Tell the SAFMC NO to catch shares today!

Saltwater Offshore Discussion
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Myrtle Beach SUN NEWS: Controversy brewing over Exempted Fishing Permit

By Gregg Holshouser - March 3, 2017

A storm is brewing in the South Atlantic region, a storm of controversy over snapper-grouper fisheries access and allocation.

A group of four commercial fishing businesses – the South Atlantic Commercial Fishing Collaborative – filed an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) application with the National Marine Fisheries Service on Feb. 6.

If approved by NMFS, the EFP would allow a group of 25 snapper-grouper boats operated by the four businesses to harvest blueline tilefish, gag grouper, gray triggerfish, greater amberjack, vermilion snapper and species in the jacks complex for two years (2018-19) in a pilot program while being exempt from numerous fishing regulations.

The generic name for such a fisheries management method is catch shares, which, according to NOAA Fisheries, is a program in which “a portion of the catch for a species is allocated to individual fishermen or groups. Each holder of a catch share must stop fishing when his/her specific share of the quota is reached.”

But it is a concept the huge majority of saltwater fishermen – recreational fishermen and small commercial fishing operations – have proven to be vehemently opposed to.

The South Atlantic Commercial Fishing Collaborative is trying to help its snapper-grouper fishing operations get away from short, derby-style fishing seasons, which it says creates quota overages, numerous fish discards and marketplace instability that results in fluctuations in price.

Opponents say the EFP application is unfair privatization of public marine resources, and a bevy of opposition to the proposal has arisen on the local and state level in South Carolina.

The South Carolina House of Representatives on Thursday issued a resolution against the use of catch shares in the South Atlantic Region, a move that was quickly praised by Coastal Conservation Association South Carolina.

“Coastal Conservation Association is oppos

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Our thanks to Sen. Stephen Goldfinch for his opposition to the pilot catch share program.

Tom Swatzel
Executive Director
Council for Sustainable Fishing
www.Sustainablefishing.org

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So arrogant Conklin is advising us on how to address the council! What an ice hole

Thanks Yellowbird!

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Thanks Senator Goldfinch! It is great to see all the positive energy against these corrupt bastards

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http://www.sportfishingmag.com/NOAA-fisheries-management-corruption

Interesting article.

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Thanks to you and many others, catch share fishery management in the South Atlantic is dead – at least for now.

Yesterday at the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council public hearing in Jekyll Island, GA it was announced that the pilot snapper-grouper catch share Exempted Fishing Permit application had been withdrawn.

Here’s a link to media coverage:
https://goo.gl/jn8M8G

This back-door attempt to begin the privatization of our fishery resources by insiders, sitting SAFMC members Charlie Phillips and Chris Conklin and former SAFMC member Jack Cox, all commercial snapper-grouper fleet owners and dealers, met overwhelming opposition from fishermen all across the region.

By the time of the well-attended public hearing, there were a total of 616 comments on the catch share EFP through the SAFMC’s online comment form: 600 comments or 97 percent against and just 16 comments or 3 percent for.

The 97 percent stakeholder opposition to the catch share EFP should be no surprise. It’s the exact same percentage of opposition expressed to any form of catch shares by snapper-grouper stakeholders to the SAFMC during input on it’s long-range snapper-grouper Vision management plan – a plan the SAFMC promised would be “stakeholder-driven.”

But incredibly, one thing was made clear during the announcement of the withdrawal – these insiders plan on regrouping, with the help of the radical Environmental Defense Fund, and returning one day with another plan to capture ownership of our fishery through catch shares.

We’ll have to remain vigilant.

We’ve taken on a well-funded EDF backed catch share effort and won.

Thanks for your help!

Tom Swatzel
Executive Director
Council for Sustainable Fishing
www.Sustainablefishing.org

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If all 600 of those who commented would enlighten just one friend who did not bother comment, the next “con” they come up with will boost the 97% ■■■■■■■■.

Thankx TS

DG standing by.

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I would hope that the council would not consider another application from this collaborative after such an overwhelming defeat .

Also, Tom, What happened to “night hunter” Zack Bowens plan to limit for hire licenses?

This might be a good time to address the council about the conflict of interest voting

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The council is still discussing for-hire limited entry. Might be tomorrow before a decision is made.

Tom Swatzel
Executive Director
Council for Sustainable Fishing
www.Sustainablefishing.org

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Make no mistake …this is far from over…as Natureboy eluded to it is coming back with more vigor…in fact with 15 minutes left in the council meeting, after the public had left, the same council members that submitted the catch share application made a motion for a catch share presentation at the next meeting.

the motion failed …for now…i encourage all to stay involved in the process…limited entry is on the June meeting agenda…

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A public out cry from us to stop the conflict of interest voting might be in order. What do you think Tom?

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Regarding for-hire limited entry, the SAFMC took no action at this meeting.

As far as conflict of interest, fishery council members are bound by federal rules of conduct:
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/management/councils/training/2014/e_h1_members_conduct_rules.pdf

The SAFMC also has General Rules of Conduct in its SOPP (pages 16-17):
http://cdn1.safmc.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/28110532/SAFMCSOPPFinal_062711.pdf

Tom Swatzel
Executive Director
Council for Sustainable Fishing
www.Sustainablefishing.org

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From an email…

Fish grab scheme put on hold in South Atlantic
Commercial Fishing Collaborative withdraws permit application for catch shares

JEKYLL ISLAND, GEORGIA- A controversial exempted fishing permit (EFP) to initiate a commercial privatization program for at least six species of fish in the South Atlantic was shelved this week after widespread public outcry. The announcement that the South Atlantic Commercial Fishing Collaborative, made up of two sitting Council members and one former member, were withdrawing the EFP was made at the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting in Jekyll Island, Georgia.
“Public sentiment against this EFP was overwhelming, which shows that the angling public is very much aware of these privatization schemes and they’ve had enough of them,” said Bill Bird, chairman of the Coastal Conservation Association’s National Government Relations Committee. “There should be no place for privatization of our public marine resources in the federal fisheries management system, but our fear is that this EFP will be retooled and reintroduced in the future when the noise dies down. Anglers in the South Atlantic will have to remain vigilant.”
The EFP and the composition of the South Atlantic Fishing Collaborative were unveiled in an editorial by Jeff Angers with the Center for Sportfishing Policy on SportFishingMag.com last week. It was highlighted as an example of the manipulation that is becoming rampant in federal fisheries management as commercial harvesters vie to acquire valuable shares of public marine resources for free. The exempted fishing permit process itself is also coming under scrutiny as it is operates wholly outside the public management process. Although Councils are usually given the opportunity to vote on the permits, sole authority to approve or disapprove them rests with bureaucrats at NOAA Fisheries.
"The fishery management process is simply not designed to handle the level of greed and manipulation that accompanies this type of resource giveaway, wh

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I wish Crabtree had allowed the vote and closed this door for a longer time