I wanted to provide you with an update concerning some of the actions taken by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council at its meeting in Wilmington last week.
Vermilion Snapper
There was good news concerning vermilion snapper. The recent stock assessment update determined that vermilion are not overfished or experiencing overfishing.
As a result the council is taking action through a regulatory amendment, expected to be implemented next summer, which would increase the total vermilion annual catch limit by about 240,000 lbs. or 25 percent.
The ACL increase could result in removing the recreational season closure for vermilion and/or increasing the bag limit. It is important to note that for the last two years recreational landings of vermilion have fallen well short of the ACL. Just 64 percent of the recreational ACL was landed in 2011 and 84 percent in 2010.
The six month commercial vermilion quotas are expected to increase from about 300,000 lbs. to about 400,000 lbs. The commercial quotas were substantially exceeded this year. The January-June quota was exceeded by 22 percent and the July-December quota was exceeded by 62 percent.
Requirement for Vessel Monitoring Systems
A proposal for all commercially permitted snapper-grouper vessels to be equipped with vessel monitoring systems that would allow federal law enforcement and fishery officials to track vessels at all times was approved by the council for public hearings next year.
North Carolina representative Tom Burgess and I attempted to get council to drop any further consideration of VMS, but we were out voted.
A compelling case cannot be made for VMS in the snapper-grouper commercial fishery, especially based on the economic burden to fishermen.
The average VMS unit costs $3,000. While there are currently reimbursements available from NOAA for the unit cost, fishermen would need to pay for the unit and its estimated $300 installation cost in advance and wait up to 45 days for reimbursement.
I would like to thank Tom Swatzel and Tom Burgess for their support regarding VMS. I was at the meeting and spoke against it as well. A few other fishermen showed up, but only a handful, and all were against except one Bass potter named Tony Austin who started spewing off about wanting catch shares and VMS!
This VMS will not only affect commercial grouper/snapper but they will go after charter/headboats as well! This is not really about keeping anyone out of an MPA rather it is really about collecting data to enhance, enlarge and create new MPAs and other “accountability measures”!
It is really important that we all stand together and get very vocal about VMS and a few other issues that are bearing down on all of us. I would like to start a petition to quash VMS but will need some help from all of you. Would any of you be willing to spend a little time and effort getting the petition circulated and keeping it in the news so to speak?
I would like to thank Tom Swatzel and Tom Burgess for their support regarding VMS. I was at the meeting and spoke against it as well. A few other fishermen showed up, but only a handful, and all were against except one Bass potter named Tony Austin who started spewing off about wanting catch shares and VMS!
This VMS will not only affect commercial grouper/snapper but they will go after charter/headboats as well! This is not really about keeping anyone out of an MPA rather it is really about collecting data to enhance, enlarge and create new MPAs and other “accountability measures”!
It is really important that we all stand together and get very vocal about VMS and a few other issues that are bearing down on all of us. I would like to start a petition to quash VMS but will need some help from all of you. Would any of you be willing to spend a little time and effort getting the petition circulated and keeping it in the news so to speak?
Thanks for your consideration.
We are with you.
Agreed that VMS is simply a way to shut down and restrict us more. (also a way to enrich the company that manufacturers and sells the systems- owner of the company has been closely linked to the head of NOAA, btw)
They will use VMS against us in a big way one day. It’s only a matter of time before all of the fishing grounds are catalogged and published in a national database which will uncover the remaining hiding places for fish and ruin fishing for everyone. But that will give them leverage to close off 70% of those fishing grounds permanently as a new form of “ecosystem based management”. I think that a lawsuit needs to happen.
Hopefully the RFA, CCA, and any other fishing groups will see that VMS will become the end of our fishery and should file lawsuits as soon as possible. Even the inshore guys. Imagine that ALL of your fishing spots (the ones handed down by your father, grandfather, or over your lifetime of exploring) are forcefully discovered and eventually published in public record where everyone can see them. What will that do to fishing?
Also, I’m not quite sure that it is fair to put the burden of a $3000 VMS device on the backs of tax payers (aka recreational fishermen)…
I, also, thank Mr. Swatzel for his efforts.
It is un-American for the government to know where every law abiding citizen/fisherman is, and not necessary for proper fisheries management. Law enforcement boardings of reasonably suspicious vessels (as in court ordered search warrants) could accomplish the desired result.
Also, on a slightly different topic: There is an editorial in the January issue of Saltwater Sportsman that we should all read. Written by John Brownlee (with whom I sometime disagree), it makes some wise -and scarry - observations. The one that worries me most is " The NMFS leadership has been reluctant to do so, in my opinion because they fear legal action from the environmental groups pushing these measures, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Pew Environmental Group, and the Environmental Defense Fund."
All of these organizations are extremely left-wing, well financed, well orchestrated, and have people with Ph.D.'s in very powerful places. They will decide whether we will be allowed to fish (or hunt) from now on. If we do nothing.
VMS would be fine as punishment for a conviction. But government monitoring of private citizens can not possibly be constitutional. Does anyone know if there is a legal precedence?
Given the current SCOTUS though, nothing would surprise me
VMS is one of those “slippery slopes”. First it’s “just for snapper-grouper complex commercial fishermen”, then “well why not all commercial fishermen?”, followed by “it’s unfair that only commercial fishermen are required to have a VMS, let’s throw recreational fishermen into the mix”, then automobiles…etc.
Maybe we should put an IPI (Idiot Proximity Indicator) on the so-called environmentalists and radical lefties so that they can’t sneak into our midst.
If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.
Holy 1984 George Orwell!!! Who was the person responsible for suggesting this in the first place? Big brother is watching folks! This is absolutely one of the most rediculous things that I have ever heard of. It’s even more rediculous that a large number of people actually VOTED to implement it. If that doesn’t show you that this council is run by a liberal crowd, I don’t know what will convince you. Not only will VMS track your position, it actually records VIDEO as well so that they can watch what species you are catching, how you are releasing them, etc…
I don’t see anything “slippery slope” about VMS. As far as I am concerned, VMS is WAY at the bottom of the slope and we are laying on our backs wondering what happened…
"In 1998, when the US implemented VMS for its EEZ fisheries, only 1,000 foreign high-seas drift-net vessels were required to carry the devices.
While several of the original 1,000 vessels have been alleviated from their obligation to carry VMS, numerous more fisheries were added. In 2007, the number of VMS-equipped fishing vessels jumped to over 5,000. This was partly due to the addition of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery."
If that doesn’t show you that this council is run by a liberal crowd, I don’t know what will convince you. Not only will VMS track your position, it actually records VIDEO as well so that they can watch what species you are catching, how you are releasing them, etc…
I’m a fairly liberal guy (I know, god forbid), and I’m not in favor of VMS. I wasn’t in favor of the patriot act either. To act like the left is the only party with a history of restricting personal freedoms for the “greater good” is disingenuous. This isn’t a republican or democrat thing, it’s a current state of fisheries management thing. Don’t forget that W was the guy who signed the reauthorization of Magnuson and that the catch shares that everyone blames the libs for is a very conservative free market concept.
If that doesn’t show you that this council is run by a liberal crowd, I don’t know what will convince you. Not only will VMS track your position, it actually records VIDEO as well so that they can watch what species you are catching, how you are releasing them, etc…
I’m a fairly liberal guy (I know, god forbid), and I’m not in favor of VMS. I wasn’t in favor of the patriot act either. To act like the left is the only party with a history of restricting personal freedoms for the “greater good” is disingenuous. This isn’t a republican or democrat thing, it’s a current state of fisheries management thing. Don’t forget that W was the guy who signed the reauthorization of Magnuson and that the catch shares that everyone blames the libs for is a very conservative free market concept.
I never used the word "republican" or "democrat"... I never even mentioned "W" either. So, I don't know how you read into something so "disingenuous", but it didn't come from me...
And yes, the patriot act was a shameful, un-American thing…
I just don’t get how ANYONE would think that video surveillance of a private industry should be allowed in America… What is YOUR job? What do YOU do for a living? Are you regulated by the government? Most people are… I don’t know of any business that is NOT regulated by the government, so imagine if you had a camera following you around 24x7 to make sure that you comply with Uncle Sam. Rediculous!!!
The ACL increase could result in removing the recreational season closure for vermilion and/or increasing the bag limit. It is important to note that for the last two years recreational landings of vermilion have fallen well short of the ACL. Just 64 percent of the recreational ACL was landed in 2011 and 84 percent in 2010.
So…If they take away quota because we “overfished”, will they add the extra weight to this years quota? Looks like an extra 52% to me.
Until you get the Eco-Nutjob David Cupka off the board (thanks Nikki!)…NOTHING will fall toward the way of the fishermen. Don’t forget, he wanted a complete closure from 90’-240’!! How much money have the local busineses lost because of the foolish Black Sea Bass closure? Drive past any landing on a calm day between now and April and look at all the empty parking spaces! Any fisheries biologist that says they (BSB’s)are overfished is blind or politicaly driven. Keep sending E-mails to Tim Scott…He is on our side!
.
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
If that doesn’t show you that this council is run by a liberal crowd, I don’t know what will convince you. Not only will VMS track your position, it actually records VIDEO as well so that they can watch what species you are catching, how you are releasing them, etc…
I’m a fairly liberal guy (I know, god forbid), and I’m not in favor of VMS. I wasn’t in favor of the patriot act either. To act like the left is the only party with a history of restricting personal freedoms for the “greater good” is disingenuous. This isn’t a republican or democrat thing, it’s a current state of fisheries management thing. Don’t forget that W was the guy who signed the reauthorization of Magnuson and that the catch shares that everyone blames the libs for is a very conservative free market concept.
I never used the word "republican" or "democrat"... I never even mentioned "W" either. So, I don't know how you read into something so "disingenuous", but it didn't come from me...
And yes, the patriot act was a shameful, un-American thing…
Fair enough, I probably shouldn’t have said republican or democrat but I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that the current Democratic party trends liberal and the Republican party conservative. Just pointing out that aggressive invasions of privacy are