore

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Jim testified before dozens of committee hearings on subjects as varied as correcting the inequities in the Magnuson Stevens Fisheries Conservation Act to issues like the push for unfettered construction of wind farms. Always outspoken and well versed on the issues, he’s been a strong voice for anglers.

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A Look Back at the Accomplishments of the Recreational Fishing Alliance Under the Guidance and Direction of Jim Donofrio Twenty-six years can be a long time, but in retrospect seems like little more than the blink of an eye. From the very beginnings of the RFA, Donofrio hit the ground running and he never slowed down in his pursuit of equity for recreational fishermen and well-reasoned management of our nation’s marine resources. Always guided by the RFA Mission Statement, he truly made a difference in a political and regulatory landscape that is notoriously difficult to navigate and the bane of anglers since the formation of the federal marine fisheries management bureaucracy.

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Jim Donofrio from the beginning of his tenure at the RFA. In 1996, Jim was appointed to the U.S. delegation to ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) where he started a tradition of working to protect the U.S. recreational bluefin tuna fishery from international players who wanted to see it dissolved in favor of commercial exploitation. Prior to Donofrio’s appointment, threats by participating ICCAT parties to make bluefin an exclusively commercial fishery had become part of their negotiating norm; but while numerous efforts have been made over the past 20+ years to marginalize or eliminate recreational participation or usurp recreational quotas for commercial use or as transfers to other nations, RFA has successfully challenged them time and again to the benefit of both the resource and the American angler.

s one of the first challenges faced as a fledgling organization in 1996, the RFA spearheaded a ban on Pelagic PairTrawling in U.S. Waters. The development of a highly suspect fishery for tuna in the MidAtlantic and Northeast canyons involving the use of two high-powered trawlers with nets strung between them to catch tunas was called pelagic pairtrawling. It was wreaking havoc on bigeye and yellowfin tuna and these nets were frequently being pulled through areas where recreational fishing boats where congregated. RFA lobbied members of Congress to pressure the Department of Commerce to prevent pair-trawling from becoming an “accepted gear” for the commercial harvest of pelagic species and shortly thereafter its The RFA is responsible for the removal of the use was banned in U.S. waters. purse seine fleet from the yellowfin tuna fishery The preservation and protection of the recreation- off the East coast. Jim Donofrio met with the al bluefin tuna fishery has been a high priority for owners of the major purse seine boats involved in

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the bluefin tuna fisheries in 1998 and was instrumental in brokering a deal to keep those boats out of the canyons and off yellowfin and bigeye tuna stocks. As a result, these large cannery fleet boats eventually became unprofitable to operate even for bluefin and within a few short years were removed from all tuna netting in US waters.

In a bold move, the RFA took on the Pelagic Long Line Industry that was decimating the swordfish, marlin and sailfish stocks in US waters and through strategically applied political pressure won the Time & Area Closures the led to a massive reduction in the long line fleet. At a time when other organizations were in negotiations with lobbyists from the pelagic longline industry in a vain attempt to gain concessions (and failing miserably), RFA was working with a group of Congressmen to achieve meaningful reductions in the rampant damage being done to swordfish and billfish populations by this destructive commercial gear. The culmination of RFA efforts between 1996 and 1998 was that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) was backed into a corner under threat of legislation to take away all power to manage pelagic fisheries if they did not implement a Swordfish Fishery Management Plan with specific time and area closures. Identified by the RFA as areas where long lining was most damaging to immature swordfish and where the highest incidence of bycatch of billfish occurred, NMFS finally relented in 1998 and removed long-line gear from critical areas of concern. Since that decision, swordfish populations have rebounded dramatically as have sailfish, blue and white marlin stocks. (FACT: In the early 1990’s there were approximately 500 permitted pelagic longline vessels operating in U.S. waters.

In the years since RFA forced NMFS to implement time and area closures, that number has dropped to about 114, a 75% reduction in the pelagic longline fleet.)

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an Endangered Species. Several years after the victory over the long line fleet, demands from environmental groups were pushing the National Marine Fisheries Service toward listing white marlin under the Endangered Species Act. The implications would have been catastrophic for all recreational fishing anywhere white marlin might be encountered, not to mention the very immediate impact it would have had on tournament fishing in U.S. coastal waters. In 2000, RFA worked with staff from the White House and successfully made the case that such a listing was unnecessary because white marlin stocks were already rebounding after the implementation of the Swordfish Fishery Management Plan and the outcome of an ESA listing would be economic folly.

Unhappy with failing to have white marlin listed as endangered, a coalition of environmental groups took to the courts to sue for what they failed to get through proper channels. RFA enjoined the suit filing Amicus briefs providing valuable information to the judge in the case. The case was eventually dismissed as being without merit.

The RFA led the opposition to an endangered listing under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna & Flora) & ESA for bluefin tuna after environmental and conservation organizations petitioned the U.S. Government to seek CITES protection in 2010. This shortsighted effort would have unduly punished U.S. anglers fishing on Western Atlantic bluefin stocks for problems occurring in countries on the Eastern Atlantic side. These same groups subsequently followed up with an effort to get an ESA listing for bluefin, an action that would’ve prohibited all bluefin tuna fishing, even catch and release! Such a listing would also prohibit other activities where the potential to catch a bluefin tuna, like trolling for yellowfin or marlin, might exist. RFA strongly opposed this misdirected camRFA prevented an attempt to list White Marlin as paign and affirmed that the U.S. bluefin tuna fish-

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ery is responsibly managed and that the true overfishing problems were non-compliance by ICCAT contracting parties on the other side of the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean.

Making Waves Winter 2021

Jim Donofrio testified before the National Research Council and House Resources Committee on the need to improve recreational data collection programs at the national level, leading to Congressional requirements that NOAA Fisheries When the Magnuson Stevens Act was reauthorreplace the Marine Recreational Fishing Statistiized by ‘unanimous consent’ in the Senate in cal Survey (MRFSS) by a time-specific deadline 2006, RFA was the first group to openly criticize of January 1, 2009. components of the law. In a letter to National Marine Fisheries Service on April 7, 2007, RFA In response to arbitrary and capricious federal wrote, “Some measures of the newly reauthor- fisheries closures on both red snapper and black ized law have the potential to create negative sea bass, RFA opened federal litigation against long-term impacts on the recreational fishing sec- NOAA Fisheries and the Secretary of Commerce tor without any conservation benefit or real im- calling for immediate federal action. The RFA provement to our domestic fisheries in return,” filed a lawsuit seeking injunctive relief from the calling annual catch limits and accountability mid-season closure of the recreational black sea measures “particularly worrisome” and bass fishery in 2010 citing the inappropriate use “inappropriate for the recreational sector.” of catch projections and the significant socioeconomic impact would have on the recreational In the spring of 2007, RFA spearheaded efforts fishing industry during the height of the black sea to amend Magnuson and provide limited flexibility bass fishery. The closure was initiated based on for recovering fish stocks meeting certain criteria. projections utilizing MRFSS data that indicated RFA requested a congressional hearing to disthe recreational sector had exceeded its harvest cuss fisheries science and flexibility and was the limit at a time when the black sea bass fishery only industry representative invited to speak bewas undergoing unprecedented rebuilding and fore the House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildavailability to anglers was extremely high, but belife and Oceans. fore the time the NOAA stock assessment had The RFA stepped in to protect recreational fish- been improved enough to reflect the actual stock ing access to Atlantic bigeye and albacore tuna status which ended up topping out at 215% of its standing firm against effort by ICCAT nations to rebuilding target in a few years. This was the first limit or eliminate recreational participation in legal challenge on the applicability of accountathose important US fisheries. It has fought bility measures as applied to the recreational against quota reductions, gear restrictions and sector since the reauthorization of MSA in 2006. bag limits for US anglers that would have eventu- The suit was dismissed when the 2010 fishing ally led to a total ban on angling for these popular season ended but in reading the judgement on the case, it was clear that he saw merit in the aroffshore species. gument put forward by the RFA. The RFA led a national rally of over 5,000 fishermen and women at Upper Senate Park near the Among public testimony before House SubCapitol in Washington DC on February 24, 2010, Committee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans, to press for reform of the Magnuson Stevens Act and House Natural Resource Committee, Jim while openly denouncing NOAA’s use of “catch Donofrio appeared before Congress on October shares” to cap fishing participation and trade 26, 2011, and openly criticized NOAA for failing away ownership of America’s coastal resources. to meet deadlines for improving science and data collection in the recreational sector.

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Jim Donofrio testified before Congress on behalf fight that saw the final decision to halt establishof America’s saltwater anglers in opposition to ment of the infrastructure to support longline vescatch shares and sector separations schemes sels. perpetrated by radical preservationist groups.

The RFA was the first organization to recognize The RFA successfully lobbied against the Jones Sargassum to be a vitally important habitat and Amendment to force NOAA Fisheries to keep sci- successfully lobbied to have Sargassum protectentific funding in place as opposed to redirecting ed as essential fish habitat. those fund towards catch share programs.

The RFA lobbied to halt “Blanket Marine ReThe RFA was featured in national headlines for serves” from denying access to recreational fishleading a nationwide angler boycott of Wal-Mart ermen in the Gulf of Mexico. and Safeway stores in protest of their multiThe RFA supported and lobbied for a bill that million-dollar donations towards a network of nowould strictly prohibit the finning of sharks and take marine reserves that would have banned provide more protection to depleted shark sperecreational fishing and their efforts to promote a cies. The bill to ban this disgusting and wasteful nationwide system of catch shares. fishing practice was passed by a bipartisan maThe RFA supported and lobbied on behalf of jority in Congress and signed into law by PresiSenator Ernest Hollings’ bill, S.2327, to establish dent Bill Clinton. a commission to review national ocean policy The RFA filed a lawsuit against the NMFS for the and programs. The Senate passed the bill on unjustified restrictions and bag limits on recreaJune 26, 2000. tional anglers who fish for red snapper. It further The RFA successfully fought to keep the Oculina fought for and continues to fight for fair and equiMarine Preserve open to recreational fishing for table red snapper regulations for the recreational Southeast anglers. industry.

The RFA was the only national group to stop a fleet of longline vessels from taking up port in the new Charleston Maritime Center and prevented them from destroying a scientifically recognized swordfish nursery off the South Carolina Coast.

RFA was challenged in the South Carolina Supreme Court and fought a successful yet solitary

The RFA spearheaded the Red Snapper Stakeholder’s meeting in New Orleans. RFA continues to fight NMFS on the issue of a shortened season believing that red snapper should be a yearround recreational fishery given that NMFS is using flawed and inaccurate data that currently restricts a year-round season.

The Recreational Fishing Alliance is a national political action organization representing recreational fishermen and the recreational fishing industry on marine fisheries issues.

RFA’s Mission is to safeguard the rights of saltwater anglers, protect marine, boat and tackle industry jobs, and ensure the longterm sustainability of our Nation’s saltwater fisheries.

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Commentary

By Jim Hutchinson, Jr. Former RFA Managing Director Senior Editor—The Fisherman

Initiative For Change: A New Call For Angler Management “We are on the precipice of changing the way we do recreational management for the first time in two decades.”

T

hat’s a quote by Capt. Adam Nowalsky from the September 9th meeting of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council.

Nowalsky, former captain of the charter boat Karen Ann II out of Atlantic City, has been actively involved in fisheries management for 20 years. He has served on citizen advisory committees of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council, chaired the New Jersey Chapter of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, and is legislative proxy for New Jersey to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission).

Currently in his third and final term (expiring in 2024) as New Jersey’s obligatory representative at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council), Nowalsky has been a dogged advocate for recreational fishermen working within an often frustrating bureaucratic process. So, hearing his confidence booming across the internet during the last online meeting of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council came as a bit of intriguingly good news.

“We’ve used the same process for almost 20 years for setting size, season and bag limits, and for the first time in two decades we now have four new alternatives that were put before the (Commission) Board and Council for consideration,” Nowalsky said, calling the new alternatives “an attempt at significant change, the likes of

which quite frankly I have not seen in my professional participation in the fishery nor my time as advisor on the councils and boards.

If you’ve been hoping for changes in the way that fluke and sea bass are managed in terms of allowing better access while still ensuring sustainability of the stocks, read on.

Recreational Reform

As detailed at the Council website (mafmc.org), a new joint initiative started between the two fisheries management bodies – the Council and Commission – is called the Recreational Reform Initiative or RRI, which if implemented, would consider improvements to management of recreational fisheries like summer flounder, porgy, black sea bass, and bluefish. First initiated in 2019, the Council and Commission are now in phase two of a six-step process, having recently reviewed and approved a draft range of alternatives for further development through creation of technical guidance documents, frameworks/ addenda, and a future amendment. The next step in the process is official Public Comment which could start as early as this month.

Now, what might sound like a lot of government techno-babble to you and I, for Council and Commission members involved in the process, the various elements of this RRI could help make a point for maintaining status quo season, size, and bag

Those who don’t believe that recreational fishermen desire some regulatory stability in year-to-year regulations probably haven’t spent much time speaking with anglers on the New Jersey show circuit as The Fisherman staffers have. limits from one year to the next, while helping establish multi-year recreational management measures rather than the current year-by-year, annual changes.

The Recreational Harvest Control Rule Framework/Addendum will be the first management action developed through the RRI, incorporating what MAFMC.org lists as a “more holistic approach that places greater emphasis on stock status indicators and trends.” In a nutshell, the overarching goal of the new reform measures is stability in recreational management (bag/size/ season), flexibility in the management process, and accessibility aligned with stock status. “My goal is more sensible measures,” Nowalsky told me later, adding “Whatever way I can get there, that’s all I’m looking to accomplish.”

RRI and the Harvest Control Rule would revamp recreational specification settings and how they are impacted by recreational harvest data. “There are two elements to recreational measures every year, one is quotas that get decided typically in August that affects both the recreational and commercial fisheries, followed by specification setting for season, size and bag limits that has his-

torically occurred in the December timeframe after most of the recreational catch comes in from the current year, and that informs what the measures will be for the following year,” Nowalsky explained.

So where commercial quota can be monitored dockside by tracking all sales in pounds of harvest fish, recreational fishermen who don’t bring their catch to any one specific offload site are in turn monitored by random surveys by way of a postcard campaign from NOAA Fisheries to determine effort, coupled with random dockside sampling to collect actual catch data. According to NOAA Fisheries, this dual survey methodology known as the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) has been vastly improved over the years.

However, MRIP is still just a random survey, which is not lost on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (Academy). In a recent report to Congress, the Academy documented low levels of trust in fisheries management among recreational stakeholders in some fisheries managed with annual catch limits (ACL) and monitored by MRIP. The report cites “general

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The Stability Debate Nowalsky said the disconnect between random surveys and the fisheries management response has existed since at least 2002 when the summer flounder rebuilding plan was put in place, specifying how size, season, and bag limits would have to be set on an annual basis. “It was silent on the ‘how’ of it,” Nowalsky said, “but what came to be was that the current year’s reported recreational harvest was compared to the next year’s recreational harvest limit, and whatever the difference was would be what the call for changes in measures would be.”

A longtime charter captain and advocate for recreational fishermen, Adam Nowalsky is in his third and final term (expiring in 2024) as New Jersey’s obligatory representative at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

Photo by John DeBona.

In other words, if MRIP said you caught 10% more fish in year one than you were allowed to catch in year two, then managers would be forced to assume that measures have to be 10% more stringent in order to get the catch back to the allowable level. This same dog chasing tail assumption was picked up in a number of other species along the way – namely sea bass, porgies, and bluefish – which places all the accountability on saltwater anglers without addressing the random nature of the MRIP surveys.

“After learning from this process for 15 to 20 years, we have learned – and managers have learned – that relying on one year of MRIP harlack of trust” which they said is likely based on vest is a losing proposition, and the public has “past experiences of poor outcomes (e.g. very been saying it for a long time,” said Nowalsky, short seasons); lack of affinity for federal manage- adding “what recreational reform is at its heart is ment agencies (recreational stakeholders often a way to go ahead and change the way that Deprofess greater affinity for state management cember process works for setting the specificaagencies); and perceptions that federal manage- tions that are part of the fisheries management ment lacks transparency and effectiveness.” plan.”

So while NOAA Fisheries may have made imTo put it another way, a batter who starts the seaprovements to the MRIP program since 2017, the son with 10 hits in his first 10 at bats might end Academy report specifically pointed out the onup going 0 for 10 in his final plate appearances in going challenges with in-season management of October; but to get a better idea of overall batsome recreational fisheries. “This study conclud- ting average, you really need to average out all at ed that MRIP and the data collections conducted bats over a full 162-game season. Setting specifiby its federal contractors and regional and state cations using three years of MRIP data could level partners were not designed for the purposes of in off the peaks and valleys to provide a better snap-season management of recreational fisheries shot of overall recreational harvest. with ACLs,” while describing how adherence to the ACL mandate requires shortened recreational While many New Jersey fluke and sea bass anfishing seasons, therefore complicating data col- glers in particular would like to see more regulatory stability from one year to the next, not everylection, monitoring, and management.

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one appears in favor of the concept. “It has been said that recreational fishermen desire the same regulations year after year. Somehow, somewhere along the line, this lie has been told enough that some believe it,” said Tony Friedrich, Vice President and Policy Director for the American Saltwater Guides Association (ASGA), an organization that appears to stand in opposition to the reform efforts.

personally spoken to countless saltwater anglers and business owners over the past 20 years who say they would prefer some type of regulatory stability, including multiyear regulatory options for season, size, and bag limits for fluke, much the same as it is with striped bass. And my own personal and professional observations are further validated by others who’ve been mired in the process for many years.

In a recent ASGA blog entry, the group says its primary concern with elements of the RRI is that it offers a way for recreational fishermen to sidestep the Magnuson-Stevens Act requirement of ACL requirements. Friedrich added, “I have been working in fisheries for decades. Never once in my life has a fisherman come up to me and said, ‘The size and creel limits change too often. I wish they were the same every year’.”

Michael Waine for example, the Atlantic Fisheries Policy Director at the American Sportfishing Association (ASA), spent 6 years working as fishery management plan coordinator and fishery management specialist at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission soon after getting a Master of Science degree North Carolina State University.

Based on Waine’s experience from both the Commission and ASA perspective, recreational stability just makes sense.

Yet according to the Academy report to Congress, “Stability of regulations is frequently mentioned as “This is something that we’ve heard from the reca goal by stakeholders.” So which is it? I can tell reational fishing community through the public you as managing editor of The Fisherman, I’ve input process that exists in the fisheries manage-

A simple “X & Y” axes chart for comparing recreational access to stock condition shows the importance for maintaining both angling participation and sustainability all along the management process representing an initial attempt at recreational reform.

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ment realm and it’s something that makes logical business sense,” Waine said, calling stability in management measures “beneficial not only for the recreational anglers on the water but also the businesses that support those anglers and the pursuit of fishing.”

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“What other data sources can we use, and that’s where the Harvest Control Rule approach says we’ve got a stock assessment that has estimates of fishing mortality, spawning stock biomass, indices of abundance, and catch from both the recreational and commercial sectors, so the stock assessment is a much more holistic view on the status of the resource and we believe there’s utility A Unified Approach in using that information to help evaluate the Working together with groups like the Coastal performance of the recreational fishery,” Waine Conservation Association (CCA) and Recreational added.

Fishing Alliance (RFA), Waine and the ASA have frequently pointed out how recent MRIP improve- Some commercial sector opponents of the recreational reform effort are leery of the proposal, ments prompted NOAA Fisheries to recalibrate data going back to 1981, which in turn changed while RRI critics like ASGA have openly complained that “Moving forward through a framemanagement’s understanding of the status of many fish stocks. Citing fluke as a prime example, work or addendum – with very little public comment and input until the final stages of the prothe recalibration of MRIP indicated that recreacess – is pretty disappointing in our eyes.” Howtional catches were higher than previously thought, resulting in NOAA Fisheries considering ever, both Waine and Nowalsky credit Mike Pentony, the Regional Administrator for the NOAA the stock to be at a higher than previously estimated. Yet recreational measures through Recre- Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) for helping recognize that there is a ational Harvest Limit (RHL) on fluke remained static, even as the commercial sector saw a 62% problem in need of a solution that’s worthy of public input. increase in 2019 based directly on MRIP data.

“The Harvest Control Rule approach really deals “The regional administrator for GARFO has been with that directly,” said Waine, adding “We’ve supportive of the exploration of these alternative been chasing the RHLs for a long time and that’s approaches and the overarching recreational resulted in a lot of frustration because of the un- management reform initiative,” said Waine, addcertainty associated with a point estimate of MRIP ing “We as an industry have worked very closely is high.” Through efforts by ASA, CCA, RFA, and through the fisheries management process to others working through the Council and Comsupport further exploration and development of mission, the argument is being made that other the Recreational Reform Initiative and the Harvest available data could be incorporated into devel- Control Rule approach.” oping management alternatives that would not violate federal law and could potentially allow for “I remain optimistic that sometime by the end of 2- to 3-year cycles of regulations for fisheries like this year we’re going to see dramatic change in how we do management,” is how Nowalsky put fluke. it.

“One of the critiques that the managers receive from our recreational sector is that their measures At the end of the day, it’s an effort to find soluare disconnected from what we’re seeing on the tions to identifiable issues in recreational fisheries water,” Waine said, adding “that to me is really a management. As for that “public comment” major driver for incorporating a more holistic where the recreational fishing community can view of what the status of the resource is and chime in, we expect to learn more when the Midwhat the overall performance of the fishery is, Atlantic Fishery Management Council meets from and using that information to try to craft what December 13-15 in Annapolis, MD. Get details at the recreational management measures should MAFMC.org and watch for more news in the Debe for each species.” cember edition of The Fisherman.

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ALLOCATION DISLOCATION Self-inflicted errors result in the loss of Equitable Allocation of Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass. Once again, recreational representatives prove we are our own worst enemy. The fallout will have a dramatic negative impact on future recreational quotas and seasonal specification setting for years to come.

R

ecreational fishing regulations in any given year are the result of a complex process that takes into account the status of the stock and the estimated recreational catch relative to the previous year’s harvest limit. An additional element in this equation is the allocation formula between the commercial and recreational sectors. Allocation is the process by which the overall annual catch limit is separated into the commercial and recreational quotas. For example, if 100-pounds comprises the harvest limit for a fishery, and 50 pounds are assigned for commercial sector and 50 pounds are assigned to the recreational sector, then that

would be a 50/50 allocation. Allocation has a direct impact on how recreational fishing regulations are set and represents one of the most contentious decisions made by the regional fishery management councils.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council met in Annapolis December 14th through16th during which time they took action on setting the 2022 recreational specification for summer flounder, scup and black sea bass. While a modest increase to the summer flounder recreational harvest limit (RHL) was approved, reductions to the scup

Making Waves Making Waves Summer Winter 2016 2021

and black sea bass RHL's are coming in 2022.

To be clear, this is not a conservation issue as the biomass of both scup and black sea bass continues to be at high levels of abundance.

The reductions are the result of Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) estimates that indicate the recreational sector exceeded its RHL's in 2021 triggering accountability measures that are part of the FMP.

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motion that would have resulted in a 50/50 split for fluke, a 63.5/36.5 split for scup, and a 40.5/60.5 split for black sea bass (commercial allocation coming first). Most of the recreational representatives in attendance spoke in favor of the motion and acknowledged that while the recreational sector actually needed more, the resulting splits represented a fair compromise. Unfortunately, another substitute motion was offered that only updated The final session of that meeting was domithe MRIP numbers using the original time senated by discussion on an amendment to the ries. This motion resulted in lower recreationFMP that would revisit the commercial/ al allocation outcomes of 55/45 for fluke, recreational allocation ratios for summer 65/35 for scup and 45/55 for black sea bass. flounder, scup and black sea bass. This action This motion ultimately passed and was apwas initiated in response to retroactive upproved by the Council and Commission and dates to MRIP catch estimates going all the these numbers will be the new allocation sceway back to 1981. Since the current allocanarios moving forward for the foreseeable fution for these species relies on the catch perture. It was a major defeat for the recreational formance by commercial and recreational sector. fishermen from the 1980's through early 1990's, allocation had to be revisited. As ex- While we will see minor increases in allocapected, the commercial sector supported the tion, make no mistake that the increases will status quo, meaning no change, while the not fully absorb the RHL overages that MRIP majority of the recreational sector supported estimates to have occurred. Nor do they fully options that would utilize a catch-based apacknowledge the importance of these species proach using a more recent time series (2004- to the fishing public who like to catch and eat 2018). This would result in the recreational these species. It's important to note that the sector receiving a larger, more representative commercial quota for these species increased share of the quotas for all three species. significantly when the new MRIP numbers were incorporated into the assessment, in While it would have great to secure these some cases as much as a 58% increase. So, at new allocation percentages, we ultimately unthe same time the commercial sector is enjoyderstood that the ASMFC and MAFMC would ing this windfall, the recreational sector is faclikely come to a compromise somewhere in ing additional cutbacks. The RFA is having a the middle and that came in the form of a hard time put into words how disappointed

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we are with this outcome.

Specific to summer flounder, the midAtlantic's most popular recreational fishery, we find it incomprehensible how anyone with any knowledge of our industry could support anything less than 50% of the summer flounder quota for the recreational sector. The meeting can be seen by clicking https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=DREV5GwOjic. You can see the main motion and then the substitute motion offered to reduce the recreational allocations at the 1:51 mark.

It is fair to say the recreational fishing community lost last week and it will have lasting impacts on our sector. What this illustrates is the glaring need for the recreational fishing industry to get better organized and involved.

It also shows how important appointments to the regional councils and the ASMFC can be.

The Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council has five recreational representatives, yet not all of them were advocating for our industry. Surprisingly, some advocated and voted against the motion that represented a fair compromise and that would have been beneficial to our sector. Commercial fishing interests were extremely engaged and vocal in these discussions and it fair to say they won that battle. The recreational industry is now facing inadequate allocation for the foreseeable future and will be in a less than advantageous position when setting regulations in the coming years due to the decisions made on allocation last week.

While the allocation battle we had hoping for

Making Waves Winter 2021

is now lost and behind us, another significant management action will be considered by the Council in 2022 that has the potential to improve the management of recreational fisheries in a positive way. The recreational reform initiative could move us away from the traditional specification setting approach and the consequences that occur when MRIP estimates we have exceeded our RHL such as the situation we are facing now for scup and black sea bass. It would attempt to tie recreational measures to the stock status, not MRIP. We see this approach as having the potential to vastly improve recreational management. I suggest you reach out to the New York recreational council members and stress how important it will be that they support our industry in the recreational reform initiative discussions. The recreational sector needs to look ahead to the next critical fight and make sure council members hear from us because this battle has been elevated in importance due to the outcome of the recent allocation decisions. The recreational sector is in a very dire situation due to the action taken last week so it is imperative all recreational representatives understand how important their votes are to the future of recreational fishing and the recreational fishing industry.

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$10 Million in Grants to Restore the Chesapeake Bay Watershed WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the federal-state Chesapeake Bay Program partnership today announced more than $10 million in grants for projects that will protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding watershed.

The 49 grants announced today will generate $12 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of more than $22 million.

to improve waterways, restore habitat and strengthen iconic wildlife species. Collectively, the grants will implement water quality improvement practices on more than 45,000 acres, restore more than 45 miles of streamside forest habitat and prevent more than 6,300 tons of pollutants annually from entering the rivers and streams that feed the Chesapeake Bay.

These grants will support on-the-ground projects

partners to improve tree canopy by building a

“By focusing our resources on projects that provide multiple benefits, NFWF and its partners are demonstrating how watershed restoration pro“EPA is pleased to support projects that improve jects strengthen the resilience of both communithe quality of local waters and habitat and help ties and wildlife habitats, and how targeted inrestore the Chesapeake Bay,” said Diana Esher, vestments can achieve multiple conservation EPA Mid-Atlantic acting regional administrator. “It goals,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and is a priority for EPA to support local actions that CEO of NFWF. move us closer to our restoration goals. We applaud the grantees for their commitment to clean- Examples of this year’s grant recipients include: er water and healthier watersheds.”

• American Forests ($49,900) will work with

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tree equity tool for use across the greater Washington metropolitan region, which will focus urban forestry projects and resources on communities of highest need.

• Piedmont Environmental Council ($263,800) will pair riparian buffer restoration, livestock exclusion, and implementation of agricultural best management practices with land conservation measures to restore and sustain long-term water quality benefits.

Making Waves Winter 2021

actions to protect and restore water quality, species, and habitats in the Bay watershed; SWG Planning and Technical Assistance (SWG-PTA) grants up to $50,000 awarded for projects that enhance local capacity to more efficiently and effectively implement future on-the-ground actions through assessment, planning, design and other technical assistance-oriented activities.

A complete list of the 2021 Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grant recipients is available here. For more information about the Chesapeake Bay • University of Maryland Environmental Finance Stewardship Fund, visCenter ($50,000) will work with local governit www.nfwf.org/chesapeake. ments in West Virginia to expand their capacity to address water quality improvements and mitigate # # # hazards in a coordinated way that creates effiAbout the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation ciencies and reduces implementation costs.

NFWF works with the public and private sectors Defensores de la Cuenca ($167,800) will pair to sustain, restore and enhance the nation’s fish, workshops with hands-on experiences to train wildlife, plants and habitats for current and future primarily Spanish-speaking participants in the An- generations. Chartered by Congress in 1984, acostia River watershed on watershed issues, cul- NFWF has grown to become the nation’s largest minating in the completion of locally-led waterprivate conservation grant-maker, funding more shed restoration projects by program participants. than 19,700 projects and generating a total conThe grants were awarded through the Small Wa- servation impact of $6.8 billion. Learn more at www.nfwf.org. tershed Grants (SWG) program, a core program under NFWF’s Chesapeake Bay Stewardship About the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Fund (CBSF). CBSF is a partnership between Grants NFWF and the EPA to provide grant funding, Every year, EPA awards more than $4 billion in technical assistance and networking and information sharing in support of local, on-the-ground funding for grants and other assistance agreeconservation efforts to restore the bay and its trib- ments. From small non-profit organizations to large state governments, EPA works to help many utary rivers and streams. visionary organizations achieve their environmenAdditional support for the program comes from tal goals. With countless success stories over the the Altria Group, the U.S. Department of Agricul- years, EPA grants remain a chief tool to protect ture, U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and human health and the environment.

Wildlife Service.

About the Chesapeake Bay Program Since 1999, the SWG program has provided more The Chesapeake Bay Program is a regional partthan $83 million to 985 projects to promote onnership consisting of federal, state and local govthe-ground community-based efforts, which result in measurable improvements to local stream ernments, academic institutions and nongovernmental organizations. Primarily funded by health and habitat, and the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay. The SWG program includes two the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the distinct funding opportunities: SWG Implementa- Chesapeake Bay Program has set the guidance tion (SWG-I) grants of $50,000-$500,000 award- and policy for restoring the Chesapeake Bay since ed for projects that result in direct, on-the-ground 1983.

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Regulatory Updates Management Plans and Recreational Specification Changes to Watch

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed 2022 and 2023 Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Specifications We are proposing the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s recommended 2022 and 2023 summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass specifications. The proposed catch limits are based on the results of recently conducted stock assessments for all three species, and the recommendations of the Council’s Science and Statistical Committee. No changes to the federal commercial management measures are proposed.

2022 Specifications

Scup

Black Sea Bass

Summer Flounder

Overfishing Limit (OFL)

32.56

19.26

36.28

Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC)

32.11

18.86

33.12

Commercial ACL = Commercial Annual Catch Target (ACT)

25.05

10.10

18.48

Commercial Quota

20.38

6.47

15.53

Recreational ACL = ACT

7.06

8.76

14.64

Recreational Harvest Limit

6.08

6.74

10.36

Continued on next page

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2023 Specifications

Scup

Black Sea Bass

Summer Flounder

Overfishing Limit (OFL)

30.09

17.01

34.98

Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC)

29.67

16.66

33.12

Commercial ACL = Commercial Annual Catch Target (ACT)

23.15

8.93

18.48

Commercial Quota

17.87

5.71

15.53

Recreational ACL = ACT

6.53

7.74

14.64

Recreational Harvest Limit

5.41

5.95

10.36

The final summer flounder commercial state quotas will be published in the final rule, including any necessary adjustments for overages.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, and submit your comments through the online portal. The comment period is open through December 9, 2021.

Questions? Fishermen: Contact Emily Keiley, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 978-281-9116 Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

NOAA Fisheries Announces Final Rule to Implement the Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment (Amendment 7) NOAA Fisheries announces measures to implement Amendment 7 to the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), as adopted by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The purpose of this comprehensive amendment is to update the FMP with the best scientific information available, and to respond to changes in the fishery over time. Specifically, this action will:

• Update the Bluefish FMP goals and objectives from those that were initially established in 1991, to better reflect the current fishery.

• Re-allocate bluefish quota between fishery sectors; allocating 14 percent to the commercial fishery and 86 percent to the recreational fishery.

• Re-allocate bluefish commercial quota to the states from Maine to Florida based on a recent 10 years of landings data including a 0.1-percent minimum default allocation. This change in commercial allocation to the states would be phased in equally over a period of seven years, so each state would only experience 1/7th of the change in allocation percentages each year until 2028.

•

Implement a 7-year rebuilding plan.

• Revise the sector quota transfer measures to allow quota to be transferred in either direction (from commercial to recreational sector or vice versa), with a revised maximum transfer cap of 10percent of the acceptable biological catch.

Revise the specifications process to account for sources of management uncertainty separately between the commercial and recreational fishery sectors.

For more information, read the final rule as filed in the Federal Register, or the bulletin posted on the web.

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NEWS & VIEWS Dr. Eleanor Bochenek, Long Time Rutgers U Marine Biologist/ Researcher Retires

Fisheries Cooperative Center of the Haskin Shellfish Laboratory at Rutgers University. Her areas of expertise include but are not limited to fisheries and marine resource management with emphasis on gear technology, bycatch, discards, hook and release mortality, socioeconomics, and habitat degradation as well as working with both the State of New Jersey DEC Marine Fisheries Division and with interstate management organizations like the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Eleanor has dedicated her career to conducting research in support of healthy, sustainable fisheries and fishing communities in New Jersey and up and down the eastern seaboard.

She was one of the few researchers that devoted a significant amount of her efforts to issues pertaining to the management of recreational fisheries and in support of the recreational fishing industry. Eleanor holds a BA from Vassar College, an MS from East Stroudsburg University and a Doctorate from The College of William and Mary where she worked at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and New Jersey Sea Grant. Not long after finishing her formal studies, she joined the Haskin Lab at Rutgers where she continued to advocate for and actively pursue the use of sciDr. Eleanor Bochenek has been a familiar face on ence to support policy and management decithe fisheries management scene for more than sions around commercial and recreational fishthree decades. She has proven to be a tireless re- ing. Most recently, she worked on projects to imsearcher, ardent conservationist and friend to the prove the assessment of both summer flounder recreational fishing community during her tenand black sea bass. In doing so, she has gained ure. She retired recently as the Director of the the respect of regulators and fellow scientists as

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well as commercial and recreational fishers and conservationists. Eleanor was very much involved with exposing young people to fishing and the coastal resources.

Helping Botton Species Survive Catch & Release

Making Waves Winter 2021

trying to release them properly.”

The research was published in ICES Journal of Marine Science. Scientists used acoustic transmitters to track released cowcod and bocaccio for up to a year on an underwater seamount approximately 40 miles off the coast of San Diego, California. They were captured at depths of 75 to 183 meters, or about 250 to 600 feet. By tracking the fish for extended periods, researchers found that most fish survived beyond 30 days. Of those fish that died, 40 percent died beyond the typical 2-day tracking window used in many fish survivorship studies.

That underscores the importance of monitoring the fish following their capture and monitoring their survival over longer periods, Wegner said.

Virginia’s Striped Bass Forecast Looks Stable as Juvenile Numbers Hold Steady Deep-water rockfish reeled quickly to the surface often emerge from the water with eyes and organs bulging like alien beings—due to the sudden change in pressure—a condition known as barotrauma.

Now new research shows that if fishermen return fish to their natural depths quickly, their bodies return to normal and they can survive any ill effects. The research focused on cowcod and bocaccio, two historically overfished rockfish species caught off the coast of Southern California. They were returned to the depths using special descending devices that are now standard for many recreational fishermen.

Prior to this research and the use of descending devices, it was widely assumed that deepdwelling rockfish could not survive catch and release due to their extensive barotrauma injuries.

“We now know that these deep-dwelling rockfish species can survive,” said Nick Wegner, a research scientist at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the new research. “That is good news for the fish, and good news for the fishermen who go to the trouble of

Juvenile striped bass numbers are holding steady in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay tributaries, the latest annual survey by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science found.

But a parallel survey in Maryland waters showed below-average numbers.

The surveys look at striped bass that hatched in the spring and that will be large enough to catch, legally, in three to four years.

Preliminary results of the Virginia survey showed an average of 6.3 fish for each haul of a seine net in the James, York and Rappahannock rivers.

These young striped bass usually measure between 1.5 and 4 inches. That’s the 9th consecutive year of average or above average results, VIMS said.

Last year’s average was 13.89 fish. The survey has returned results above the long term average of 7.77 fish for five of the past 10 years, with one below average result in 2012. The 2021 return is considered to be average because it is within a range that statistical theory considers to be essentially equivalent because of the challenges of estimating wildlife populations.

Making Waves Making Waves Summer Winter 2016 2021

VIMS said juvenile striped bass populations can vary widely but that its surveys show populations are relatively stable.

Striped bass numbers in Chesapeake Bay rebounded from historic lows in the late 1970s and early 1980s after fishing bans were enacted in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia in the mid- to late-1980s.

But in 2019, scientists found that striped bass, coastwide, were overfished, and that more were caught than the population could withstand over the long term.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ survey showed below average results, as it had in 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2020. VIMS said the reasons for such differences can be hard to determine.

“The low recruitment of young-of-the-year striped bass in parts of the Chesapeake Bay, a crucial nursery area for 70 percent of striped bass on the East Coast, continues the troubling news about this iconic fish,” said Chesapeake Bay Foundation Senior Regional Ecosystem Scientist Chris Moore.

“Rebuilding striped bass numbers is going to take all of us working together, from coastal states carefully managing the fishery to anglers ensuring that released fish survive,” he said.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission this week will consider posting amendments to its striped bass management plan for public comment.

Dave Ress, 757-247-4535, dress@dailypress.com

NMMA Applauds Angler Access in Northeast Canyons & Seamounts National Monument On Friday, President Joe Biden signed a proclamation restoring protections for Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument, while maintaining access for recreational fishing.

NMMA and members of the outdoor recreation community attended the White House signing event for their engagement on and support of the president’s order.

The National Monument is composed of two units, the Canyons Unit and the Seamounts Unit,

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each showcasing unique geological features that anchor vulnerable ecological communities threatened by varied uses, climate change, and related impacts. President Biden’s proclamation reestablishes protections initiated during the Obama administration, which NMMA and its coalition partners helped to secure.

Under the order, commercial fishing in the National Monument will be prohibited, with fishing for red crab and American lobster to be phased out by September 15, 2023. Consistent with President Obama’s previous proclamation, recreational fishing in the National Monument may continue.

“We applaud President Biden’s decision to restore balanced conservation measures in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, President of the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA). “Protecting our natural resources while preserving recreational access to fisheries is critical because it drives the largest segment of America’s $788 billion Outdoor Recreation Economy.

The president’s proclamation proves that good conservation and responsible access for boaters and anglers can coexist.”

With the Biden administration targeting additional actions to protect and restore the nation’s natural resources – including through the America the Beautiful initiative, which aims to conserve at least 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030 – NMMA will continue to advocate for reasonable and sustainable access for America’s recreational boaters and anglers.

For more information, please contact NMMA director of federal government relations, Callie Hoyt at choyt@nmma.org.

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Chairman Robert T. Healey Jr. Treasurer John Kasinski Board Members Pat Healey Nick Cicero Mike Leech Andrew Semprevivo Tony Novelli Jim Motsko Bob Flocken Martin Peters Bob Shomo Jr. Andy Dormois

Viking Group Viking Yacht Company Viking Yacht Company Folsom Corporation World Cup Blue Marlin Tournament Seakeeper, Inc. Contender Boats Ocean City White Marlin Open Hi-Liner/Diamond Fishing Products Yamaha Marine Group Johnson and Towers Inc AmeraTrail Trailers

M A K I N G

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Th e Of fi ci al Pu bl ic at io n o f t he R ec re at ion al Fi sh in g Al -

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

The Recreational Fishing Alliance Headquarters P.O. Box 3080 New Gretna, New Jersey 08224

Jim Donofrio

John DePersenaire

Gary Caputi

Executive Director

Managing Director

Communications Director

Barry Gibson

Jim Martin

Sharon Scaltrito

New England Director

West Coast Director

Office Manager