Here are some of the things that have been discussed already to get things going.
State control of our fisheries out to 200 miles offshore.
Collecting landings data at marinas and boat ramps.
Managing commercial quotas with appropriate possession limits to avoid multiple extended closures that result in excessive discards.
Promoting the use of decent assist devices when releasing illegal fish suffering from barotrauma to reduce the mortality rates used in stock assessments.
Asking the council to reduce the mortality rates based on their circle hook law.
The Visioning Project provides a wonderful opportunity for us to think about how want to solve some of the problems that are being used to advance agendas like catch shares and area closures. We need to offer some solutions for key issues and stand united in our call for them to be implemented. Enough council members WILL listen to us IF enough of us coordinate our efforts. If we remain silent, we passively support the status quo while allowing the eco-charities to control this project’s outcome.
jazman54, I would like to see each state control all of our natural resources out to 200 miles. The federal government could focus on patrolling our EEZ border with the many warships they have practicing in popular fishing areas. I have heard several reports of large foreign vessels fishing inside our EEZ.
The lead agency should pay for data collection by reallocating funds and giving current employees new assignments. Additional funding could come from fishing license fees. My goal is to get some thinkers involved in a discussion about how we can make things happen. We need to have these discussions now and come up with solutions for a few key issues that most open-minded people will support so we can have more influence over the Visioning Project outcome. Hundreds of fishermen supporting a common goal by simply submitting public comments is all it would take to get most of what we ask for implemented. It wouldn’t cost anyone anything except for a little time.
This is a quote from from the newsletter I got today in the mail from SAFMC.
"Public input in the Visioning Project is crucial to it’s success,"stated Chairman Hartig during last week’s meeting. “We’ve made a lot of progress in a short amount of time. Participation in the upcoming port meetings and involvement from all stakeholder groups will help determine the direction the Council chooses to take in long-term management of the snapper-grouper fishery.”
Each state should manage their own fishery…short of a mutiniy i am not sure how you will get the Feds to allow that,they have an agenda(not sure what it really is)and we are just pons in their little power game…
In my uneducated guess alot of people are just creating job security for themselves will all this bs…
DoubleN, state control of coastal waters goes out to 3 miles, 9 miles, and I think 12 miles is some areas. Federal waters extend from state boundaries out to the end of our 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone which was established in the original MSA. The different areas of state control suggest these borders can be adjusted. I would be happy if we just split the EEZ and gave each state control out to 100 miles offshore.
GutWrench, you are exactly right about some of the major players in fishery management viewing us as pawns in this evil game they are playing with our freedom to fish and eat American seafood. NCDMF already controls state quota allocations for some fisheries in federal waters. This precedent suggests it can be done with other species like those in the snapper/grouper complex. We need to talk with state fishery managers and legislators about this idea if it is the direction most fishermen would like to go.
RDW, maybe we should call on all EDF/SAFA council members to recuse themselves from discussions and votes on issues EDF has given them money to support. That seems like a very obvious conflict of interest. The council created many of the problems in our fisheries today as a result of their rush to meet Congressional hard deadlines in the reauthorized MSA. Those deadlines have been met. The council should set aside most of their other amendments until the Visioning Project is complete. We need to focus on solving problems the council created in their rush to advance IUCN agendas using what former SAFMC Chairman Duane Harris testified before Congress to be “fatally flawed data”.
Although I would love to see it, our state guys don’t have the resources to monitor out 100 miles. You Charleston guys may differ but out of MI…Its seemingly a wild west withno oveoversight. I have never been checked by anyone out there. That’s in prolly 150 trips. We are always checked at the same places.
Checking for violations at boat ramps, marinas, and inside inlets is a much more cost effective and safe way to check licenses and safety equipment as well as retention and size limit compliance than open ocean boardings.