natureboy, a decent assist device can be something as cheap and simple as a barbless hook and weight that is used to send illegal fish back to the bottom. Offering alternative solutions to increase survival rates of Warsaw Grouper and Speckled Hind is one of our best chances to stop these new MPAs. Pushing for artificial reef habitat on existing MPAs is another solution. You should talk with SAFMC member Mel Bell about artificial reefs. He’s all for them.
skinneej, I will have to look for the study in my emails. It might take a little time but I need to find it anyway to post that link on my website.
i think one of the more important things to take out of this article is the effect surface time has on the fish. average 90% survival with LESS than 2 minutes on surface.
Free : I have used the barbless hook upside down for years. The council likes working with manipulated numbers. I’m just saying - the push that stopped VMS can stop more MPA’s. We need to continue the success and become a force to recon with. Call and Email elected officials and get everybody involved. Where are the great Carolina Blue water captains? Still thinking that they’ll never stop trolling?
natureboy, you are exactly right about being able to stop these area closures if enough of us speak up like we did about VMS. I have talked with John Carmichael (SAFMC stock assessment guy) about regulatory discards and how we can get back some or all of our quotas that are allocated to dead discards (1,000,000+lbs). He told me the mortality rate percentage could be reduced if we could show fishermen were using decent assist devices. We need to encourage as many offshore bottom fishermen as we can to take pictures or video of them using decent assist devices to send the council. We don’t need them to pass a law for us to do something positive for our fishery. This could significantly increase our quotas. Instead of a third or more of our quotas being allocated to dead discards, maybe only 10% could be.
natureboy, you are exactly right about being able to stop these area closures if enough of us speak up like we did about VMS. I have talked with John Carmichael (SAFMC stock assessment guy) about regulatory discards and how we can get back some or all of our quotas that are allocated to dead discards (1,000,000+lbs). He told me the mortality rate percentage could be reduced if we could show fishermen were using decent assist devices. We need to encourage as many offshore bottom fishermen as we can to take pictures or video of them using decent assist devices to send the council. We don’t need them to pass a law for us to do something positive for our fishery. This could significantly increase our quotas. Instead of a third or more of our quotas being allocated to dead discards, maybe only 10% could be.
Thanks Free My point was that the push for MPA’s will ignore any device , and for that matter - logic. What they will not ignore in the MPA battle is pressure from the elected officials that appointed them. They will not ignore scoping meeting rooms packed with pissed watermen , and stacks of Emails & letters. I truly respect your part in this fight and you are not alone.
You guys are really touching on two different topics.
MPA’s are the long term strategy by some of the SEDAR scientists have been around for the past 30+ years. They will use any “crisis” they can to throw the MPA option back on the table. It happened with Red Snapper and now it’s happening again with Warsaw\Speckled Hind. Will they stop the push for MPA’s because of a release device? No, they will wait for the next opportunity to bring up MPA’s on the next “crisis”.
However, cutting their legs out on the current “crisis” may buy a bit of time until they can invent the next “crisis”. But the other point is that it’s not likely that an unproven device will sway them in the short term. They will hide behind the guise of “best available science” and the fact that the device has not been scientifically proven. Could you have a study done in the next 5 years? Probably. Will that help right now? Probably not.
PS… Don’t take your eyes off of the ball. The request to “reconfigure” the existing MPA’s is making them larger. It’s probably their most clever move yet. You must stand against this.
They will tell you that they are not changing the square mileage that much, but when you twist an East to West oriented MPA so that it runs SW to NE straight on top of the continental shelf (ledge), then you grab a WHOLE LOT MORE BOTTOM…
i agree that we need to raise hell and do all we can to stop it now. but we will need an avenue to go down after this initial fight to keep them on their heels, or else they will be back right on us. there needs to be a way fisherman can prove that we stand to protect the fisheries we know are not troubled. looking at most of the good studies and research data on the west coast, almost all of it comes from the university programs at state schools. we also have state schools along the coast here with marine biology programs that we can use to our advantage in helping relevant stock assessments as well as other studies to increase catch quotas. i am certainly in for volunteering time and boat space to put towards this worthy cause.
Natureboy - do you have any marine biology contacts at any coastal universities in the carolina / georgia area.
Skinnee- i will do my best to be at relevant council meetings
Thank you all for having this discussion. We may have different ideas about how to stop MPAs but we all seem to understand the importance of making our voice heard. There will only be a small group of fishermen willing to really get involved. We need to be the ones sending letters to our elected public servants asking them to publicly oppose new or reconfigured MPAs. We need to post our letters on here and other places to give other fishermen an easy way to copy and paste them in an email to the relevant people with a statement of support.
I will chime in to say that I do not fish offshore too often, but understand the importance of standing your ground against these people who think they know what is best for us. I also understand that they will not stop with our rights to fish offshore.
I support you gentleman in your fight and will do all I can to help. Please PM me once you get the e-mail template ready and I will do my part by sending it out and recruiting others to do the same.
I may not fish offshore much, but I want that right and I want my children and grandchildren to be able to do it also!!
Key West 19’6" CC 115hp Merc
14’ Fast Craft w/ 60hp Merc
pitviper0404, you and anyone else are welcome to use the letter below. Please send your comments to Kim Iverson until an official public comment email address is set up for RA17. kim.iverson@safmc.net
Regulatory Amendment 17 Public Comment
I OPPOSE any new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and/or reorienting existing MPAs to include more prime fishing areas. There is no proof existing MPAs have had any positive impact.
I SUPPORT enhancing existing MPAs with new artificial reef habitat rather than closing more traditional fishing grounds.
everywhere I go I stop and see the mayor or whom ever and plead our case. I provide the SAFMC E-mail and addresses . Their citizens have the right to fish the ocean too!
pitviper0404, you and anyone else are welcome to use the letter below. Please send your comments to Kim Iverson until an official public comment email address is set up for RA17. kim.iverson@safmc.net
Regulatory Amendment 17 Public Comment
I OPPOSE any new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and/or reorienting existing MPAs to include more prime fishing areas. There is no proof existing MPAs have had any positive impact.
I SUPPORT enhancing existing MPAs with new artificial reef habitat rather than closing more traditional fishing grounds.
Hey Men
I just read most of this topic.
Could someone please repost some email addresses for us to write to about this?
Especially the politicians who could influence this
Afishianado, thank you for your interest in defending our freedom to fish. Here are some email addresses and links to find contact info for your members of congress.
Feel free to use any or all of this comment in your own comments.
Regulatory Amendment 17 Public Comment
I OPPOSE any new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and/or reorienting existing MPAs to include more prime fishing areas. There is no proof existing MPAs have had any positive impact.
I SUPPORT enhancing existing MPAs with new artificial reef habitat rather than closing more traditional fishing grounds.
It pays to stay in contact with our members of congress. Please consider asking your representatives to follow Congressman Jones’ lead. http://www.house.gov/representatives/
E-mails sent to council members and my Representatives in Congress concerning stopping Amendment 17, expanding MPAs. Easy enough to copy and paste this taxpayers opinion on this very important matter.
