April 29, 2005
1. INTRODUCTION
Over the last 30 days big issues with huge impacts on marine fisheries and saltwater anglers began appearing one after the other.
· Two legislative bills, one attempting to authorize gillnets and another to strip the FWC's constitutional authority, were suddenly noticed for committee hearings;
· CCA filed lawsuits to compel the feds to stop shrimp trawl damage to red snapper;
· The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced an intent to adopt emergency rules which threaten to virtually eliminate the west coast red grouper recreational fishery;
· NMFS announced that it would issue permits for six commercial longline boats to fish in longline closure areas for "research purposes";
· The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) proposed a management agreement with the National Park Service (NPS) regarding state-owned submerged lands in the Dry Tortugas which will allow the NPS to prohibit fishing in 46 square miles.
Most of these issues are still active; in fact, most are just beginning. The important thing to recognize is the tremendous positive impact that has occurred on the issues because of the response from CCA Florida's chapters and other Grassroots Alert partners. Keep it coming! Your voices and e-mails are having a huge impact on the debate and the outcomes!
The following is a summary of the issues and their current status.
2. HB 741 - GILL NET BILL and HJR 1581 - REMOVING FWC CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY (Grassroots Update, April 29, 2005)
HB 741 by Representative Kendrick (D-Carrabelle) attempted to authorize the use of 500 square foot gill nets by allowing any mesh size to be used in the nets. HJR 1581, also by Representative Kendrick was an attempt to put a constitutional amendment on the 2006 ballot to have the independent constitutional authority of the FWC removed.
On April 11, we received word that both of these bad bills were agended to be heard in two different House committees at the same time on April 13. We immediately issued CCA Florida Grassroots Alerts and had our members contact legislators on both of the House Committees. Because of the time conflict, the hearing for HB 741 was moved to April 14.
On both bills, CCA Florida grassroots alert members responded with great opposition to the proposals. In both cases, the House Committees tabled the bills and suggested that a study be done on certain issues. Those actions effectively killed both bills.
3. CCA LEGAL ACTIONS REGARDING RED SNAPPER AND SHRIMP TRAWL BY-KILL
On March 29, CCA petitioned the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to exercise his authority under federal law to stop the overfishing of Gulf red snapper by the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fleet. The damage caused by shrimp trawls is so substantial that it makes the recovery of the red snapper fishery unlikely. Recovery goals to reduce the directed commercial and recreational take of red snapper have been achieved through size, bag and season limits; however, the trawl damage is undermining the recovery plan. Scientific assessment indicates that 80 percent of the four inch size red snapper are killed each year in trawls. The federal red snapper recovery plan mandated a 40 percent reduction in trawl by-kill through the use of bycatch reduction devices and other measures, but studies show that at most the reduction has been 10 percent.
NMFS did not take any additional action to compel the shrimpers to reduce the by-kill in accordance with the plan which is why CCA filed the legal action.
The CCA lawsuit and the actions regarding shrimp trawl by-kill in the Gulf are landmark legal issues and the outcome will have major impacts on federal fisheries management in the Southeast U.S.
4. IMPENDING FEDERAL ACTIONS ON RECREATIONAL TAKE OF GULF RED GROUPER
(Grassroots Update, April 29, 2005)
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has indicated that they plan to enact, by emergency action, major new restrictions on the recreational fishery for Gulf red grouper. The action is caused by a bizarre and unprecedented increase in the estimated recreational catch of red grouper in 2004. Management measures being discussed are 1) lowering the recreational aggregate grouper bag limit to three fish and only one can be a red grouper, and 2) prohibiting all recreational take of red and gag grouper for four months. These draconian recreational measures are being proposed at the same time NMFS is allowing commercial longline boats to take red grouper with a 10,000 pound TRIP LIMIT! More than 80 percent of the total take of red grouper is commercial.
The NMFS claims that estimated recreational landings of red grouper increased a whopping 130 percent in 2004! There are major issues regarding the accuracy of the estimates because the increase is completely unprecedented in the history of recreational red grouper landings since regulations began 14 years ago. NMFS claims to have rechecked the data and found no errors; however, nothing remotely close to such an increase has ever occurred. There have been dramatic reductions caused by new regulations but never such an increase. The estimates become even more suspect when you consider that Florida anglers and fishing activity was impacted by a record four major hurricanes in 2004.
The Gulf red and gag grouper fisheries are Florida fisheries. More than 95 percent of all the gag and red grouper taken in the Gulf of Mexico are taken off of and landed in Florida. Despite the overwhelming dominance and importance to Florida, the other Gulf States have controlled the management decisions because Florida has only 4 of the 17 seats on the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. The Gulf Council's past actions toward recreational fishermen in grouper management have been horribly inequitable. Since the Gulf red and gag grouper fisheries exist almost exclusively off of the State of Florida, CCA Florida urged the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to become actively involved in this issue to prevent the virtual elimination of the recreational grouper fisheries. At the April FWC meeting we urged the Commission to:
1. Immediately urge the NMFS to conduct public hearings in Florida before taking action to enact any substantial new regulations on recreational take of red and gag grouper in federal waters off of Florida's Gulf coast.
2. Petition the NMFS and Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council under Section (306)(a)(3)(B) to have the Council/NMFS delegate the authority to develop the management plan and regulations for Gulf red and gag grouper off of Florida to the State of Florida.
3. Request that NMFS determine and compare the adverse economic impacts of major new restrictions on the recreational fishery vs. re-allocating a portion of the commercial longline take to the recreational fishery.
The FWC agreed unanimously with recommendations #1 and #3 and sent a letter to NMFS. They also agreed with and have asked staff to bring a detailed discussion of the issues and options regarding #2 to their June Commission meeting.
The Gulf Council and NMFS will discuss red grouper recreational proposals at their May 8-12 meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi and CCA Florida will be there. It is not yet known whether NMFS will hold any hearings in Florida before taking action.
5. NMFS PROPOSAL TO ALLOW COMMERCIAL LONGLINE BOATS IN AREAS CLOSED TO LONGLINING (Grassroots Update, April 29, 2005)
The Gulf Stream off of Florida's East coast and the DeSoto Canyon area off of the Florida Panhandle have been closed to commercial swordfish longlining for several years. The longlining ban has resulted in a dramatic recovery and increased abundance of sailfish, swordfish, dolphin and wahoo in these areas. On April 4, the NMFS issued notice that it intended to give permits to longline boats to fish in the closed areas to do "research" on reducing bycatch in longline gear. CCA Florida blasted the NMFS proposal stating that the commercial longliners and the NMFS have virtually the entire Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico to conduct the so called bycatch research - they absolutely do not need to longline in the closed areas! Putting six commercial longline boats into these protected areas under the guise of "research" to reduce longline by-kill is unwarranted, unnecessary, and bad public policy.
The NMFS notice provided the general public only seven days to comment on their proposal.
CCA Florida's Grassroots Alert and other media coverage generated a huge public outcry against the proposal. In addition, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted unanimously to oppose the NMFS permits. In response to the public opposition, NMFS has indicated that it is taking more time to study public comments and evaluate the permits.
6. DRY TORTUGAS NATIONAL PARK - MORE NO-FISHING ZONES (Grassroots Update, April 29, 2005)
In 2000, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and the NMFS enacted more than 200 square miles of marine protected area (MPA) - No Fishing Zones around the Dry Tortugas National Park. The federal agencies rejected efforts by CCA and others to allow even catch and release fishing for tarpon in the closed area. It was known at the time that the Dry Tortugas National Park also wanted to prohibit all fishing in another 46 square miles, half of the entire park. However, a dispute over the ownership of the submerged lands within the park, between the U.S. Department of Interior and the State of Florida, has prevented implementation of the no-fishing zone.
Just four days ago, we were notified that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was presenting a proposed Management Agreement between the State and Interior to the Governor and Cabinet. The Agreement would state that the two parties agree to disagree on the ownership but that the State gives the feds the authority to enact regulations. CCA Florida opposed the Agreement as written and urged that the Agreement specifically allow the State of Florida to retain approval authority with the feds over any fishing regulations that may be adopted within the Park. We also urged the DEP and the Governor and Cabinet's staff to obtain specific comments and recommendations from the FWC. The item was withdrawn from next week's Cabinet agenda and will be discussed further with the FWC.
