September 12, 2014 — We can now ALL see that NOAA / NMFS has artificially set seasons going against their own data. It seems that our fisheries managers in the Gulf are doing this to force their own agenda, (EDF backed) pushing Sector Separation and Recreational Catch shares-IFQ’s on the recreational fishermen.
The following opinion piece was submitted to Saving Seafood by Captain Tom Adams of Nexico Beach Charters:
I have been seeing this graph popping up all over the internet ,and well it should be discussed. This graph composed purely of data provided by the NMFS clearly shows the red snapper populations growing at an incredible pace when our seasons were 180 days or longer, and we were fishing at a 4 fish bag limit.
I have included an explanation of the graph by Rep. Steve Southerland aide Melissa Thompson, which she provided after introducing the graph at the last Gulf Council meeting in Biloxi. Needless to say, there were some eyes wide open as she introduced the graph(on screen) showing that the NMFS and the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council have been pushing artificially short Red Snapper fishing seasons on us the last 7 years or so. This coupled with a reduced daily catch has decimated the Charter for Hire fleet along the Gulf.
We can now ALL see that NOAA / NMFS has artificially set seasons going against their own data. It seems that our fisheries managers in the Gulf are doing this to force their own agenda, (EDF backed) pushing Sector Separation and Recreational Catch shares-IFQ’s on the recreational fishermen and also to try to separate the Rec fishermen into 2 smaller groups; the Charter for hire(which only take rec fishermen out that don’t go on their own boats) and the rec fishermen with their own boats.
This EDF propaganda is being forced on the CFH sector because of these artificially short Red Snapper seasons. The EDF in its efforts to privatize our public resource even has a hundred or more federal permit holders joining up with them , just to stay in business. This small percentage of captains are being backed by hundreds of thousands of dollars of EDF money, possibly millions. Otherwise this privatization scheme would not have ever gained ANY traction whatsoever.
Please look at the Steve Southerland Red Snapper Graph, and the explanation. You will clearly see we are needlessly being pushed into these schemes by the EDF and/ or some of their alias’s CFA, Share the Gulf, Gulf shareholders Alliance , Gulfwild and the list of Alias’s that EDF uses for their front groups goes on…..
Also to take note of in the other graph, are the findings from Alabama, showing that the NMFS is overestimating fishing pressure by 3 to 4 times, also leading to these shorter seasons.
Of note when reading the graph
– it is NOAA Science Center Stock data combined with SERO harvest info
– top of blue shows growth of stock from 2000-2014
– on bottom, harvest levels of same years were overlaid in red.
– of note:
– from 2000-2006 with 6 month season and 4 fish bag limit, stock grew from 15ml fish to 23ml fish
– during the same time period, very little overfishing of quota occurred
– from 2007-2014 stock grew from 23ml fish to 30ml fish
– During the same time period the size of the fish doubled(almost tripled from 3.2 to 8lbs
– of note: overfishing of rec quota increases with lower bag limits and shorter seasons
Below is the explanation of the graph provided by Rep. Steve Southerland's office:
Greetings to all,
I know there are many questions in the aftermath of my very brief presentation of the information I requested from Drs. Ponwith and Crabtree. I hope this email will clarify questions you have and open the door for any further inquiry into the subject.
Rep. Southerland was interested in the idea of a five year pilot program that would establish a six month rs season and a two fish bag limit for the Gulf of Mexico that would be managed by fishing mortality rather than by strict quotas issued in pounds of fish. We were looking for the proof of what we’d been told, that the rs stock began to grow with a six month season and a four fish bag limit. No one I asked had the proof, but they remembered it being the case. Every stakeholder I spoke to assured me that a six month season would not impact the stock, so I kept looking. Finally it occurred to me to ask NMFS for the data. I think I initially emailed Andy and my email was referred to Topher Holmes. Topher set up a conference call with Bonnie, Clay and another staff member that handles rs at the Science Center, plus Michael from our DC office and me. The call was very helpful in that we were all able to get on the same page regarding Rep. Southerland’s request for data. I explained that we wanted to see the stock assessment results from 2000 to present with dates of assessments and updates included. I asked for management decisions because we wanted to see how those affected the growth of the stock. I also asked for annual landings data and quotas for both sectors. This call occurred on May 16th and I received the data in early July, after reminding Topher and Bonnie that I still didn’t have it. I received the requested data in three graphs. One was the stock assessments and management decisions and the other two where the recreational and commercial landings by year. I then asked Bonnie to add the FMP goals to the graph and I received that update rather quickly.
Later, when sharing the data with Rep. Southerland, we realized that 2013 to 2015 stock assessment data were missing. I received an updated version of the graph with data through 2014 about a week and a half prior to the Gulf Council meeting in Biloxi. In an effort to answer some of our questions related to the data, Bonnie included some new graphs that showed the rebuilding timeline and the pounds of fish represented by the original graph.
I had all those graphs ready on my Power Point presentation at the meeting, but as you know my time was limited to three minutes and I was never able to ask Karen to advance to the next slide which would have revealed the graph Bonnie sent me.
In an effort to get a clear picture of what we catch compared to the biomass, I requested the landings data from Roy for the year 2000 to present. He was only able to provide me with 2001 to present. So explain my graph: The blue area (y axis) represents the stock assessment data provided by Bonnie’s graph (though the numbers are not exact to the digit). The red area along the bottom (x axis) represents the landings data provided by Roy for the recreational landings annually. Landings data was not provided for 2010 and is not available for 2014. I then added the year with the season and bag limits. The key includes the source data for y and x axis by the year, however the graph is so large that it doesn’t fit in the slide with the source data fully exposed.
I’m including, in an attachment, all the graphs that were sent to me along with the one that I created in order to compare biomass to landings. My graph is the first slide in the power point and is what I showed during my presentation with one edit to highlight the growth of the stock from 2000 to 2007 while the rec sector was permitted a six month season with a four fish bag limit. The last graph in the presentation is a graph from Dr. Crabtree showing the MRIP and Headboat trips data. In our opinion this reveals the errors in MRIP data compared to the headboat reporting data. While headboats reported fewer trips during the 2013, 28 day season, MRIP reports a tremendous increase in charter and private rec. trips.
I understand that this information has not been presented in this format and has confused and surprised some council members and stakeholders. I have nothing to hide here and will be happy to share emails or anything else requested of me. Our intention is to provide a clear picture of the data that represents what everyone sees in the Gulf.
It is Rep. Southerland’s belief that it is not necessary to establish management schemes that will lead to privatization of the resource and will require recreational anglers, private or charter, to buy access to a public resource from a commercial catch share holder or any other entity that is able to purchase ownership of the resource; Americans are entitled to access a resource that their tax dollars pay to manage for growth and opportunity. NOAA’s own data clearly shows that access can and should be increased and that the severely limited access should be rectified right away.
After the Labor Day weekend, Rep. Southerland will be following up with a formal request for the Council to act on this information and reverse its course toward unnecessary management schemes.