EVALUATION OF THE EFFICACY OF THE CURRENT MINIMUM SIZE REGULATION FOR SELECTED REEF FISH BASED ON RELEASE MORTALITY AND FISH PHYSIOLOGY

It is, as all these things are, a long and trying read.  There is a lot of information, summed up in very scientific terminology.  There are a few interesting conclusions that may be drawn from it, though.  The most intersesting seems to be the fact that this study makes it obvious that often the NMFS acts without considering or using what can easily be termed the “best available science” when they pass so many of their regulations.  The figures from this study show that the survival rate for released snapper is HIGHER with J-hooks than it is with circle hooks.  Did this stop the NMFS from passing a new rule making mandating circle hooks?  No, of course it didn’t.

The full report is here.

NMFS announces the availability of two new documents on the Atlantic HMS Management Division’s webpage.  Hard copies available upon request. Please contact Craig Cockrell at (301) 713-2347.

Apparently the “final rule” regarding shark fishing was no such thing.  It has been adjusted and corrected.

It doesn’t give back much, if anything, of value but it sure does provide an opportunity for a lot of wading, slogging, reading and boggling.  All 57 pages (at three columns per page) of it.

It is here: Corrected Final Rule (pdf)

As far as I can tell, the relevant parts of it, to any S.O.F.A. members who happen to hold directed shark permits anyway, are simply this:

Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t already seen the page, please check out our page for our new “Take The Pledge” program.   We would like to sign on as many restaurants as we can that serve fresh locally produced seafood so if you know of any in your area, either talk to them yourselves or bring them to our attention, please, so we can sign them up.

We’ll provide them with artwork for menus or advertising, window stickers, some promotion and a banner ad on our site in return for their pledge to only serve fresh wild caught grouper or snapper when their menu says “grouper” or “snapper”.

We’d appreciate all the help we can get to sign up as many restaurants as possible.  Surely there are a few out there that still serve what they advertise and charge for?

We’d like to print up some bumper stickers like the example below as well, (you should be able to click that image to see a much bigger one) but budget is always a consideration.  We’ll see how that goes.  Maybe a nice person with a print shop will step up to the plate.

NMFS announces the availability of an issues and options presentation and scoping meetings for management of Atlantic shark fisheries,

NMFS announcement.

Blacknose sharks?  They gotta be kidding.  How much tax money per year do you think the person who spent time putting the following PowerPoint presentation together draws?  No wonder Bush has asked Congress to up the NMFS budget by almost 30%.  What a joke.

The, (drumroll please) Presention.

Murkowski bill could help fuel-socked fishermen

ALASKA NEWSPAPERS STAFF
editor@alaskanewspapers.com

June 26, 2008 at 9:06AM AKST

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Thursday introduced legislation that would provide commercial fishermen a temporary income tax credit to help them offset the high cost of fuel.

“The Fisheries Fuel Tax Relief Act of 2008, which I introduced today along with Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, as an original co-sponsor, would go a long way toward helping our fishermen out in these dire economic times,” Murkowski said.

read full article online here.

All owners and all operators of vessels in bottom or pelagic longline fisheries with an HMS permit must attend those Safe Handling seminars if you want to keep renewing your permits.  NOTE:  This includes directed and indirect permits.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because you don’t target shark, for instance, and only have a permit to bring in one once in a while as incidental catch, that this doesn’t apply to you.  You will lose that Limited Access Shark Indirect Permit or that Limited Access Swordfish Indirect Permit if you do not get the certificate that says you attended one of these workshops.

Make sure you take note of the schedule and attend one close to you when it comes around. If you miss the one nearby you will really resent having to make an out of town trip with the added expense of fuel and hotel rooms added to the time you will spend listening to an infomercial and learning how to do something you either already know how to do or may well never be called upon to do.

Shark ID workshops (required for dealers)

Safe Handling and Release Workshops (required for owners and operators)

Federal Register entry.

Despite mounting opinion and evidence that they really do no good, NOAA is proceeding with plans for more “Protected Marine Areas”, this time around eight at a whack in the Southeast Atlantic.

FB08-036

“The primary purpose of implementing these MPAs is to
protect a portion of the population and habitat of long-lived,
deep-water snapper grouper species (speckled hind, snowy
grouper, warsaw grouper, yellowedge grouper, misty
grouper, golden tilefish, and blueline tilefish) from directed
fishing pressure to achieve a more natural sex ratio, age, and
size structure, while minimizing adverse social and economic
effects.”

Can somone explain to us how shutting down more and more productive areas of the bottom helps to “minimize adverse social and economic effects”?

Anyone else feeling a twinge of concern over sending the NMF your position 24/7 while you are out fishing? We wonder how they will determine what the next areas that need closing in order to protect our target species will be.

“The use of shark bottom longline gear would also be
prohibited within the MPAs.”

When NOAA and NMFS set up an MPA in the northern Gulf of Mexico a while back, they apparently forgot about this detail and it was, since the “intent” of that particular MPA was to protect the population and habitat of gag grouper, left open to fishing for HMS. The guys on the research boat that regularly plies the waters of that MPA had a fit and tried to convince any shark boat that ventured close to their private preserve to get out right away.

Seems that, despite the fact that shark gear is STILL not going to catch the majority of the species being “protected” in these MPAs, the scientists have once again gotten their way. Despite the fact that they are very much imposing economic hardship on fishermen, the power of our government to prevent us from making a living will continue to grow and expand like a tumor.

More blather from our favorite bureaucrats…

NMFS Adjusts Highly Migratory Species International Trade Permitting and Reporting

Federal Register Notice June 4, 2008

Now Playing: Sonny & Cher – The Beat Goes On

FB08-035 has been released and concerns “Bycatch Reduction Devices” being used in the shrimp industry.  Perhaps nobody at NMFS has noticed that shrimpers, for the most part, can’t afford the fuel to leave the dock in order to drag a net around and catch any bycatch.

Regardless, they apparently aren’t done making them re-build their gear.  Not just yet, anyway.

FB08-035

Recently we received email from NOAA alerting us to their intent to step up their “current HMS permitting and reporting regime to include small Caribbean commercial vessels and better collect their catch and effort data”.

This bears watching, particularly if you are one of the number of boat owners and operators who routinely travel south on fishing trips.

5- 27-08 Caribbean Amendment Notice of Intent.pdf

5-27-08 Caribbean Amendment Notice of Intent 73 FR 30381.pdf

The scientist that S.O.F.A. and the F.R.A. have hired to help us with our fight against unfair over-regulation by examining the science being used to justify the closures and regulations that are flying out of the N.M.F.S. offices at an unprecedented rate has delivered an extremely interesting report regarding the methodology used to estimate the Gag grouper population in the Gulf of Mexico.

Seems the information they use is suspect and the reliability of their conclusions is less than optimal.

Read the report from Trevor J. Kenchington here:

The Natural Mortality Rate of Gag Grouper:
A Review of Estimators for Data-Limited Fisheries