Bad news for fishermen.. again

Saltwater Offshore Discussion
1

Just read that Tom Swatzel, a true friend to fishermen and one of few voices of reason on the council was not re-appointed to the SAFMC.

Instead, the acting US Secretary of Commerce appointed Chris Conklin.

You might remember that name…

Conklin is one of the Murrells Inlet fishermen pushing for catch shares, of course he stands to make a fortune if they are granted as a BOD member of the Southeastern Fishermens Association. Who are they? Well…

"From Bill Kelly (Exec Director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fisheman’s Association (FKCFA)), this was written back in 2011, but not much has changed:

The Southeastern Fishermen’s Association BOD consists in part of the Conklin Family in South Carolina that owns and operates commercial fish houses and stands to profit handsomely from Catch Shares. … William Conklin serves on the SAFMC Snapper/Grouper AP and has been relentless in his push for Catch Shares.

This group has received over $200K from EDF for lobbying purposes and has run several ads in Politico, the DC publication widely distributed to congress. "

Squid Row 2
22 Shamrock WA

Flounder Pounder 2
16 Sandpiper Skiff

2

The new NC SAFMC member, is also pro catch shares!

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/mediacenter/2013/06/20_06_council_appts.html

3

Chris is indeed in the fish buisiness. He is a good guy though. I can’t imagine him doing anything to csrew the regular fisherman over, as he is one. He also owns a retail outlet that if it was known he was screwing people, would stand to lose a lot of business through boycotts etc. I am going to wait and see how this plays out.

4

I can’t imagine him doing anything to csrew the regular fisherman over, as he is one.

If a corner on the market through share acquisition is in the offing, I can see anyone screwing over ‘regular’ fishermen. Then they dance to his tune or they don’t dance. Follow the money, it’s an easy trail to who will get screwed … :face_with_head_bandage:

5

How did we get two SAFA/EDF permit holders appointed to represent commerical fishermen who overwhelmingly oppose almost everything they support? Permit holders should pick who represents us with a 2/3 majority vote.

6

EDF has a lot of money and a lot of political pull. The SOC made this final decision, but who else was involved… we’ll never know!

Chris and Jack are both good people, but they have bought into EDF’s catch shares plan and now we’ll just have to see how this plays out!

7

IMO nothing makes a &@&$ until they change MSA. Rec guys will look out for rec guys and vice versa. To believe anything else is a Pipe dream.To have ever thought rec and commercial were gonna get together and sing kumbaya is crazy. I will have a good discussion when I see him next. He chartered our boat last week.

8

a voting member should not gain from his vote. We should demand that those with conflicts of interest abstain from voting.

9

Spot on Natch…where else would such a conflict be alowed…?

10

Both of the newly appointed council members are good people who happen to support things most other fishermen do not. We need to take this opportunity to push for giving permit holders final approval of council appointments representing them with a 2/3 majority vote.

11

This is all a big chess game,in the end we will lose,luckily my best yrs are behind me,i feel sorry for the future generations,the only fishing they will be doing will be Xbox fishing.

12

We don’t have to lose IF enough people will stand up and defend our freedom to fish. Please be part of the solution by joining other fishermen in offering positive solutions and standing united in support of them during the SAFMC’s Visioning Project. http://www.freefish7.com/safmc-visioning-project.html

13

How does having catch shares effect regular fisherman? I mean the recreational guys and commercial guys have their own quotas for most species anyways right? The catch shares would come out of the commercial quota leaving the rec guys w their quota to catch still right? Sorry just trying to figure all this out so I know how to feel about it.

14

I am not 100% certain, but the catch shares will still play into the ACL or they can continue fishing after the ACL has been met and rec fisherman’s season has been shut down. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

I think that Freefish is right, we need to input to the council how BEST to manage the entire fishery. Make your comments heard to the council and not just on this board.

Sea Hunt BX22 Br
WS Tarpon 140

15

If you follow up on this and research Enviromental Defense funds catch shares plan lots will come to light. The big comm fishers are being sold a lie by EDF. They are being told that they can buy catch shares from the smaller fishermen when they fall on hard times, and have more market place price control. What their not being told is that they will be bidding against EDF. The result will be EDF holding catch shares - and not fishing. Then when those share quotas are not met the SAFMC will declare that there is a shortage of fish - and more restrictions and MPA’s will come. The commercial fishers that are buying this EDF bull need to step back and look at the bigger picture. EDF wants all fishing to end.

16

Catch Shares will be the ACL. They will be the same amount of fish.
The question is How much are you willing to pay for an opportunity to catch a fish?
You will be at the mercy of the highest bidder.
Profits will be made by someone.
What will you do when the deep pockets at EDF PEW PETA…etc buy up the bulk of available shares?

17

I posted this in another thread:

Catch Shares are the government claiming ownership of the fish and selling exclusive rights to those fish to individuals, corporations or ENGOs

Before you can fish, you have to buy a share of the catch from the government. If no shares are available, you have to buy them from someone that has a share or you do not get to fish

Catch Shares are a way of forcing more people off the water

No better example than on your TV with the show Deadliest Catch. Years ago there were hundreds or even thousands of boats and fishermen crab fishing, then the industry was forced into catch shares.

What happened? Thousands of fishermen were put out of work while the same amount of crab landed was concentrated into the hands of a few fishermen.

Towns that once thrived basically shut down. A few boats make a fortune, the vast majority of fishermen get put out of work.

Now, why is this important? First if you are a commercial fisherman you will be forced off the water as the large fish houses and large operations buy all the shares.

Second, if you have the desire to become a commercial fisherman, forget it. Unless you are a deep pocketed special interest with millions of dollars sitting around to buy shares (in addition to everything else), you will not be allowed to enter any fishery that has catch shares

Third, if you are a recreational fisherman guess what? You are next! How would you like to have to outbid EDF to buy a share of the resource before you are allowed to go fishing?

This is a dramatic change in principle. The fish belong to the people, not the government. Under catch shares, the government takes ownership of all the fish and sells access to the highest bidder.

By replacing people like Tom Swatzel with EDF sponsored catch share advocates, the Obama administration has declared that the will of EDF is more important than anything else.

Never mind that this new appointee stands to make a fortune off catch shares, talk about a conflict of int

18

My personal opinion is the SAFMC should be totally disbanned. All control of the quotas should be turned over the State’s Department of Natural Resources. Any money budgeted previously for SAFMC should be channeled into the DNR for each state.

19

Sounds like we need to invest in a mobile cooking boat and get into the business of cooking fresh seafood on the water for all the recreational bottom fishers!

“Gun’s don’t kill people, it’s mostly the Bullets”

20

Looks like Mr. Conklin was nominated by Gov. Haley along with two other candidates,one of which was Mr. Swatzel, without preference, essentially giving NMFS final say in who they preferred.

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/reg_svcs/Councils/ApptLetters2013/SAFMC_SC_2013.pdf