Recreational Fishing Alliance
Contact: Jim Hutchinson, Jr. / 888-564-6732
For ImmediateRelease
November four, 2011

RFA CALLS ON FISHERMEN TO UNITE

Fluke &amp SnapperClosures Admirer Flames Of Angler Discontent

Simply because of obsolete NOAA harvest data and questionable evaluation information, summer flounder (fluke) fishermen will consider another strike in 2012 – in flip, coastal fishermen are planning to strike back again at Washington DC sometime later this winter!

A Northeast Fisheries Science Middle report signifies that while the summer time flounder stock was productively rebuilt in 2010, angler harvest info compiled by means of the Marine Recreational Fishing Statistical Survey (MRFSS) and applied to NOAA assessment models predicts fishing mortality rate will be exceeded in 2011, when once more leading to statutory overfishing to arise. In addition to identified flaws with the MRFSS information, independent researchers have also been important of the evaluation models used by the federal fisheries service.

Citing new findings, the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) warns that harvest limitations formerly advised by council members for 2012 are truly as well large and could require to be diminished. On top of modern reviews from the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico regional fishery management councils that sea bass and red snapper fisheries have also been closed to anglers due to flawed info, the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) explained they are shifting ahead with an additional rally in Washington DC later on this winter like the a single held during the winter season of 2010.

&quotIn conducting stock assessments, NOAA Fisheries is employing recreational harvest info regarded fatally flawed and woefully inaccurate by the National Academy of Sciences, which is exactly why Congress informed them to halt making use of MRFSS as of 2009,&quot explained Jim Donofrio, RFA’s executive director. &quotWhether it can be sea bass, red snapper or fluke, yearly or semi-annual stock assessments never mean squat when you might be employing illicit info and questionable types.&quot

&quotFive many years is extended adequate to wait for Congress to react, so if they are not coming to us then it appears like we will be heading back again to see them this wintertime,&quot he added.

Reauthorized in 2006 by unanimous consent with assist from ‘green’ groups like Pew Charitable Trusts and their Pew-funded affiliates like Marine Fish Conservation Network and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the Magnuson Stevens Act calls for rigid rebuilding deadlines even though incorporating yearly catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures like catch shares to aid ratchet down regulatory controls on fishermen.

&quotRFA has taken our lumps by some in the industry simply because we’ve been so openly vocal about the concerns with Magnuson whilst also rallying for a lot more accountability from our federal govt, but who can sit back again quietly whilst this injustice carries on,&quot Donofrio asked, incorporating &quotthis is a work opportunities matter.&quot

Final week, Donofrio appeared before a Property Source Committee hearing on behalf of America’s coastal anglers, and particularly brought up the problem of NOAA’s inattention to meeting needs set forth by Congress. &quotWe don’t have a info collection program that Congress mandated in the 2007 reauthorization for maritime recreational statistics, the new MRIP plan, they’re still making use of the MRFSS info and they’re shutting down fisheries,&quot Donofrio advised committee members,&quot including &quotthey advised the judge we are not employing MRFSS info any longer.&quot

Two a long time back, RFA introduced a federal lawsuit versus NOAA for closing the black sea bass fishery employing info compiled by way of MRFSS. Based mostly on the NOAA testimony, a federal decide established that there would no future fishing closures based on MRFSS data presented the reality that NOAA was no more time utilizing MRFSS,rendering RFA’s lawsuit moot. That is a worry which Donofrio and the RFA have especially brought to the attention of Congress.

&quotNOAA’s legal team fundamentally showed a duplicate of the Magnuson reauthorization of 2007 showing exactly where Congress mandated that MRFSS be replaced as of January 1, 2009,&quot Donofrio said. &quotWhile NOAA has nevertheless to satisfy their congressional obligation a few complete seasons later on, our recreational fishing community is getting pressured to adhere to a broken law enforced by an overzealous and contentious enforcement business office.&quot

Donofrio advised House Reference Committee members that coastal corporations are getting a negative enough time remaining open up in a down market, but when mixed with burdensome regulations based mostly on hopelessly flawed harvest data, many recreational fishing pros have been getting out of the company completely. &quotThey’re disgusted with federal laws that are not allowing them to fish on rebuilt stocks and NOAA’s not performing a point about it, what they want to do is include far more layers of bureaucracy that charges a lot more income when they’re not investing the funds to preserve us fishing,&quot Donofrio explained.

In response to a concern from Rep. Jon Runyan (R-NJ) Donofrio mentioned troubles seasoned inside of the New Jersey congressman’s house district had been the exact same as those down in the southeastern United States and all through the Gulf, &quotall the way down to Mr. Southerland’s district,&quot he extra, referencing committee member Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL) who also took NOAA to task at the recent hearing. &quotWe have men and women sitting at the dock can’t catch red snapper since the stock assessments and the information that NOAA’s been employing is flawed, we’re virtually tripping more than red snapper, tripping more than them&quot Donofrio said.

Because 2007, RFA and their coastal allies have vocally pressed forth with help for legislation to reform the Magnuson Stevens Act to rewrite the fouled language which has allowed NOAA to shirk its obligations although punishing coastal fishing communities. Donofrio explained it is been an uphill fight due to the fact of congressional gridlock and an market divided. &quotA handful of legislators were led to believe that Magnuson was just good back again in 2006, but that is naturally not the circumstance,&quot Donofrio said.

According to MAFMC chairman Rick Robins, component of the difficulty with summer season flounder is the reality that NOAA Fisheries is taking crucial scientific funding absent from his council and shifting the shelling out up north. &quotThe current situation is an unlucky consequence resulting from the redirection of Science Middle resources to New England groundfish,&quot Robins stated. Whilst the MAFMC is in the approach of scheduling conferences with the science and statistical committees to evaluation the information just before their December meetings, independent scientists such as Brian Rothschild and Mark Maunder have openly challenged the info employed by NOAA experts in their assessments models.

&quotThere are scientists in the field who have important data with consider to summer flounder to challenge the government’s unreasonable findings, but the only way to shake some feeling into this govt bureaucracy is by means of an act of Congress,&quot Donofrio mentioned. &quotWithout a new benchmark assessment or peer review of the authorities info, you will find no way for person anglers and impartial scientists to challenge the data,&quot he mentioned.

Donofrio mentioned the very best selection for guarding the future of saltwater angling possibilities is to resolve a damaged legislation although securing legislative commitments to overhauling a massive authorities bureaucracy which he states &quothas gone rogue&quot in the previous three-one/2 years. &quotComprehensive reform of the law is the only choice proper now, and the quicker the sector realizes that they’ve been hoodwinked by anti-fishing interests the faster we can deal with our coastal accessibility concerns in front of Congress,&quot he added.

&quotThere are many various Magnuson reform bills in Congress appropriate now, including the a lot more comprehensive version in HR3061,&quot Donofrio explained, adding &quotwhat we require is get the total suite of legislation into committee for evaluation and discussion so that we can get the law fixed

now to safeguard jobs.&quot