Last week, I attended the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Visioning Workshop in Charleston where the council decided what to include in the long-range management plan for the snapper-grouper fishery – a plan the council promised would be “stakeholder-driven.”
You may recall that the SAFMC conducted 26 port meetings last year and a series of public hearings this summer seeking input on the Vision plan.
The results were crystal clear: snapper-grouper stakeholders do not support job-killing catch share programs, expensive electronic vessel monitoring, and more no-fishing zones as ways to manage the fishery.
According to the stakeholder comments the SAFMC receive this summer:
97% oppose catch shares
94% oppose electronic vessel monitoring
90% oppose more closed fishing areas
So it would seem a SAFMC decision to honor its promise of a stakeholder-driven Vision plan by removing these overwhelmingly opposed measures would be easy.
It was not.
In a meeting that was not recorded for the public record, nor broadcast via webinar, a vote to remove catch share programs from the Vision plan barely passed on a 7 to 5 vote.
After 97 percent of fishery stakeholders opposed any form of catch shares, SAFMC members Jack Cox (NC), Chris Conklin (SC), Charlie Phillips (GA), Zack Bowen (GA), and the designee for Roy Crabtree (NOAA) all voted to ignore stakeholders and keep catch shares in the plan.
So much for honoring promises.
Even though mandatory catch share programs were removed from the Vision plan, the SAFMC supporters of catch shares managed to get a possible voluntary catch share program included.
This effort to privatize the snapper-grouper fishery is led by well-funded special interest groups. It’s not about fishery sustainability, because there is no biological benefit to catch shares. It’s about who will control the fishery and make the most money.
The SAFMC did remove from the plan electronic vessel monitoring and mo