February 19, 2013 — The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and their EDF Action Fund are the ones responsible for this new all-out allocation war in Florida, and once again their grassroots activists are working to divide and conquer our fishing community in the name of preservation and privatization.
Mr. Sackton’s recent analysis of the red snapper allocation fight that appeared in the recent Seafood.com News and SavingSeaFood.com website is woefully inaccurate. First and foremost, Mr. Sackton pits two specifically named organizations – the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) and Gulf of Mexico Reef Shareholders Alliance – as being at opposite ends of the allocation battle for Gulf of Mexico red snapper. Now, they may very well be the combatants in this ongoing battle to take over full control of red snapper ownership in the Gulf, but to paint this as a divided fight between recreational and commercial interests is more of environment non-government organization (ENGO) divide and conquer rhetoric.
Fishermen in New England are aware of Mr. Sackton’s longtime advocate of catch shares, “working in step with — and briefly under a research contract with — the Environmental Defense Fund, which always advocated that system. As a full-time charter captain on the Gulf of Mexico, I can tell you a little something you probably don’t know – Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and their EDF Action Fund are the ones responsible for this new all-out allocation war in Florida, and once again their grassroots activists are working to divide and conquer our fishing community in the name of preservation and privatization.
In the past 3 years alone EDF has invested more than $750,000 in establishing their own fishing organizations, including the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance, Gulf Fishermen’s Association and South Atlantic Fishermen’s Association. Mr. Sackton erroneously claimed that “the commercial harvesters are represented by the Gulf of Mexico Reef Shareholders Alliance.” In actuality, these shell groups have only been an effort to fool the public (and those who serve the public) into thinking that their way of managing fisheries is in the public interests.
The Gulf of Mexico Shareholders alliance (EDF Sponsored) — According to IRS tax records, spent $48,000 in the 2011 to help create a group called the Charter Fishermen’s Association. It is sad that the EDF would fund a group based on ownership of commercial fish shares, which in turn would create its own recreational fishing organization; this has sent up red flags throughout the state of Florida with commercial fishermen, recreational anglers and legislators alike taking notice.
It should be noted that an overwhelming majority of the commercial IFQ holders backed a plan for inter-sector trading, also known as leasing red snapper quota to charter boats for recreational fishing. The obvious question of course, if the commercial sector needs so much more red snapper quota “just to provide enough for our local restaurants,” as Mr. Sackton mentions in his article, why on earth would they be interested in leasing out shares of fish? The commercial sector surely would not be interested in leasing quota to the for-hire fishermen in the Gulf if that red snapper was in higher, pricier demand on the open market!
Mr. Sackton says the deck is stacked on the Gulf Council; he’s right, but not in the way he says. In actuality, the entire process from NOAA Fisheries down through the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council and all the associated panels and committees is stacked with EDF and Pew Environment Group plants and appointees, folks who would rather see the recreational and commercial sector fighting than uniting. You’ll often see the same person sitting on several panels and committees, yet the truly independent fishermen are continually denied access to the appointment process.
Mismanagement of our Gulf of Mexico fisheries is a disgrace, as our regional administrator and his group continue to claim that our red snapper fishery is just 25% rebuilt, a far cry from the “NOAA success story” which he claims in his editorial.
In the winter of 2010 and 2012, a core group of recreational and commercial fishing organizations held public rallies in Washington DC in a call to Congress for open access, sustainable fisheries for both sectors. A badly worded federal fisheries law (Magnuson-Stevens Act) coupled with antiquated data and an often hostile federal bureaucracy has led to serious resource issues in our coastal fisheries, particularly with open access – it has empowered much of the fishing community in Congress where members of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are finding a common message from an uncommon ally.
Rally organizers united under the Keep Fishermen Fishing banner joined together from both the commercial and recreational sector and included RFA, the Southeastern Fisheries Association, National Association of Charterboat Operators, Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Association, Garden State Seafood Association, United Boatmen, Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, Panama City Boatmen, Viking Village Dock, Fishermen’s Dock, Hull’s Seafood Markets, Lund's Fisheries, Westport Charterboat Association, Southern Off Shore Fishing Association, Garibaldi Charters, Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen's Association, New York Fishing Tackle Trades Association, Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund, New York Sportfishing Federation, Monkfish Defense Fund, Atlantic Capes Seafood, Raffields Fisheries, Southern Kingfish Association, Big Game Fishing Journal, North Carolina Watermen United, and Viking Yachts. Notice you didn’t see EDF, CCA or Mr. Sackton on this list?
As a professional charter boat captain, I would tell Mr. Sackton that there are very few charter boat captains who are members of the CCA, especially those who target red snapper. That organization certainly doesn’t represent our interests. As chairman of the RFA’s Forgotten Coast Chapter here along the Florida Panhandle, I would also recommend to Mr. Sackton that he keep his fishing articles focused on the Northeast where he lives, and where he may have a stronger possibility of knowing and sticking with the facts.
Capt Thomas E Adams is the owner of Mexico Beach Charters and is chairman of the "Forgotten Coast" chapter of the Recreational Fishing Alliance