Thanks for the updates and for reporting them on this forum. More importantly, thanks for getting involved and volunteering on the AP for a thankless job.
Sea Hunt 207CC,Yam F150
Carolina Skiff (old school model)17’ Suz D50
The only meeting i wanna have is with a louville slugger and everyones head on the board…
SAFMC you suck!
quote:
Originally posted by Gut WrenchThe only meeting i wanna have is with a louville slugger and everyones head on the board…
SAFMC you suck!
This is precisely why the fishermen will lose this battle.
Next time you come in, come heavy, or not at all…
I agree Warbler. The only way the fishermen can prevail is with knowledge and a concentrated effort from many fronts like we did with the last VMS threat.
Phin - If this is truly a spawning area SMZ why would the closure be year round? Is this just another appeasement to the enviro crowd? Is it a foregone conclusion that there MUST be a closure at Georgetown Hole? The point of the council referring to it as “devils hole” is deceptive and designed to not alarm the fishing community. No one ever called it devils hole.
quote:
Originally posted by Warblerquote:
Originally posted by Gut WrenchThe only meeting i wanna have is with a louville slugger and everyones head on the board…
SAFMC you suck!
This is precisely why the fishermen will lose this battle.
Next time you come in, come heavy, or not at all…
Keep up the great work! Thank you!
Public comment is still be accepted on this matter. There is one Monday 4/20 at Ft Johnson. If you are opposed to these closed areas please call, email, attend, or otherwise officially voice your opinion.
http://www.safmc.net/NR040215_PublicHearingsSpawningSMZs
If you ask a commercial guy where the Georgetown Hole, Edisto Banks, or Deli is, you will probably get a blank stare. They have their own jargon (including Devils Hole) for these areas.
Sea Hunt 207CC,Yam F150
Carolina Skiff (old school model)17’ Suz D50
There’s an article about this in today’s P&C. Some commercial guy named Marhefka is all for the closure. Yet we keep hearing all this doom and gloom on here. Is this commercial guy out to lunch or is there more to this story?
Next time you come in, come heavy, or not at all…
One of the first lessons I learned in business a long time ago was the easiest and safest thing for a bureaucrat to say is “no”. He makes the people who pay him (officially and un-officially) happy, he doesn’t have to think, and his job is secure. He has no interest in the goals he should be trying to accomplish. NOAA and SAMFC appear to fit that description quite well.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150419/PC16/150419260/1043
http://www.sustainablefishing.org/
www.joinrfa.com
Luke 8:22-25
I still am not clear on this - If this SMZ is intended to protect spawning species , Then why will it be closed when there is no spawning activity?
My point exactly.
I was met with heavy argument that the fish are there even when not spawning, etc.
It’s an MPA. Gregg Waugh is just calling it something different…
http://www.sustainablefishing.org/
www.joinrfa.com
Luke 8:22-25
Thanks Phin. Oh yes - I forgot about the Waugh Environmental Defense mentality. With this line of thinking ANY area that has fish could be closed. FOREVER. My feeling is that some degree of the 6 year old MPA’S success should be proven or disproven before closing another inch of ocean. We all should fight this from every way we can. If they get this SMZ - there will be many more, including trolling closures.
Marhefka has a commercial boat and also a fish cutting buisness that he uses alot of imports to supliment when he can not get fresh local… also and just my opinion… if they came to me and ask to take them to special grounds to fish (1) I know I am being paid good by them (2) I will make sure they catch and see what they want to (3) I will advise them that other alternatives are not good choices, to keep them from possibly thinking of closing other areas that “I” normally fish (4) I would suck up as hard as possible so future funds would keep coming my way from them and also to make sure no other boats are ask to help
to comment on my own post… This is not to discredit Marhefka in any way and also as I said “in my opinion”
quote:
Originally posted by fishmongerMarhefka has a commercial boat and also a fish cutting buisness that he uses alot of imports to supliment when he can not get fresh local… also and just my opinion… if they came to me and ask to take them to special grounds to fish (1) I know I am being paid good by them (2) I will make sure they catch and see what they want to (3) I will advise them that other alternatives are not good choices, to keep them from possibly thinking of closing other areas that “I” normally fish (4) I would suck up as hard as possible so future funds would keep coming my way from them and also to make sure no other boats are ask to help
So you’re saying the feds are paying Marhefka? Tell us more.
Next time you come in, come heavy, or not at all…
quote:
Originally posted by fishmonger.… if they came to me and ask to take them to special grounds to fish (1) I know I am being paid good by them (2) I will make sure they catch and see what they want to (3) I will advise them that other alternatives are not good choices, to keep them from possibly thinking of closing other areas that “I” normally fish (4) I would suck up as hard as possible so future funds would keep coming my way from them and also to make sure no other boats are ask to help
Why would NMFS/SAFMC come to/pay any commercial fisherman for a ride to the GTH when they have MARMAP boats with all of the same numbers (plus some). The R/V Dolphin, Lady Lisa, etc have been studying/fishing/trapping these areas for decades…
Marhefka provided GoPro video footage from dozens of reef sites near and in the GTH. The footage shows fish spawning…
I mean no disrespect when I say this, but the MARMAP people are not the same as lifelong fishermen. Many of the “research” techniques used to assess stocks are boneheaded, simply put. You do not use 200lb test Christmas tree rigs from golden tilefish drops to catch red snapper or scamp grouper. You also do not use chevron traps or longlines to catch red snapper and figure out their release mortality rate. These are just examples.
MARMAP is basically the only fishery independent data that we’ve got though, so it is hard to knock it. The problem is all the $$ it takes to do those research cruises has been spent on catch shares- promotion by the government and ENGO’s. When have you heard an EDF or PEW offer to pay for a stock assessment? Catch shares though, oh boy, something all the guys who will get locked in (they foolishly think) will support since it illegalizes everybody else fishing for what you can still sell if you’ve been allocated the shares- whether it’s the actual fish or the rights. It makes an artificial market, and the “bureaucrats,” as mentioned above, control it. Think they want more or less money? Think that money won’t influence their decisions on ACL’s? Catch shares does nothing biologically. All it does is destroy a fleet and local economies. It pits recreationals against people who will pay to make a livelihood. We can’t win. We won’t win. Just look at the gulf red snapper right now. More than in decades, but rec. seasons are shorter than ever. Why? Catch shares of course. This is nothing more than a scheme to generate revenue and control over a market where neither should exist to begin with.
When you close down more and more of our fishing areas, it makes us more willing to accept radical notions like catch shares. Heck- less area to fish---- I don’t care if you tell me that 75% of my competition can’t go fishing anymore, right?
It’s a public resource, and
well said Phin
BEFORE there can be a solution, there must first exist a problem. My question… Have they PROVEN that there was ever a thriving Kitty Mitchell population off of SC? Show me the pictures where commercial fisherman of the 70’s are standing up to their knees with kitty mitchells on the floor!!! Where is the PROOF that they were EVER abundant? Where is the proof that they were ever more abundant than rock hinds, bluespotted coronetfish, spanish hogfish, queen triggerfish, etc. Remember, certain species do NOT thrive no matter what the circumstances. Because that is how nature intended it. We could close off the entire Atlantic Ocean for 1,000 years and come back only to find that the kitty mitchell population has not changed due to the fact that fishing pressure is NOT THE POPULATION BOTTLENECK… If they cannot prove this, then there are NO GROUNDS for making more MPAs.
Can someone tell me what those little dinky strawberry grouper are?? I thought they were a Rock Hind, but apparently not. Also is there no catch data at all from the 70’s on these fish?