I just received the following via email from Gulf Council:

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has scheduled a workshop on sector separation for November 8 – 10, 2010, in Tampa, Florida.

The workshop will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 5303 West Kennedy Boulevard, and will serve as an educational platform to exchange information and discuss issues relative to sector separation and allocation, such as legal considerations for making allocation decisions; constituent perceptions; and potential benefits and challenges of sector separation.

For more information click the link below.

http://www.gulfcouncil.org/news_resources/Press%20Releases/draftsectorsepflier.pdf

Here's what it DOESN'T say:

There are two sectors in fisheries management defined as commercial (sales of fish) and recreational (no fish sales).

Sector separation is a concept being advanced by these guys: http://www.saveoursector.com/ who hold licences to fish both commercially and recreationally.

They with help from Environmental Defence Fund http://www.edf.org/pressrelease.cfm?contentID=5696 are trying to create a third hybrid sector called "Charter For Hire".

So they want to "separate" out charter boat operators from recreational sector and take a portion of the recreational sector allocation with them.

Either you sell fish or you don't. EVERY recreational guy who fishes in the entire Gulf of Mexico stands to lose from this deal.

It also fails to mention that a representative from the EDF (Environmental Defense Fund) is running the meeting. How does that sit with you? From what I've heard the Gulf charter operators that are backing this separation plan, feel that based on historical landings that the Charter fleet would get 60% of the Gulf total allowable red snapper catch now assigned to both the charter and private recreational anglers....leaving 40% for private boat owning Gulf anglers.

Go figure how many fishing days (season) recreational anglers will get if this comes to be.

I'm sure Denny will be adding more information to this when he can.

Agenda

Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
Sector Separation Workshop Agenda

Crowne Plaza Hotel
5303 West Kennedy Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33609
November 8-10, 2010

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is pleased to be hosting a workshop on sector separation in cooperation with the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum on November 8-10, 2010 in Tampa, Florida. The purpose of this workshop is to exchange information and get a better understanding of potential benefits and challenges of sector separation in recreational fisheries managed by GMFMC.

Monday, November 8

Noon – 1:00 p.m. Registration

1:00 – 1:45 p.m. Welcome and Introductions
• Welcome – Steve Bortone (Executive Director of the GFMC and/or Bob Shipp & Bob Gill (GFMC Chair and Vice-Chair) – Fisheries Leadership and Sustainability Forum

1:45 – 2:45 p.m. Plenary Session #1: Natural Resources Allocation Presentation
• A presentation on how different natural resources are allocated


2:45 – 3:00 p.m. BREAK

3:00 – 4:30 p.m. Breakout Session #1: Exploring Perspectives on Sector Separation
• A facilitated discussion that articulates the different perspectives on sector separation

4:30 – 5:00 p.m. Report Out from Breakout Session #1

5 :00 - 5:30 p.m. Open Comment/Questions (Participants & Public)

6:00 - 7:30 p.m. Reception (TBD)


Tuesday, November 9

7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Breakfast Snacks

8:30 - 10:30 a.m. Panel Session #1: Managing Sectors Separately: Lessons from the Field
Different case studies on (1) inter-jurisdictional allocation (i.e., U.S. and Canada); and (2) private angler and for-hire & charter sector allocation


10:30 – 10:45 a.m. BREAK

10:45 – 12:00 p.m. Plenary Session #2: Legal Framework for Making Allocation Decisions under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act


12:00 – 1:00 p.m. LUNCH

1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Panel Session #2: Information on Allocation Methods & Decision Support Tools


2:30 - 2:45 p.m. BREAK

2:45 – 4:15 pm Breakout Session #2: Sector Separation vs. Status Quo
• A facilitated discussion on the management implications associated with sector separation and the implications of maintaining the status quo.

Wednesday, November 10

7:30 – 8:30 a.m. Breakfast snacks

8:30 – 9:30 a.m. Report out from Breakout Session #2

9:30 – 10:00 a.m. Wrap Up

10:0 – 10:15 a.m. Break

10:15 –11:15 a.m. Where Do We Go From Here

11:15 – 12:00 p.m. Comments / Feedback

Note: A list of presenters will be provided prior to the workshop. The amount of time allocated to agenda items may be adjusted as necessary.

Looks like Gandy Girl is providing timely info....NOT! Amazing how guys using spare time during the day stay abreast of the latest and greatest.

Since the recreational guys like us can't take that much time out to attend the conference, the others will push their agendas.

I was told last week by a Council staffer that the 'workshop' was not having presentations by any group. Yet I find out that Environmental Defense Fund's own Washington DC based catch share specialist is running the entire 'workshop'. Fisheries Leadership and Sustainability Forum
Who is Whitney? From the Environmental Defense Fund website:

About Us » Staff Experts » Whitney Tome
Areas of Expertise
• Catch Shares
Whitney Tome
Special Projects Manager
Oceans Program
Washington, DC Office
Work
Whitney serves on the national policy team for the EDF Oceans program working to promote the consideration of catch shares fishery management throughout U.S. commercial fisheries.
Whitney started with EDF in December 2007 by developing and launching the inaugural workshop for the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum at Stanford University, which included the development of curriculum and gathering of key experts. Whitney continues to manage the series of fisheries forums with Stanford and Duke Universities.
Background
Prior to joining EDF, Whitney won the 2nd International Chamber of Commerce International Commercial Mediation Competition in Paris, France and was the second place finish at the American Bar Association's Representation in Mediation Competition while attending law school.
Whitney also spent a summer interning with Oceana, was a professional ballerina with the American Repertory Ballet Company, and served as a middle school teacher at Princeton Day School.
Whitney holds the following:
• B.A. in Political Science, Middlebury College
• Juris Doctorate, American University, Washington College of Law


Sounds like a balanced meeting, eh?


The FRA will be sending out a call to action today with suggestions for what you can do to stop the outright theft of your fishery.
Plan on some time November 8th, 9th or 10th to stop by in Tampa and meet those who conspire to steal your fishing rights in person.

Now is the time to stand up and have your voice heard.
Contact us if you want to play a part in defending your rights.
These people want to take OWNERSHIP OF OUR (recreational anglers) FISH.
You will be renting back the right to catch YOUR FISH.

Watch for the FRA CALL TO ACTION for more information.

This is a NATIONAL ISSUE that will affect EVERY SALTWATER AND GREAT LAKES REC`REATIONAL ANGLER.

There was mention of a seperation (rec/charter) at the scopeing meeting earlier this year. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will charter and head boats then be required to have gps tracking and file float plans? Will they be able at that point to buy or lease IFQ shares? Where's the line between rec and commercial?

__________________
Chris Grauer- "To protect, promote, and grow the sport of spearfishing" www.spearfishingplanet.com

So is Gandy Girl doing an end around on us? Certainly she would have knowledge about this, if she was truly interested in keeping us informed why not divulge this as well?

__________________

Deathstick Spearguns
If you didn't want cheese grits, why did you order the fried mullet?

"So they want to "separate" out charter boat operators from recreational sector and take a portion of the recreational sector allocation with them.

Either you sell fish or you don't. EVERY recreational guy who fishes in the entire Gulf of Mexico stands to lose from this deal."

Seems to me, that they have it wrong, either you make money by fishing, or you don't. The charter folks are all commercial fisherman, they fish for money. Just because they take recreationals out, doesn't make it any less commercial an enterprise.

That, by the way, is only my opinion if the charter folks split out.

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately" Benjamin Franklin

Want to see the list of charter operators who support the idea of stealing YOUR fish?
click here: http://thefra.org/stealingfish.htm

Why would anyone support these charter operations?

Nice to see Jim Zurbrick on there.....

__________________
SPUC
1988 Mako 20 with Yamaha 200 HPDI

Counting the minutes until meltdown!

Other than shilling for the thieves, I am not sure why he is on there. I understand that he is not running charters anymore.

If there are any captains on this list that dispute their support of the plan, they need to get the SOS website to take their names off.

Quit being an a s s h o l e Hermes. We are all about tired of your shit. Jim doesn't run charters anymore but yes he supports it. Everyone is entitled to an opinion so STFU. By the way, I will not be able to respond to any of your bullshit because I will be offshore tomorrow killing YOUR fish.

There are no charter permits on the Jolly Rogers 2. It is solely a commercial vessel.

__________________
This post has been rated R for graphic fish violence, strong language, crude humor, and pervasive gunnel hunching.

If this passes what does it mean?

Will the only way I can legally catch fish be to hire a charter captain?

Will the charter vessels be allowed capt and crew harvest?

Will the charter vessel be allowed to sell the catch from their boats?



Chris

__________________
Chris Grauer- "To protect, promote, and grow the sport of spearfishing" www.spearfishingplanet.com

Let me get this right, someone is in support of a group of people stealing our fish and Spearchucker is the a s s h o l e Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black to me!

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Deathstick Spearguns
If you didn't want cheese grits, why did you order the fried mullet?

The whole SOS thing is a scam. Listing the JRII as a charter boat is just one of the irregularities of 'the list'. Thieves seldom have a conscience.

Denny is this a case of the council leaning towards doing this or is it just another wish like having the fish traps deal added back?

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Deathstick Spearguns
If you didn't want cheese grits, why did you order the fried mullet?

The Council is not just leaning towards this, they are running full speed ahead, damn the public's concerns.

It is coming down from NOAA director Jane Lubchenco and her anti-fishing cronies at the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ brought you Islands in the Stream, among other insults).

It will take congress to stop this. No funding, no catch shares.

Why did we not put $52 million dollars towards fixing recreational data collection instead of catch shares?
Because the big institutional investors (Walmart is in on it) would not make anymoney.

You are exactly right Scott, everyone is entitled to an opinion, and my opinion is that Zurbrick supporting that is a bunch of shit, but that is his choice. I am also against fish traps and longlining ENTIRELY. I also openly questions whether commercial fishing is going to be a sustainable enterprise.

I guess you were hoping that only your opinion would count?

__________________
SPUC
1988 Mako 20 with Yamaha 200 HPDI

Counting the minutes until meltdown!

__________________

Deathstick Spearguns
If you didn't want cheese grits, why did you order the fried mullet?