Gulf Council Member Weighs In With Another Idea To Put Commercial Fishermen Out Of Business
Where is the accountability for these guys?
We’ve long suspected that Roy Crabtree’s agenda was simply to shut down as many commercial fisheries as possible, whatever his personal reasons may be (we have our own thoughts on this but will refrain from speculation.). Now, the Vice Chairman of the Gulf Council, Bob Shipp, has put forth an idea that goes against the intent of the Magnuson Stevens Act while toeing the line with the CCA. You know, that act that NMFS is so fond of pulling a couple of clauses out of context and regulating us out of business with? And the CCA, the group that wants all grouper allocation given to the recreational sector?
The clauses I refer to are these:
(Section 301)
(1) Conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while achieving,
on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery for the United States fishing
industry.
(2) Conservation and management measures shall be based upon the best scientific
information available.
“Optimum yield for the U.S. fishing industry”? “best scientific information available”?
(8) Conservation and management measures shall, consistent with the conservation
requirements of this Act (including the prevention of overfishing and rebuilding of
overfished stocks), take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing
communities by utilizing economic and social data that meet the requirements of paragraph
(2), in order to (A) provide for the sustained participation of such communities, and (B) to
the extent practicable, minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities.
minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities ?
Hard to think that Mr.Shipp has any of this in mind when he gets up at a meeting of Alabama’s Conservation Advisory Board and agrees with statements by Edwin Lambert of the Coastal Conservation Association of Alabama who requested the designation of Florida pompano and Spanish mackerel as game fish species, which would prevent commercial harvest. How is preventing commercial harvest working toward “optimum yield” for that fishery?:
“Florida pompano is a species that has the potential to be a tremendous asset to our coastal tourism industry,” Shipp said. “It is one of the few truly exciting and desirable finfish that can be caught directly from shore while surf fishing. Yet, due to overharvest by net fishermen, first purse seiners and currently Alabama net fishermen, their abundance has declined dramatically.
“Although the gill net ban in Florida has resulted in a resurgence of the species along the Florida west coast, which appears to have spilled over the Alabama shoreline, a much greater improvement in these stocks could result if we banned gill netting of this species and declare it a game fish.”
Shipp said results from the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo indicate a significant decline in recreational catches of Spanish mackerel.
“As for Spanish mackerel, we have a similar but more recent situation,” he said. “For much of the last century, Spanish have been abundant and well-managed along the Gulf Coast. However, for the past several years, the commercial harvest has increased from several hundred-thousand pounds to nearly a million pounds.”
Best available science?
He has no science. In the matter of the pompano, he is simply working with the CCA to close down another fishery. In the matter of the mackerel, he has the opinion of the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, a 3 day event in a localized area that complains of a drop in the catch of a migratory species that were likely spawining off Texas by the July tournament. Incidentally, also in the matter of mackerel, Mr. Shipp has long maintained, despite all other evidence and general scientific belief, that somehow the group of spanish mackerel that reach the Gulf Coast waters of Alabama stop there instead of continuing their migration westward until they have been caught*.
Once again, the fact that the commercial fishery is being more successful, is catching MORE fish, is seen simply as a sign of overfishing, not as a sign of increased abundance of the target species. If commercial fishermen can catch a lot and a few recreational guys have a bad weekend during a tournament it is time to shut down the fishery?
That’s one hell of a way to apply the “best available science” Mr. Shipp.
It is the opinion of this writer that Mr. Shipp has once again demonstrated his complete unsuitability to sit on the Gulf Council, let alone serve as its Vice Chairman. His interests obviously lie with the tourist industry and the recreational fishery**, he shouldn’t be charged with sensibly managing a commercial fishery. He should be immediately asked to step down to allow him to be free to legally pursue his support of the CCA and their anti-commercial fishing agenda without exhibiting such a blatant conflict of interest.
*http://www.gulffishing.net/Gill%20Net%20Article-%20Ben%20Raines.pdf (Page 3)
“”The fish come in the spring and are around until they have all been caught.”
**Mr. Shipp has a long history of working against all commercial fishing interests.
http://www.gcomag.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=54290
Said Bob Shipp, head of the marine sciences department at the University of South Alabama and author of “Dr. Bob Shipp’s Guide to Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico.”
“I think it is time to eliminate gill nets like our neighbors have done. It’s not just Spanish. It’s mullet. It’s pompano. There are a lot of fish that get caught in a gill net, and those are the fish whose numbers are way down.”
http://www.seaaroundus.org/OtherWebsites/2006/Al_COMOct2006.pdf
“Dr. Pauly has become an outspoken, and at times controversial, critic of modern fishing practices,” said
Bob Shipp, head of the marine sciences department at USA. “He has suggested that marine fishers will
leave little but jellyfish for future generations to eat….there is no one more important we could have come to speak here,” Shipp said…”I look at my library, and I’ve got all these yellowed folders with ‘Pauly’ written on them.”
http://www.gulffishing.net/Gill%20Net%20Article-%20Ben%20Raines.pdf
“Shipp was paid $15,000 to serve as a consultant to the Coastal Conservation Association, the group that seeks to ban Alabama’s gill nets.”
http://www.orangebeachbillfishclassic.com/about.asp
“Additionally, CCA Alabama has Dr. Bob Shipp, head of the marine sciences department at the University of South Alabama and a renowned Gulf of Mexico marine scientist, on our staff as a consultant.”
No conflict of interest there?
(The preceding post was made by a commercial fisherman and boat owner and represents his opinion, not necessarily that of S.O.F.A. or anyone else.)
