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Current Issues of Importance to Fishermen |  |
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Summer Flounder Crisis: The problem in a sample letter you can send to Governor Corzine,
This letter needs to go to Senator
Menendez, Senator Lautenberg,Congressman Pallone and
http://www.state.nj.us/governor/
Wednesday, August 2 Sample letters outlining the problem:
We humbly ask for your intervention to avert a tragedy with serious near and long term effects on New Jersey’s annual fisheries business and related employment.
During the last week, we learned that The National Fisheries Service (NMFS) seems dead set on all but eliminating our fluke fishery; starting in 2007 and continuing for several years. New Jersey, as you will see explained below, faces the potential annual loss of about $800 million in the fluke-related business.
Fluke are the target fish for about 40% of all recreational fishing trips in New Jersey.
The 2006 Fluke Total allowable Landings (TAL) is 23.6 million lbs. In the light of some recent statistics, including a 1 year dip in “recruitment”, MAFMA staff recently recommended a 19.9 million lb. TAL for 2007. While no states supported any major, further reduction, NMFS argued against MAFMA’s proposal and explicitly recommended a 2007 TAL of 5.2 million pounds. Of this total, the commercial sector gets 60 percent and the recreational 40 percent. Such a TAL reduction would leave us with only 22% of the 2006 TAL.
If this TAL level is imposed; much of New Jersey’s fishing industry will be decimated – permanently.
New Jersey’s 2007 recreation fluke catch would be limited to 960,000 pounds. Given the accepted average fluke weight of 2.1 lbs., New Jersey’s recreational fishermen would be allowed to harvest 455,600 fish in 2007. That total, when divided by the estimated 800,000 fluke anglers in New Jersey, would produce 0.57 fluke or about half a fluke per fisherman for the entire season.
Very few fishermen will bother to spend the gas and time for such wimpy results let alone keep their boats or buy bait or fishing gear.
NMFS has proposed the imposition of a TAL so tiny that New Jersey Fluke-related business can be expected to collapse to 40%or less of its current size; a reduction from about $1.3 billion/year down to $500 Million; a loss in state business of at least $800 Million. This is a simple proportional prediction and does not consider a possible further collapse due to loss of “critical mass” in this industry.
It gets worse. Unfortunately, this TAL hiatus would last 3-4 years. At the end of 1 to 2 years most of the impacted businesses can be expected to close their doors and never open again.
NMFS apparently feels the current Magnuson Act requires them to build up every species to its historic high, a concept that's certainly impractical if not impossible. Unfortunately, the adopted values for historical highs are as accurate as the rest of their statistics.
It's hard for us to believe that a fishery that is providing so many shorts could possibly be in trouble (many shorts predict many more adult fish in the future). The fact is that we and many other many knowledgeable fisheries management people know that the stock is quite healthy and growing steadily-- but maybe not fast enough to be on pace to achieve an arbitrary stock target specified in the management plan for 2010.
To make matters more ridiculous, there probably is not a biologist or fisherman who really believes that the fluke stocks can be increased from 112 million pounds this summer to the goal of 204 million pounds in 2010, but that is being seen as the law.
There are a lot of fluke out there right now. The stock biomass has doubled since 1993 and the stock's spawning biomass has tripled. Overfishing is not occurring, and the stocks are not overfished.
There's no legitimate scientific reason for the NMFS actions since the target (historic level) is no more than a guess as to what the fluke stock was at its peak. National Research Council has recently added their respected name and reputation to the list of those who remind us that many of the statistics used by NMFS are inadequate for management and policy decisions. Using “best available data” to support the effective closure of a fishery and the related industry is not acceptable.
Fisheries science is little more than an educated guess, as was proven last summer when a stock assessment declared weakfish had practically disappeared just weeks before the best weakfish run in a decade poured into Raritan Bay. Yet, NMFS and environmental organizations treat the official statistics as gospel.
It looks like NMFS fears future law suits will be imposed by environmental organizations if NMFS doesn't insist on quotas that will assure meeting the 2010 target, even though the “historic high” may be way off and one result of doing so may be bankruptcies, denial of a traditional public recreation and permanent closure of several hundred million dollars of annual sales in New Jersey.
Unfortunately, the new, pending Magnuson Act will not affect such restrictions, if at all, until well into 2008; long after many NJ fishing-related business’ doors will be closed for good.
Please adopt a policy and related actions that will direct New Jersey Fisheries Management Resources as well as the strength of your own office to fend off this serious threat from NMFS. We envision your office and the supporting elements of The New Jersey State Government as our primary hope for thwarting this serious cut at our fishery and the related industry. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Senator Frank Lautenberg July 29, 2006 1 Gateway Center 23rd Floor Newark, NJ 07102
Dear Senator Lautenberg,
The purpose of the new Magnuson-Stevens Act is to protect our nation’s fisheries, but there is one provision in it that can seriously disrupt the fishing industry in New Jersey. The provision in question mandates that the fluke (summer flounder) stocks be increased from its present 112 million pounds to 204 million pounds by 2010. To meet this possible target, severe reductions in the amount of fluke that can be caught from both the commercial and recreational anglers must be realized. Accordingly, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recommends that the amount of fluke caught by both commercial and recreational anglers be reduced from its current 23.6 million pounds in 2006 to 5.2 million pounds in 2007. This means that recreational anglers in New Jersey who can keep up to 8 fluke at 161/2 inches today will most likely be able to keep only one or two fluke at 18 inches or more next year. There is a possibility that even these draconian measures will not suffice and the entire fluke industry may be closed in 2008 and 2009 to meet the 204 million pound target that has no scientific basis and is only an arbitrary number promoted by members of the NMFS. Incredibly, NMFS wants the fluke stocks to match 1930’s levels which are difficult if not impossible to ascertain. Additionally, we have so much of our wetlands and fish habitat destroyed through development that it may be impossible for us to reach the 204 million pound target. In fact, current fluke stocks are increasing because of the regulations currently in place and through environmentally concerned anglers who follow these regulations.
If the new stock quota for fluke and its 2010 target date are enacted as part of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, it will basically shut down the charter and party boat industry, tackle shops and all of the related industries that support anglers who fish for fluke, about 40% of all saltwater fishing trips. Very few anglers will want to go out to catch only one or two fish and at sizes that are very difficult to catch. Loss of tax revenue, closed businesses; both recreational and commercial will be the result. It is estimated that recreational anglers generate 1.3 billion dollars for New Jersey’s economy. The revenues generated by the fluke industry equate to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Reauthorization of the new Magnuson-Stevens Act was postponed by Representatives Saxton and Gilcrest when this provision came to light, and the Magnuson-Stevens Act is due for congressional action during September. What I and my club members want for you to do is to focus on this provision and eliminate the 204 million stock assessment that must be achieved by 2010 or at least provide some flexibility in increasing stock levels. We need the support of you and your congressional colleagues to stop this mistake from becoming a law that has no support among New Jersey’s saltwater anglers.
Sincerely,
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