Are They Freaking Crazy !!!!!

[Screen Name]

In my "spare time" I have been reading the document called "Secretarial amendment 1 to the reef fish fishery management plan to set a 10 year rebuilding plan for Red grouper, with associated impacts on Gag and other Groupers" and you guys are going to FLIP!!! This is not just about reducing the recreational bag limit of red grouper from 5 to 2 as many of you have already heard! This Amendment has repercussions that are going to be felt throughout the fishing industry.

The document suggests three month closures (recreation) from march 1st to may 31st for all groupers! It mentions the fact that Gag grouper are on the verge of being over-fished, and once the new Red grouper rules go into affect there will most certainly be an effort shift by the longliners to target Gag grouper!!! DO ANY OF YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?! ADDITIONAL GAG REGULATIONS TOO!!!!!! It says it right there in the document!!! This plan directly pits the longliners against the recreational sector for the Fishery! I already have been told by good authority that the longliners have/are modifying there gear to target the large breeder Gags! They are using longer leaders and live bait to do this.

This issue was supposed to have been settled several years ago with amendment 18! The longliners were going to be pushed out to 50 fathoms (300 feet), but they managed to get the whole thing derailed because of one good year of red grouper catches. They got together and hired some lawyers and have now turned this thing completely around on us. Let there be no mistake- these people are out to get us.

This new amendment is seeking a ten percent reduction across the board. But, it says in the document that the only people that are going to really be affected are the high volume longliners and the recreational fisherman. Its time for us to draw a line in the sand against the longliners and demand some management of this incredibly destructive practice of fishing or we, are going to be regulated right out of the fishery!!!! All of us to stand together and demand the State buy out the longline fleet, or at the very least regulate them to the point that we have been regulated for years!!

In my opinion, this is the most important issue the recreational sector has faced in many, many years!!! As “Denny” mentioned in another post, there is going to be an un-scheduled meeting this Thursday at Madeira Beach to have public comment on this amendment and officially public comment is over by March 8. The reason nobody has heard about this until now is because the NMFS knew there would be a revolt if word got out!!

Well, word is out! I would suggest you plan on being there this Thursday.

[Denny]

Band saws, I mean long lines, are hugely destructive to the bottom habitat, sawing off all that is in their way.
The longline industry is organized. They have a lobbyist and a law firm. They also have one seriously warped view of the fishery.

Their biggest lie is that they are a part of the historical fishery. They are not. As I understand it, long lines did not start working the gulf until the 1960's and did not get big until the 1980's. Historical? BS! The only thing 'hisotrical' about long lining is its history of indiscriminant by-catch and its history of taking more and more. There are bandit fishermen out there that use more conventional methods to harvest grouper. They don't catch as much, but they don't screw the bottom to death and their by-catch has a better chance of survival.

You will hear alot of excuses from the employees of the long line boats. "It's my job. Fishing is my right." Well, let's see... Hitlers concentration camp guards were 'just doing their job', but that don't make it right. The resource belongs to us all. Not just the big long line boats. They will tell you about their investment in equipment and the need to earn a return. So if I buy the 'De-forester 2004 wood cutter', I should be able to cut down all the trees, any where, anytime, because, after all, I spent the money to buy the equipment, right? BS.

The hogfish report was a warm up for what is ahead of us all. Between Secretarial Amendment 1, Amendment 18 and MPA's, we have a war on our hands. To win this war, we all need to be armed with knowledge and attitude.

We have some MONSTER weapons in our arsenal. I'm looking forward to showing you all our 'BIG STICK', as well as giving you the opportunity to help swing the big stick.

We need people at this meeting to show that we are serious and can respond with very short notice.

Details of the meeting location will be available today. I will email a map to all individuals that request it. This will be one of many public forums that we will need to attend.

[RichT]

This is certainly the biggest issue facing the recreational fisherman that I have seen in many,many years!

[fishkilla]

what time does the meeting start?

[Denny]

I'm waiting for the fax. Should be here shortly.

See the thread titled Mad Beach Meeting, NMFS.

[RichT]

Did you know that 81 percent of all the Red grouper are caught by commercial fisherman, mostly longliners!?
Does it sound Fair to punish the other 19 percent of the fisherman because of the 81 percent who are doing all the damage to the fishery?
The National Marine Fsheries Service thinks so!
Did you know that the longline industry is only a 6 million dollar"at the dock" industry? How much do you think the recreational fisherman and divers spend per fish caught!?
Did you know there are only about 160 longline boats total?!
How many recreatioanal boats do you think there are!?
Is there any body with any common sense reading this!!!
This amendment IS going to affect each and every one of you in ways you may not even realize.
I for one am getting sick and tired of being regulated to death while the real problem continues to be ignored!!

[RichT]

Here is a letter from a former longliner that all of you should find very disturbing.
It was posted today at the Florida Sportaman Forum.


When I was longlining we would catch 4-55gallon drums of liveies and head out. I used 18foot leaders with a #15 Mustad jap hook. And galvanized cable insted of stainless on the spool. Because galve is 300 a spool instead of a 1000. And once you learn you can string any break in the gulf. Yeah you lose some tackle, But the results are all gag, black, scamp. I can do 7000lbs of these fish in 7 to 9 days. And have done it many times. And now every longliner has the latest in technology, Onboard computer systems, plotting, sidescan sonars, And with all this combined with the skills of a hungry fisherman it spells Population Depletion. If you read the info from the NMFS you will see in the last 2 years that longliners are all the sudden catching more blacks than they ever have. My good friend larry wont say last names, just came in again with 17,000(thousand) pounds of all gag, carbo, scamp, and mutton. No red grouper at all. He is not the only one. Did not even have a fishing pole on the boat. And we grew up together learning fishing. I stepped down from the longlining gig, because I felt it was morally wrong to rip up livecoral and habitat. And the senseless killing of fish. Sometimes I would get stuck in the live coral limestone break and have to cut or break the cable, And leave a 1/4 to 1/2 mile of cable in the break, all hooks and leaders attached. That really bothered me. Because when they where biting good every hook or other hook had a fish on it. So make sure to get the story straight before you go pointing fingers. Longlining is not fishing it is slaughtering. Look around the world, and how this type of fishing has depleted the oceans of many different species of fish. Aquaculture is the future. If I have my way, I will be part of teaching these resource depleters to be resource creators. They will become farmers not fisherman. So what's the permit hold up NMFS? Let's buy them out and teach them how to replenish a fishery they've depleted for generations. This way their children have a future, and so does the fishery. The time to do this is now, before we are faced with total stock depletions.

[junior]

The responsible parties should take the hit for the damage done to the stocks and reefs. It should be the goal of every recreational fisherman to rid Florida of longlining. Where do I sign up?

[aue-mike]

The February 26 Madeira Beach meeting has absolutely nothing to do with Amendment 1. This meeting is a scoping meeting for limited access alternatives in the mackerel fishery, as well as general issues regarding the development of a generic amendment on offshore aquaculture. This was advertised on January 26:

http://www.gulfcouncil.org/prrel/pr2004-02.htm

The comment period for the proposed rule for Amendment 1 is indeed open, but comments on it will not be taken by anyone at the February 26 meeting (see above for meeting agenda). Again, the Gulf Council will not accept comments on Amendment 1 at this meeting. Fishery Management Councils have to advertise everything they plan on discussing for any public meeting 30 days in advance. If it is not on the agenda, it can not be discussed. This is to avoid "secret meetings" or "back-room deals" that people occasionally hint at (erroneously).

Now, if you wish to comment on Amendment 1, I definitely urge you to participate in the fishery management process. The proposed rule for Amendment 1 was published February 20 in the Federal Register. Here is a link:

(TEXT)
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/...004/04-3754.htm

(.PDF)
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/...pdf/04-3754.pdf

Comments must be received no later that 5:00 PM EST, on April 20, 2004. Comments can be written (see addresses in the above proposed rule links), faxed (727-570-5583), or e-mailed (0648-AP95.Proposed@noaa.gov).

[fishkilla]

so there is no reason for us to show up thursday?

[aue-mike]

If you want to comment on offshore aquaculture or limited access in the commercial mackerel and reef fish fisheries, yes. Otherwise, I would say no.

[cbulla]

may the longline boats find their rest as a reef in an undisclosed location.

[webers]

We get more bang for the buck if you send a letter. But, that said, I'll be there. And, I hope to make comments on aquaculture that will also include requests that secretarial amendment 1 be analized in relation to the impact of any proposals at this meeting.

I say, If you can make time, show up--do so. The longline industry is trying to slip Sec Amendment 1 by on expectation that the Council will only see the eceonomic harm to the small long line fleet. Squeaky wheel theory here, even if at wrong place and time. . . .

Scott

[RichT]

I will also be there and fill out a comment card with some some interesting rhetoric for them to read.
Unless you have plenty of time on your hand it doesnt sound like this is the meeting to go to though.
We may not get to say one thing about amendment 1 from what Im hearing.:(

[cbulla]

Take it up with your state legislative representative. I call my senator for the the state senate enough that people in his office know my name... sometimes I thank them, sometimes its a new issue. The trick is to have it printed out and parts outlined with questions or comments ready - thats not something they are used to getting from people and you can get their attention.

[Screen Name]

Originally posted by aue-mike
If you want to comment on offshore aquaculture or limited access in the commercial mackerel and reef fish fisheries, yes. Otherwise, I would say no.

Mike, Thanks for setting this straight. I may have misunderstood some of the information that I received. Ammendment 1 is a very critical issue for us, and we cant be asleep at the wheel.

If the longliners could find a way to eliminate their bycatch, concentrated decimation of marine life, damage to marine habitat, excess harvest, and greed at the expense of the public, I might be a little less edgy about this.

[Screen Name]

Originally posted by aue-mike
If you want to comment on offshore aquaculture or limited access in the commercial mackerel and reef fish fisheries, yes. Otherwise, I would say no.

Although I cant make it, I personally am very opposed to them calling in "dormant" commercial permits. That just gives more fish to fewer people in the future, further securing their monopoly.

What they need to be managing is how many fish get harvested and how much damage gets done in the process, not how many people have a chance to commercial fish if they aspire to. Economics and fair opportunity should govern that.