Just an FYI, if you are in the S. Atlantic area, they are hitting our fish quotas again. I will be at the meetings coming up and would hope that others will show up. At this time I am trying to align myself with some of the fisheries board members in getting the connections to have data we are willing to collect presented. I think we had a good break thru yesterday after a 3 hour meeting with one of the board members. If I can get warm bodies to show up, it would be a great start to show interest. At this point, the studies that are being used are that of either old data or logs from Fla, AGAIN. Please let me know who can go to the upcoming meetings. Until I can get the data cruncher locked in, I am just trying to show opposition. If you have any underwater photos of gags and scamps in any kind of abundance, please pm me. I will need "basic" coords, depth, etc just to document. I am going to start hitting this really hard! Anthing numbers that are sent will be completely confidential. On the redfish tagging study, when the data was summitted for areas, the red dots on the maps covered 1/2 mile and up.

http://www.safmc.net/News/NewsReleases/NewsReleaseAugust72007/tabid/533/Default.aspx

All meetings are scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m.

September 4, 2007
Hilton Wilmington Riverside
301 N. Water Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
Phone: 910/763-5900

September 4, 2007
Sombrero Cay Clubs
19 Sombrero Blvd.
Marathon, FL 33050
Phone: 305/743-2250

September 5, 2007
Sheraton Atlantic Beach
2717 W. Fort Macon Road
Atlantic Beach, NC 28512
Phone: 252/240-1155

September 6, 2007
Hampton Inn Daytona Speedway
1715 W. Int. Speedway Blvd.
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
Phone: 386/257-4030

September 10, 2007
Holiday Inn Charleston Airport
5264 International Blvd.
N. Charleston, SC 29418
Phone: 843/576-0300

September 17, 2007
Avista Resort
300 N. Ocean Blvd.
N. Myrtle Beach, SC 29582
Phone: 843/249-2521

Tired of having decisions made for us and not goning on acurate data, I have been busy setting appointments to try to make a difference here. I have appointments with the following:

NC Fisheries Resource Grant Program in two weeks for proposals on what they are in need of for data thru FRG

Have talked with Shawn Mckean NC Fisheries Assoc

Trying to streamline what information as needed for Dr. Daniels (dir NCDMF)

Any info on how to proceed will be helpful from any of you veterans. I am serious about this and could use all the support that I can get.

Please consider taking time out of schedule to at least show up to the meetings to voice you opinion.

The biggest problem I see as of now is that the council has pretty much been dominated by the CCA and getting there agendas pushed thru any way necessary. The loophole that the Feds keep using is they can use the "best data available" excuse and I would like to throw a monkey wrench in that excuse.

Killer- Check you private messages.

Let's coordinate efforts, as the FRA is going to be working for its South Atlantic members on this issue.

We will have a sheet of talking points and rationale for everyone by Monday. This information will help everyone understand what is happeing and why and indicate suggested actions and comments that would be appropriate.

Where to begin, yes I did. It was a packed house. The room was big enough to hold 40 people and there were 33 commercial fisherman and if I am not mistaken, 1 recreational fisherman, myself. As for how the meeting went, this will be a brief rundown. Rita Merritt was there representing the SAFMC. Also there was the Deputy Exec Director Gregg Waugh. This was to be nothing more than a scope meeting with not much Q&A except at the very end with 3 of us piping in. The purpose was to get up in front of the mic, face Ms Merritt and have your opinion recorded to be sent on to the council. At the start of the "meeting", there was a slide show presentation on how the grouper and snapper FMR (fish mortality rate) is higher than the stock can replace them. The proceed to tell you how the SSC didn't even want to classify the vermilion as "overfished" since it doesn't have confidence in the data received in the assessments from the program. At this point, everyone in the room is scratching their heads thinking "why do it then?". At this point it was reiterated that they are "bound" to use the "best available" data and therefore, the decision stands. It is then explained to you that the new law under the Magnuson Stevens Act that they are "bound" to respond and make changes within 1 year of notification of a "overfished" classification in any species and must take action immediately. They also made it very clear that not only is it the law, but, they can't do anything about the data that was used and the course of action has already been started. As each person stepped up to the mic, ( maybe 8 including myself ) the common factor was:

Why use data that you know isn't any good?
A: It's the best available data

How come observers don't come on my boat?
A: We are understaffed, you need to help us raise money.

What can we do to stop this? I am catching bigger fish now than any other year!
A: As we stated earlier, we do not have the power to stop this, we are bound by law to proceed under the new MS Act that Pres Bush signed at the beginning of this year.

What is the point of these meetings?
A: It is an opportunity for you to put your comments or opinion on official record.

How is it that since you have managed to push so many commercial guys out of the industry by lowering limits, etc that we could possibly be overfishing? We are down to 700 licenses thanks to your 2-1 buyout and of that approximately 400 of those are active. How can we be hurting the number of fish with less then half of us fishing from just 5-10 years ago?

A: Although commercial numbers have come down, recreational numbers have increased and we don't have a accurate way of gauging this category.

(At this point, free for all starts with ideas coming from the crowd of comm guys like recommendation that any rec angler be either catch or release only, additional tax placed on a boat that was large enough that it could make an offshore trip, stop the sale of any fish by rec anglers with a standard commercial license, close the season to rec anglers, raise the size limit for rec anglers, lower the creel for rec anglers, have volunteer university students at all major boat ramps counting all fish in fish boxes of RA's and finally don't let rec anglers fish for them.)

What are you doing to stop the recreational angler (Not only you and I, but, charter captains, head boats, six packs, etc.) from hurting our quotas?

Don't you know that they are all selling fish straight thru the back door of restaurants and cutting out the middleman? I see them carrying in the coolers all the time!
How are you even coming up with RA quotas, are you still using the MFR?
Do you think it is fair that they can run out to the FP tower in a 23' boat with a cheap fish finder, fish all day, come back and sell their catch to offset their fuel and hurt my family that I am trying to feed by using up part of the overall quota? If you cut these quotas, you are destroying my lively hood and I will loose my business, don't you care?

A: We admit that the present MRF system is flawed and random callings on the coast line for interviews aren't productive. We do need to come up with another system to obtain data. The main obstacle still seems to me manpower and resources to put a comprehensive program in place. As for quotas, Amendment 15 has a section in there that addresses the sale of fish by "standard commercial" license holders. It will make it illegal for them to sell there catch after returning from a trip.

Here is part of my comments addressing the underlining issue which is the data being used for these decisions. I ask questions like:

What changes have been made since the 80's and 90's in the basic management data collection program to increase accuracy in the information used for these assessments?

A: We are moving towards an age based system instead of a length based system for future assessment regulations which we believe to be more accurate.

As I am not qualified to tell a scientist how to crunch numbers, how is it feasible for scientists to tell fisherman what is out there when the present data collection program has no merit?
How could scientists outline a successful program for data collection when they never consulted with professionals in the field, these fisherman behind me.

I sited how the Chevron traps were used for 27 years and never produced grouper for studies.
How they admit that they ran side scan sonar and looked for "random hard bottom" to drop gear on and didn't look for any fish.
How they used commercial fishermans boats and did "deep drops" with electric reels to distinguish the mortality rate of rec anglers that was inflated 2X what it should be, etc.

A:The National Marine Fisheries is who you should be addressing. They are the ones that are responsible for sending out observers and collecting the data. Our job is to make changes to the present system within 1 year of notification once a problem has been determined under the new MS Act. We are making the best decision we can with the "best available" data that we have as required by law. blah blah, blah, blah, blah.

I make a statement along with quoting several researchers on the fact that MPA's are not management tools and should be classified as "research areas" at best.

A: 6/07 it was voted on and passed by the commission that the MPA's proposed in the South Atlantic will be imposed. They have been sent to be signed and will be law.

I go on and mention that their data never included wave heights, sea surface temps, surface currents, hurricane impacts, etc.
How the release mortality rate is assumed at 25% for RA's and how the Gulf of Mexico just had a review on their red grouper and it was dropped to 10%. How can ours be so high?

1992 - 2004 the data collected for RA's was done by the commercial fishers/gear with observation and was not an accurate RA environment. This is to include the extended deck time the fish had (2-5 minutes) for measuring and handling before release which in-turn raised the mortality rate substantially, etc.

GOM just had a review of their data in a timely manner of under 6 months and found numerous errors that were corrected.

How the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute has a headboat survey underway that shows observed release mortality rate is less than 2% for grouper caught between 20-40 meters of depth.

Fuel prices alone have driven the reduction in trip frequency and the increase had severely impacted RA's actual participation in total calculated quotas.

How the MRFSS (main bs study group for RA data collection) is usually 1-2 years behind estimating trends and with confidence can say since they are going on 2004 and older data, it probably doesn't accurately reflect real world numbers.

How as a diver, I see a perspective that most in the room don't and that is probably one of the reasons that I feel so strongly about the regulations that are being proposed are incorrect.

Just finding out about these meetings is hard enough, trying getting on the SAFMC website and finding the SEDAR 10 REPORT or Magnuson Sevens Scoping document.

You are not notifying or educating the public, hell, you use these meetings to dictate your intentions prior to doing them because by law, you have to let us voice an opinion. (I know, I now have "hell" on public record)
There isn't one person in this room that doesn't realize that the decision has already been made to change the quota, the sad part is that everyone here has the mindset that these are just "bitch" sessions and nothing more.
( I know, but "bitch" and "hell" were the only two bad words I used, 1 each, and you have to understand I was getting fired up after their bs presentation)

How as a diver I can swim down any ledge in our area for 20-30 yards and have 10-20 juv grouper following me at any given time in 50' - 150' of water.

How I would be more than happy to provide data if they would take the time to "educate" the public on what in specific would be of assistance.

How the MS Act required advertisement / notification of hearings / meeting and I as a standard commercial license holder never got an email, snail mail, phone call, etc.

How 4 captains before me along with a half dozen I know mentioned that observers were welcome on their boats and have never been taken up on the offer.

How detrimental it is of an organization to continue operating with or on, a system that have proved faulty, inadequate, understaffed, politically motivated, admittedly, in so many ways but not have the desire or intention to rectify the data problem but continue to use it as an excuse, justification or scapegoat. (in so many words)

HAD TO BUST IT INTO 2 REPLYS DUE TO EXCEEDING THE 10000 CHARACTER QUOTA


I got these comments answered with standard bs lines because I took the mic a second time at end of the meeting after everyone else recorded their opinions. I wasn't subtle how Ms Merritt kept looking at her watch and then back at me. Not easily swayed, I said my peace and will if possible be at the N. Myrtle meeting to say it all again. She did approach me after the meeting to tell me if I am at the Myrtle meeting, I need to keep it to 3 minutes or less. Afterwards, the director, Mr Waugh said " I have been in the business for 27+ years and it is sad that your country doesn't care enough about our own marine resources to do something about it or manage it correctly. If I were on your side of the table, I would be alot more irate than anyone here was tonight. Our government just isn't willing to spend the money to do it correctly." At that point I asked where the money should come from, maybe the saltwater license that has been imposed and isn't being spent on saltwater projects but being dumped into the general fund? His response " If they wanted to commit the funding they could, just look at all the funding they have already spend in Iraq and what they have committed to in the future. Our marine fisheries just isn't a priority or concern."

Enough typing, you get the point. Applying for weekend warrior funding to help provide data. On the brighter side, Chip Collier from the NCMFC approached me and said that they would welcome any new data I could provide. I told him I was meeting with Scott Baker in a week or two for an itemized outline and should be able to comply with his request. I also told him I thought video was a good idea since it couldn't be refuted. He said they tried doing video with a submersible, they couldn't get any good data since the sub's exterior shine attracted AJs and they couldn't shoot video because the fish were too thick around them every place they went down. At that point I said "good thing we have a limit of 1 aj per person since they are so scarce, huh?" (with a smart a$$ grin) He said, "yeah, that was a waste of money".

Keep you posted.

Craig

Nice report, Craig. Is the writing on the wall? Sounds like it.

The release mortality is insane and needs to be changed.

The MSA dictates some things, but provides some leeway in establishing Annual Catch limits.

Sounds like they were passing the buck whenever you hit a good point.