Apologies, but I did not see this earlier. They are going to vote on catch shares as well, but they are sliding them in under our nose calling it a “recreational tag program”. I guess there has been so much buzz about “catch shares”, that they figured “tag program” might sound better. This is not “fish tags” like they do for red fish. This is like alligator tags…
Amendment 22 (Recreational Tag Program)
MOTION: ADOPT THE REVISED PURPOSE AND NEED:
Purpose: create a recreational tag program for the South Atlantic region that could be
applied to any snapper grouper species with a small ACL as determined by the SAFMC
and the RA.
Need: achieve OY without overfishing the resource. Such a program is intended to
maintain harvest at or below the recreational ACLs. A tag program for species with
small ACLs would constrain the harvest to sustainable levels ensuring fairness and
equitability.
APPROVED BY COMMITTEE
MOTION: REMOVE ACTION 5 & 6 FROM THE OPTIONS PAPER.
Action 5. Address transferability of recreational harvest tags.
Action 6. Establish a data collection program for fish harvested under the tag program.
APPROVED BY COMMITTEE
MOTION: REMOVE ACTION 2 FROM THE OPTIONS PAPER
Action 2. Establish criteria for adding and removing species from the program.
APPROVED BY COMMITTEE
MOTION: REMOVE ALTERNATIVE 3 FROM ACTION 1 AND REMOVE THE WORD
?PRIVATE? FROM ALTERNATIVE 2
Alternative 3. Establish a recreational harvest tag program for the private recreational
sector and the for-hire sector.
APPROVED BY COMMITTEE
Is this real? How am I a rec fisherman who has only caught flounder and trash fish going to affect a fishery. I take 10 fish a year. A commercial guy takes 100’s. What the hell
Is this real? How am I a rec fisherman who has only caught flounder and trash fish going to affect a fishery. I take 10 fish a year. A commercial guy takes 100’s. What the hell
SO what they are proposing, in essence, is a “doe tag” system for the complex?
Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.
More Maxims of Mark, Johnson, 1927
31’ Contender
“Touche”
250 HPDIs
Think of it more like alligator tags... Like, you might get ONE tag if you are lucky, (maybe a drawing). Also, they will likely have some sort of thing where you are required to turn in the carcass. Also, think of the fact that SC will get a lot less tags allocated compared to FL and GA.
The details have not been worked out, but “recreational catch shares” are a HOT debate. Basically, they changed the name of it to “tagging program” in order to slide it under the radar. It confuses fishermen, because traditional “tagging programs” like the one use for catch and release of redfish are typically associated with a positive thing… Pretty shady move…