More abuse of our oceans... Please send email protesting this...

[Frankysreef]

"LONGLINE IN CA INSTEAD OF GILL NETS THIS MARCH!"

Pacific Fishery Management Council to consider allowing longline fishing by special "Exempted Fishing Permit."

In its coming March meeting the Pacific Fisheries Management Council will consider public input on a request for an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) to allow for a single vessel to fish longline gear in the Pacific EEZ. The target species would be swordfish, bluefin, yellowfin, bigeye and albacore tuna. The rationale for the permit is to evaluate the potential for a longline fishery that may serve in the future as an alternative for as many as 131 currently permitted drift gillnet vessels. As in the past, TBF is opposing the issuance of this permit. Yellowfin, bigeye and albacore tuna are currently either overfished or subject to fishing mortality rates that will continue to drive them to an overfished condition. Expanding the directed fishery on these species will only serve to make a bad situation worse and increase billfish and other bycatch mortality associated with the use of indiscriminate longline gear. Click here to view the full text of our letter to the PFMC.

If you share our concerns we urge you to contact the Pacific Fishery Management Council via email, fax or mail. We have provided a short statement that can be used, or feel free to put these concerns into your own words:

To: Council Members, Pacific Fisheries Management Council
Subject: Longline Exempted Fishing Permit Request

I am a concerned conservationist and angler and would like to take this opportunity to, again, voice my opposition to any attempts to develop a longline fishery off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington. You have in the past acted prudently to keep this destructive gear out of our Pacific EEZ. Current attempts to open the door to as many as 131 new longline vessels in these waters would be disastrous for HMS stocks, both targeted and taken as bycatch. I support The Billfish Foundation in their opposition to this new source of fishing mortality. Given the current excess of fishing effort and fishing mortality applied to Pacific bigeye, yellowfin and albacore stocks there is no rational reason to even consider expanding existing fisheries. Do not recommend issuance of the proposed EFP for longline gear.

Final action on this permit request will be taken in Seattle on March 9!

Email: pfmc.comments@noaa.gov

Pacific Fishery Management Council
7700 NE Ambassador Place, Suite 200
Portland, OR 97220-1384 FAX: (503) 820-2299
Please send a letter and make some calls and spread this news so we can all stop this!!

Thanks!!

Frank

 

[reefpeep2004]

that may serve in the future as an alternative for as many as 131 currently permitted drift gillnet vessels.

If there are already 131 permitted drift gillnets boats, you expect us to be outraged at longline fishing? I'd prefer less fishing period, however I believe longline is much preferable to gillnets. At least the dolphins won't drown.

 

[sharkdude]

Yellowfin, bigeye and albacore tuna are currently either overfished or subject to fishing mortality rates that will continue to drive them to an overfished condition.

This is a blatant lie on the part of TBF to misrepresent the issue to sensationalize and sway support.

I am very familiar with these issues on a professional level and would be more than happy to provide additional details, facts, background, etc So that you can form your own informed opinions rather than be persuaded by propaganda from groups with ulterior motives, funding, etc

Several members of my dision are currently at this Council meetings representing NMFS on the various fishery issues being discussed. A new west coast Highly Migratory Species (tunas, sharks, swordfish, etc) fishery managment plan was implemented one year ago.

These are my own personal opinions and do not represent those of my employer, NOAA/NMFS.

 

[drake66]

tuna and yellowtail is good

 

[Frankysreef]

Sharkdude... I am a regular sportsfisherman in california waters, and have NEVER seen a marlin in california waters...

Once I saw about 2-3 TONS of mackeral dead floating on the east end of catalina island.. Looks like it was just dumped there by a trawler... Dead and floating. There were NET burns on most of the fish... ( we actually called the DFG )

What is interesting about that is a week before that we found 1/8 of a mile of a school of pacific mackeral... they were everywhere...

To even think of starting a longline fishery in california waters... do you think this is a good idea? The gillnets are gone.. thank god... The halibut and white seabass are finally making a comeback.. yellowtail are back in these areas...

I saw some bonito in newport harbor just a week ago...

These commercial fisherman exploit the resources... Marlin, swordfish, mako, thresher, blue sharks, tuna, dorado, yellowtail will all be caught on these longlines.

Why do you support giving them permits to start a commercial fishery?

Many times out tuna fishing we have come upon an ocean devastated by these commercials... One day an ocean teeming with fish, next day.. all are gone. This is from personal experience... not from propaganda.

I have been fishing for 10 years off the coast of california... and it finally seems that the tuna are making a comeback, and you think now is the time to start longlines again??

A large portion of the albacore caught will go to Cat food and be sold for a miniscule amount per pound.

Something else to think about.. Why all these new rockfish regulations a few years ago? Because the longlines ( deep ) exploited this fishery, and according to the pfmc some of these fish are now "no take" now( I can quote the regulations if you want me to ).. We can't fish at specific depths because of what the commercials did, and the funny thing is the PFMC thinks that the average recreational fisherman has something to do with this.

I blame the commercial fisherman for the above... and now the average fisherman has to pay for this.

I could go on and on... this is not propaganda.. some of the above experiences were situations that I witnessed... I used to be on the water weekly at all times of the year..

Maybe the tuna are not overfished in the states at the moment, but the minute you open the door to these commercial fisherman, it seems to stay open.

Enough commercial fishing for tuna is done in other countries including mexico to provide more than enough table fare for this country....

Something else to think about is the amount of money that sportsfishing puts into local economies is HUGE especially in san diego.. when the tuna go, the people do not come to fish...

Please respond to this with your facts..

 

[sharkdude]

I did not mean to pick a fight Franky. You are all over the map and confusing many issues, fisheries, and the specific resources harvested by them. Your original post offered no opinions or experiences of your own, only those of a suspect letter from The Billfish Foundation.

I object to the tactics and means organizations like The Billfish Foundation (among others) use to achieve their ends, even if I may ocassionally agree with the underlying message.

They are not intending to 'start' any new fisheries, just resume activities that occured prior to a couple years ago due to various managment changes.

The state of California has long had a ban in place prohibiting landing of longline caught fish harvested within 200 miles of California coastlines.

Their is a lot of history surrounding this particular issue of pelagic longline fishing (which has no interactions with rockfish, halibut, seabass, etc).

You under estimate the cummulative impact to the resource by all sportfishers. you can't have it both ways and just focus on all the economic benefits while denying any impacts.

The proposed EFP is for a single vessel and will provide concrete data for analysis of potential greater impacts. Several vessels already hold permits with pelagic longline endorsements, but can not currently exercise their permits due to management complications with potential impacts to endangered sea turtles.

This is probably a conversation best left until we can share a beer or two. I'm sure we could enlighten each other.

I would encourage anyone who feels as passionately as Frank does, one way or the other, to learn more about about fishery resources are managed here in California and at the federal level.

Here is a good place to start:
http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/

most of the stock assessment work is done at our Southwest Fisheries Science Center, and many of their reports are freely available to the public at http://swfsc.nmfs.noaa.gov/