NOAA''S CATCH SHARE POLICY SETS A TREACHEROUS COURSE

[Capt. DQ]

• Here is info from our fishing friends in the keys and their efforts to show the world of the ways of EDF, pay close attention to the new wording of EDF they are using. It is a perfect fit instead of Environmental Defense Fund.
  
  The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) a.k.a. Exceptionally Deceptive on Fishing
  Recently Announced a Broad Lobbying Campaign to Promote the Implementation of a Very Controversial System of Federal Fisheries Management Called “Catch Shares” in the Southeastern United States, including Monroe County.
  
  Fact is EDF knows little or nothing about Florida fisheries management. The catch shares programs they are promoting are known around the world for fleet reduction while offering little or no protection for fish stocks.
  Fleet reduction results in enormous job losses and consolidation of fishing effort by as much as two-thirds, impacting every family and every business in fishing oriented communities throughout the Florida Keys.
  Next to tourism, the commercial fishing industry in the Florida Keys is the second largest economic engine in the county providing an estimated economic impact between $300 & $600 million dollars annually into the local economy and also ranks as a leading, long-term jobs producer.
  The State of Massachusetts, the cities of Gloucester and New Bedford along with New England fishermen have a filed a suit in Federal Court against the US Department of Commerce over a similar program in that region. Forecast job loss from catch share management is so severe, it threatens to collapse the economy of America’s oldest and most productive fishing villages.
  America’s fisheries have been under stringent management plans for decades. Florida fisheries are in great shape because the fishing industry, commercial and recreational, have worked hand-in-hand with fisheries managers to promote stock rebuilding efforts where needed and with great success. Industry based initiatives, not environmental organization mandates and lobbying efforts, is the catalyst for fisheries managers to take scientifically based action to protect certain species of fish.
  South Atlantic Fishery Management Council
  Public Hearing & Scoping Meeting
  Key Largo Grande Hotel
  97000 Overseas Highway, Key Largo, FL 33037
  Thursday, February 3, 2011, 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
  
  Here’s how you can help…
  If you live in South Florida, you should attend this meeting and voice your displeasure with a federally mandated “catch shares” policy for fisheries management because it negatively affects everyone.
  Demand that the South Atlantic Council use current and honest science to manage fish stocks and stop wasting taxpayer’s money on “catch shares.”
  Demand that the Council restore stock rebuilding programs proven so successful in the past.
  Demand transparency in fisheries management and give more credibility to testimony from experienced fishermen rather than environmental lobbying organizations.
  
  Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association
  P Box 501404, Marathon, Florida 33050
  305-619-0039O
  _________________
  Capt. Dave
  Continental Shelf
  Morehead City, NC
  910-458-3145

[In Memory Walter K]

If in fact the Gloucester, Mass. people are against it, you can bet Barney Frank and John Kerry will join in the fight. As much as I dislike both of them, we can use all the help we can get. Given the change in the house, I would suggest writing Republican members in the house no matter where you live. It sounds like an environmental issue on the surface, so the unknowledgeable (most of them) won't do their homework and blindly vote for it.

[John Brownlee]

So the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen are going to show up at the meeting and argue against catch shares, even though many of them benefit from two of the most successful catch shares programs in existence: spiny lobster and stone crabs. Those fisheries have fared very well under a catch shares plan, you never hear these guys complaining about it, but I guess the Monroe County guys will now argue that those programs should be discontinued and anybody who wants to should be able to get into commercial lobster and stone crab fishing? Hypocrisy.

[Capt. DQ]

• From the Big Game Fishing Journal
  
  Reminiscent of another “Jane” that sold out our boys during the Vietnam War, Dr. Jane “I am the recreational fisherman’s champion” Lubchenco stated at a recent ICCAT meeting in Paris that, “When there is uncertainty in science we believe that it is important to err on the side of caution. We believe that it is appropriate therefore to seek lower TACs (Total Allowable Catches) for bluefin tuna for both sides of the Atlantic.” With her comments, EDF Jane tossed both the domestic recreational and commercial bluefin tuna fishermen “under the bus” with full knowledge of the many sacrifices that have been made through the years by our domestic fleets to help restore the bluefin fishery in the Western Atlantic, unlike their counterparts in the Eastern Atlantic.
  Yes, there is surely an uncertainty in the science being used to make fishery management decisions by NOAA, and EDF Jane has been well aware of this flawed science for a very long time, but she continues to do nothing about it. This broken science continues to be EDF and Lubchenco’s greatest tool in their attempt to lead everyone to believe EDF’s “If it swims, it’s overfished” ruse.
  It is apparent the enviros do not want this fatally flawed science fixed. Their puppet, EDF Jane, has even diverted $54,000,000 in funds allocated to replacing this broken science toward her efforts to force the catch share system down the throats of commercial, and now recreational fishermen.
  Another ICCAT comment made by EDF Jane should shock the recreational community. “Recreational fishermen relish the pleasure of simply being out on the water with family and friends, and testing their skills against a mighty fish.” Is the EDF and Lubchenco’s future plans include making the recreational fishery purely catch and release?
  With EDF Jane at the reins of NOAA, a former Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) employee herself, and Monica Medina, a former PEW employee appointed by Lubchenco as her “catch shares” czar, the NOAA deck is continuing to be stacked against the many recreational and commercial fishermen who stand against the catch shares system of fisheries management. Both EDF Jane and Medina are pushing hard and pulling out all the stops to force EDF’s catch shares manifesto on domestic fishermen, but why? Could the answer for the tremendous push by Lubchenco for catch shares be found at a meeting entitled “Innovative Funding For Sustainable Fisheries” (IFSF) that was held in Los Angeles, CA. in 2009 at the Milken Institute.
  
  David Festa, Vice President of EDF West Coast, IFSF Comments:
  “Is there a roll for private capital here?” ”How much money is to be made out there?” “We have to have capital that’s where I think public and private partnerships comes in.” “One statistic in all the catch shares fisheries’ value that have transitioned over to catch shares tends to increase by a factor of four.” “The current U.S. industry is a five billion dollar industry.” “....It’s real money.” “I think we are at that point in the curve where we can start to see a huge ramp up and a lot of opportunity in the next three years.”
  
  Jason Winship’s, Managing Principal, Sea Change Management Investment Company, LLC, IFSF Comments:
  “We are a unique partnership between a source of philanthropic capital....and a series of high net worth individuals who very much care about our conservation mandate, but see this space as a great way to make a great deal of money.” “An emerging topic that we are keeping a close eye on is how to make direct investments in catch shares systems. All of what has been outlined on the transition to catch shares systems requires the application of capital....but we see a significant opportunity, David (Festa) once again on the stats of the four times increase in value pre-rationalization to post-rationalization transition of these catch shares means that someone is making money in the process. Someone has to finance the acquisition of these permits and speed that transition along. We think there is a very, very solid rationale for investors to step into the capital void and provide the means by which that transition can be facilitated and make money besides.”
  Is the tremendous push to catch shares being orchestrated by EDF Jane for investment opportunities that will make a lot of money for friends of EDF, or how about Glenmede Trust, an investment company with six Pews sitting on their board? I wonder if they will jump on the potential 400 percent bonanza?
  I believe it’s time for an investigative authority to step in and look into this matter to see if EDF Jane’s tremendous push to force catch shares on the American fishermen, in light of her past position at EDF and her current position at NOAA, is either illegal or highly unethical or somewhere in between.
  Since her appointment EDF Jane has been seeding NOAA with environmental people. She is forcing EDF’s manifesto on domestic fishermen, fishermen that have loudly voiced their disapproval of the catch shares system only to have it fall on deaf ears at NOAA. She sold the American bluefin tuna fishermen out at ICCAT in Paris and she just may be setting the ground work to create a total catch and release fishery for the recreational fleet. EDF Jane must be removed from her position at NOAA before our entire fishery management process is controlled by the Environmental Defense Fund, and their PEW funded crony organizations.
  When Lubchenco is removed from office, please don’t feel bad for her—I’m sure she can get her old job back at EDF.
  To further realize how far EDF’s tentacles have reached inside NOAA’s fishery management process, please read Dennis O’Hern’s guest column, The Great Divide - Sector Separation, on page 80.
  _________________
  Capt. Dave
  Continental Shelf
  Morehead City, NC
  910-458-3145

[Capt. DQ]

• OK folks along the SE coast, here is the latest from your friends at EDF. As you can see they are ramping up their efforts to make more friends that will work against fishermen. This is a good notice for everyone who is concerned about losing jobs, losing access to fish, having your communities disappear, and being put off the water to send out an alert to everyone you know to say they do not want catch shares. EDF clearly has the money and the manpower, but we have the truth and the will to stop this. Send a notice to everyone you know.
  
  http://support.edf.org/site/R?i=VG2gVRBtLqJwDdwTQo85yw..
  
  When you click on the link it carries you to a prewritten email to the council. You can modify it as I did below. There are two boxes, the first says you support catch share which you see what I put, and the next one has a prewritten statement of support for catch shares. You can modify as I did and then send it. It will show up from me and edf but the message will be contrary to what they want. You can and should also just send an email yourself to the council and have everyone else do the same.
  
  Bob
  
  CUT AND PASTE
  ------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  I DO NOT Support Catch Shares
  
  
  
  I live in the Southeast and care deeply about the health of our fisheries, local sustainable seafood, and coastal communities.
  
  
  
  I support the Council's progress toward better fisheries management through real science, more independent fishery research, and the advice from knowledgeable, experienced, and historical fishermen. I DO NOT support catch shares for the snapper, grouper and golden crab commercial fisheries (amendments 21 and 5).
  
  
  
  Catch shares will not end overfishing and rebuild fisheries, WILL NOT stabilizing good jobs, WILL NOT improving local seafood availability and WILL NOT contribute to our local economy. Catch shares will destroy the fishing fleets and fishing communities. The Council should not approve any catch share plan.
  
  
  Better management of recreational fishing should also become a Council priority. The use of REAL, UNBIASED SCIENCE, plus improved data collection, and independent fishery research will help to improve recreational fisheries. Using number of fish rather than pounds will help to extend recreational fishing seasons and provide easier methods to collect data. Use flexibility in your management requirements for all fishing sectors to improve fishing opportunities for anglers.
  
  
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  _________________
  Capt. Dave
  Continental Shelf
  Morehead City, NC
  910-458-3145

[Capt. DQ]

• Interesting read:
  
  Do you ever wonder how all these anti-fishing groups are linked together? I'll make it real easy for everyone.
  
  Here is the list of villains we can thank for CATCH SHARES and a lot of other unneeded, unscientific anti-recreational fishing regs being thrown at us:
  
  SUNOCO Oil, which is owned by the.....
  
  PEW FAMILY of Radnor, PA which has donated billions in SUNOCO stock shares to......
  
  PEW ENVIRONMENT GROUP, headed by Joshua Reichert, a militant anti-fishing Vegan, this NGO * gives tens of millions in funds every year to radical Enviro Industry front groups like.......
  
  EDF ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND , which is the original anti-fishing Enviro Industry front group to begin pushing for Catch Shares for both commercial and recreational fisheries. EDF's former Vice-Chairman is.....
  
  JANE LUBECHENKO, who as payback by the OBAMA ADMINSTRATION to the Enviro Industry for their donating tens of millions of dollars to his 2008 election campaign, ( http://www.edf.org/pressrelease.cfm?contentID=8994 ) was appointed to head up the US Federal Gummint's.....
  
  NOAA NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC & ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, which oversees.....
  
  NMFS NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, which was formerly known as the.....
  
  COMMERCE DEPT'S BCF BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES, until an outcry from recreational fishermen about BCF's blatant discrimination against them forced a more-palatable name change to......
  
  NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, which oversees the US coastal regional.......
  
  FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCILS, which include.......
  
  SAFMC SOUTH ATLANTIC FISHERIES MANAGEMENT COUNCIL, which forces unscientific, unneeded and unwanted regs on fishermen in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and east coast Florida and......
  
  GMFMC GULF OF MEXICO FISHERIES MANAGEMENT COUNCIL, which forces unscientific, unwanted & unneeded regs on fishermen in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabammy and west coast Florida and.....
  
  ASFMC ATLANTIC STATES FISHERIES MANAGEMENT COUNCIL, which forces unneeded unwanted unscientific regs on fishermen in Virginia, Maryland and......
  
  A BUNCH MORE FMC FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCILS, all of whom allow an NGO group like.......
  
  EDF ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND to generate "scientific independent studies" and then propose regs to NMFS which in turn implements EDF's CATCH SHARES SCHEME, because even though the US Federal Gummint employees working for NMFS and the various FMC Councils know that what EDF is doing is illegal and a federal felony, they also know that their ultimate boss is......
  
  NOAA DIRECTOR JANE LUBECHENKO, who really takes her marching orders not from the Fedl Gummint, but from her former employer, the radical anti-fishing Enviro Industry EDF front group. EDF knows that their CATCH SHARES SCHEME is unworkable and unpalatable, especially coming from an Enviro Industry group, so they are now using unwitting dupes and witting Useful Idiots in recreational fishing groups like......
  
  CCA COASTAL CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION, aka Can't Catch Anything. Every time CCA gets involved in fisheries issues that affect federal waters beyond three miles, they consistently come out on favor of the most restrictive regs that will do the most harm to recreational fishermen. Perhaps the reason behind their anti-recreational fishermen stance is because for years now they have been taking several million dollars a year from the Enviro Industry, ill-gotten dirty funds laundered through the......
  
  TEDDY ROOSEVELT CONSERVATION COALITION, which is really a sham front group run by the Enviro Industry so that they can use it to buy off recreational fishing groups like.....
  
  ASA AMERICAN SPORTFISHING ASSOCIATION (the tackle industry's trade group) and......
  
  TBF THE BILLFISH FOUNDATION and the aforementioned......
  
  CCA which is joined in their anti-recreational backing of Catch Shares by the corrupt and greedy........
  
  SOS SAVE OUR SECTORS gang, comprised of a small group of headboat operators and charter captains who are outnumbered 10-to-1 by other headboat operators and charter captains who don't want anything to do with Sector Separation or Catch Shares, because they know both schemes are bad for all recreational fishermen.
  
  ----------------------------------------------------------------
  To get an idea just how evil, fascist and genocidal the EDF Environmental Defense Fund really is, read this little gem:
  
  Writer Christopher C. Horner has referred to a spread of mosquito-borne malaria after a DDT ban that EDF sponsored. When asked if the ban might unleash a malaria epidemic, EDF founding trustee Dr. Charles Wurster replied, "Probably - so what? People are the cause of all the problems. We have too many of them. This is as good a way to get rid of them as any."
  
  John Berlau, author of the book Eco-Freaks, argues that EDF and later the Clinton Administration, due to an "earth-worshiping mentality," interfered with operations of the US Army Corps of Engineers via judicial activism with the aid of Judge Charles Schwartz, forestalling levee reinforcement that led to Katrinagate shortly after Hurricane Katrina. Berlau sees EDF's "contempt for human life and safety, all for the sake of a few fish and mosquitoes."
  
  Fisherman's News argues that EDF's Catch Shares Scheme fisheries policy in the Pacific Northwest is likely to damage smaller, local operators who have an interest in protecting fisheries and limiting by-catch. Many fisherman fear that independent operators, including boats, fisheries, and ports will be forced out of business as the new EDF-supported Catch Shares licensing structure gives a competitive advantage to larger, non-local operations."
  ---------------------------------------------------
  
  I've been keeping tabs on the Enviro Industry since 1997. If you follow the links, it's easy to piece all this stuff together and understand the big picture of why certain groups and certain government agencies are doing the mind-boggling anti-fishing things they are doing.
  
  *NGO is "Non-Governmental Organization" which is really Orwellian DoubleSpeak for "Bunch Of Radical BusyBody Meddling Self-Righteous Idiots Who Don't Know What They're Talking About"
  
  Mark
  Catch-All
  Pres., 100 Fathom Fishing Club
  
  
  Oh, little tidbit, guess who one of the biggest financial supporters of the anti-fishing agenda is? No guess, it is the Walton Family Foundation (that would be Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart). Don't believe me? Take a look yourself. http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/e ... ndex.asp#1 See if anything sounds familiar.
  
  Dramatically Improving Fisheries Management Practices
  The Foundation supports urgently needed fisheries management reform, with an emphasis on fisheries in the Gulfs of Mexico and California. Our grants focus on four critical areas:
  
  Preventing Overfishing The Foundation seeks to strengthen fisheries management by encouraging the adoption of precautionary catch limits based on sound science
  
  Encouraging the Creation of Dedicated Access Privileges Dedicated access management systems such as the tradeable quota system established several years ago in Alaskas halibut fishery create incentives for long-term sustainability and provide market-based vehicles for rationalizing fishing capacity
  
  Creating Marine Managed Areas The Foundation supports the establishment of networks of marine managed areas that will conserve critical habitat, protect threatened species of ocean wildlife, and contribute to the replenishment of fisheries.
  
  Using Markets to Encourage Sustainable Fishing The Foundation supports the development of mechanisms, such as fisheries certification, that enable consumers and seafood buyers to distinguish fish that are harvested sustainably so their purchasing power can encourage prudent fisheries management.
  
  This should scare you to death. A multi-billion dollar foundation that decides to pursue an environmental agenda. A precautionary catch limit is simply reducing or preventing fishing just because of what COULD happen. "Dedicated access management systems"..."tradeable quota system"...this would be catch shares. Do we really want our ability to fish being bought and sold to the highest bidder? "Marine managed areas"...nicer words that simply mean MPA's...translated = No fishing zones.

[Capt. DQ]

• Florida Keys fishermen won’t endorse controversial federal catch share program
  By Susan Cocking
  scocking@MiamiHerald.com
  
  Keys fishermen said a resounding “no” at a public workshop Thursday in Key Largo to a controversial federal proposal to use catch shares to manage the commercial snapper-grouper fishery in the South Atlantic.
  The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council says nine stocks of snapper-grouper from North Carolina to the East Coast of Florida are either overfished or about to be depleted to unhealthy levels. Since 2008, the council has been discussing the use of catch shares as a tool to stop overfishing and boost stocks.
  
  Already in place in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and New England, catch shares mean allocating a percentage of a fisheries quota to individuals, fishing groups, or communities. The aim, federal fisheries managers say, is to eliminate “derby” fishing, where harvesters rush to catch their quota during shortened fishing seasons, and instead spread the harvest out, keeping markets stable and making seafood available year round.
  
  Shares of the fish can be divided equally or awarded based on historical catch data, and they can be bought or sold. Fishermen typically bring their catch to an approved landing site and their boats must be equipped with a tracking mechanism. To keep the program going, the government levies a management fee. But before a catch share program could be implemented, a referendum would be conducted among the affected fishers.
  
  If that referendum were held today in the Keys, it would be thumbs down – if comments at Thursday’s meeting are any indication.
  
  “There’s probably going to be two-thirds of the fishermen now are going to be out of business,” warned Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association. “We are talking in excess of 2,000 people. You would literally collapse the economy of the Florida Keys.”
  
  The problem with existing catch share programs, Keys fishermen say, is that they reward large fishing operations while squeezing out the mom-and-pop commercial businesses.
  
  “It takes the small operator out of it,” argued Lee Starling, a Key West commercial fisherman who participates in the Gulf of Mexico catch share program. “What I saw in the Gulf, it rewarded people who overfished. People who fish sustainably were kicked out of the industry.”
  
  Keys fisheries are unique, fishers say, in that there is no “derby” fishery and most operators target multiple species throughout the year, such as snapper, grouper, lobster and stone crab.
  
  “The Keys are different. They ought to be regulated differently,” lower Keys commercial fisherman Don DeMaria said. “The fish we target are bycatch in the Carolinas. Their season is summer; ours is winter. What works for them up there doesn’t work for us.”
  
  Joe Gilbert, a commercial fisherman in Stonington, Conn., who spends his winters in the Keys, said he has had bad experiences with catch shares in New England.
  
  “Stay away from this program,” he said. “It’s dangerous, insidious, and I consider it downright evil.”
  
  Tom Hill, owner of Key Largo Fisheries, said he believes catch shares will lead to an increase in illegal fish sales.
  
  “It’s more of a business program than a conservation program,” Hill said. “It’s going to create a tremendous black market.”
  
  About the only attendees to speak in favor of catch shares were members of the small golden crab fishery and Eileen Dougherty of the Environmental Defense Fund.
  
  “The current way of managing fisheries – with closures, trip limits and other restrictions – is bad for business and isn’t a successful long-term strategy for healthy ecosystems,” Dougherty said. “We urge the council to move swiftly to implement catch shares and include fishermen input into the process.”
  
  Kate Quigley, an economist with the South Atlantic Council, assured fishermen that any catch share program in the region is one to two years away, and that eliminating the Keys from the program is an option.
  
  “This is, ‘let’s mull it over,’ ” Quigley said. “There’s no march forward to a deadline.”
  
  However, the South Atlantic Council is under a deadline to establish annual catch limits and accountability measures for several species not undergoing overfishing by the end of 2011. The deadline is part of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Act, which says all species have to have catch limits and methods to make sure those limits are not exceeded. Affected species include some in the snapper-grouper complex, along with dolphin and wahoo. The council is expected to vote on what those amounts will be at a June meeting in Key West.
  
  Several fishermen at Thursday’s meeting were upset that the federal government would impose stricter regulations on stocks that are not in trouble.
  
  “Unless there’s clear evidence of a decline, let’s maintain the current harvest,” said Michael Kennedy of the recreational fishing group CCA-Florida.
  
  Council member Ben Hartig of Hobe Sound told the gathering he didn’t like the strictures of the law any more than they do.
  
  “You guys have scraped to stay in business. Now we’re going to kill you,” he said. “That’s where I have problems with this whole process. Talk to your congressional people to change this law.”
  
  
  
  
  
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  
  Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/05/v ... z1DIMInNPo
  _________________

[In Memory Walter K]

The first and only doable possibility would be the getting rid of Lubichenco, and the only way to do that would be to replace Obama at the next election with hopefully, a fisherman Republican or Independent. The Demogog tree huggers will fight it to the hilt because it sounds like "save the fish". These are the same people who don't want our piled up snow to be dumped into our rivers for fear of polluting them. By the way, why do we have an EPA (environmental protection agency) AND a DEC (department of environmental control)...duplication?

[Capt. DQ]

• Fishing interests zero in on enviros' role
  
  http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x1 ... viros-role
  
  By Richard Gaines
  Staff Writer The Gloucester Daily Times Tue Feb 15, 2011, 10:51 PM EST
  
  
  It has been nearly a year since America's fishing ports, building on a rally in Gloucester four months earlier, sent an estimated 5,000 people to Washington, D.C. to protest Obama administration fishing policies.
  
  Since the Feb. 24, 2010 gathering at the north side of the Capitol dispersed in high spirits and hopes, there have been a small number of congressional hearings that have brought no profound changes.
  
  But the hearings — and investigations through a federal Inspector General's office — have corroborated for many concern over the way that federal fisheries enforcement agents have used excessive tactics in penalizing fishermen and waterfront businesses.
  
  And they have also galvanized fishing industry activists on three coasts to protest the alleged inside influence by major environmental organizations to carry out a national fishing policy that brings a further consolidation of independent fishing fleets, and encourages the buying, selling and trading of fishermen's catch shares in a policy that opens the door to outside corporate investment and, fishing activists argue, corporate control.
  
  In the provinces since the Washington rally, intense political, legal and public struggles have erupted not only in New England, but along the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts, where fishing allies have dug in against the Obama administration appointees and the Environmental Defense Fund, which has pushed its catch shares management system — and been propelled by enormous investments of the nation's best endowed and ambitious philanthropies.
  
  Soon to be published research using public data bases found that EDF has received more than $30 million in grant funding to advance its catch share agenda, and that the big foundations have poured nearly a half billion dollars into myriad organizations over the past decade to influence government fisheries policy.
  
  "The administration has put in place the most radical environmental people," said Sean McKeon, president of the North Carolina Fishermen's Association."
  
  "My grievances with the current administration policies on fisheries begin with the appointment with a vice (chairwoman) of the Environmental Defense Fund to head NOAA, and then to allow the policies and agenda of EDF to be forced on the American public and fishermen," said Bob Zales II of Panama City, Fla.
  
  Zales is president of the National Association of Charter Boat Operators and helped organize the Washington event.
  
  On the surface, from port to port and coast to coast, some of the issues differ.
  
  But invariably at the core of contention is the relentless push by environmental activists appointed by President Obama to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and convert fisheries management into the allocated catch shares under a controlled trading system.
  
  Across all three fishing coasts, the vanguard of the crusade is EDF, which — in a 2005 memo obtained by the Times, bragged to a potential donor that it could carry out its economic policies from "the inside" through seats on the New England Fishery Management Council and elsewhere.
  
  EDF's former board vice chairman, Jane Lubchenco, was Obama's choice to head NOAA in early 2009, and the organization is so closely associated with catch shares and NOAA's hierarchy that many in the fishing industry find their interests inseparable.
  
  Florida rally
  
  The next skirmish could come in St. Petersburg, Fla. An alliance of commercial and recreational interests in the Southeast has announced a protest rally against NOAA's policies. including catch shares.
  
  Scheduled for Feb. 25, the event draws inspiration from — and falls a year and a day after — the national protest rally in D.C., which also targeted the conversion to the catch share system as well as the rigidity in the Magnuson-Stevens Act cited by federal officials as forcing them to reduce allocations.
  
  Like the Washington protest, the upcoming event features the "I fish, I vote" theme while emphasizing the government's reliance of dubious science to justify closed seasons and constrain catch volumes.
  
  EDF's $30 million backing
  
  With a single-minded commitment to catch shares,EDF since 2005 has received more than $30 million in funding from three private philanthropies, according to a report of public databases set to be published by fisheries consultant and columnist Nils Stolpe, who made his research available to the Times.
  
  Stople reports that the largest benefactor of EDF has been the Walton Foundation, which is tied to the global retailing and commodities giant Walmart and has given EDF more than $20 million in fishery-related grants.
  
  In addition, EDF has received more than $9 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for catch share-related projects, and more than $1.5 million from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In years before 2005, EDF received more than $3 million from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
  
  Together, the Walton, Moore and Packard foundations, with the Pew Charitable Trust, have made more n $480 million in grants to study and influence fisheries.
  
  EDF officials did not respond to written questions from the Times regarding the grants.
  
  In the meantime, EDF has pushed back against the fishermen's anti-catch share protests, organizing and financing small groups of fishermen to counter arguments that catch share systems and associated federal allocation decisions have sent fishing communities spiraling into economic decline.
  
  EDF brought about 40 fishermen to Washington, D.C. for a work week of lobbying Congress in the days after last February's "United We Fish" protest, and packed a committee hearing room with a T-shirted team last spring to dispute the anti-catch share testimony of Brian Rothschild, the widely respected marine scientist at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth who has noted the flawed science used to set NOAA's regulations and catch limits and stood as an ally of the fishing industry.
  
  Enviro groups opposed, too
  
  EDF, also the prime incubator of the so-called "cap and trade" economic policy, has also dawn opposition within the environmental community.
  
  Among other environmental groups, Food and Water Watch and Ecotrust have been critical of catch share programs.
  
  Food and Water Watch opposes what it says has amounted to the privatization of fisheries, and notes that in virtually all cases, commodification has caused equity and wealth to shift into larger, stronger corporate hands and away from the small, independent boats and businesses that populate ports like Gloucester.
  
  Ecotrust, meanwhile, has issued a critique of "what amounts to the country's first wholesale privatization of a natural resource."
  _________________
  Join the RFA: http://www.joinrfa.org/Join_RFA.htm
  Captain Keith Logan

[Capt. DQ]

• EVERYONE, this is URGENT!!!!
  
  
  
  CONTACT your Congress person TODAY, NOW, to support the Jones Amendment #548 to HR-1. We have a golden opportunity to STOP CATCH SHARES NOW!!!!!
  
  FAX and/or EMAIL your Representative NOW!!!! This is real and you can believe this as the ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE, GULF of MEXICO REEF FISH SHAREHOLDERS ALLIANCE, and the GULF FISHERMEN’S ASSOCIATION have all come out stressing that Congressmen should vote NO on this Amendment. All 4 of these groups support catch shares.
  
  
  
  ACT NOW!!!!!! SHUT DOWN CATCH SHARES!!!!!
  
  
  
  WASHINGTON - Feb. 16, 2011 - Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) has filed an anti-catch shares amendment to H.R. 1 - the Fiscal Year 2011 Continuing Resolution which will fund the federal government through the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011 (i....e. September 30, 2011).
  
  Amendment #548 was printed in the Congressional Record today. The amendment would prohibit NOAA from spending any money on the development and approval of new catch share programs in fisheries under the jurisdiction of the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management. It does NOT affect anything on the West Coast or Alaska.
  
  This amendment could come up for floor consideration, and potentially a vote, this evening or tomorrow.
  
  Mr. Jones asks industry members who support his amendment to contact their Member of Congress in the House of Representatives and urge them to support the Jones Amendment #548 to block funding for catch shares
  _________________

[Capt. DQ]

• Amendment #548 to H.R. 1 Passes House at 1:43 AM
  
  Passes House at 1:43 AM, .......... Now the senate has to pass it! ........ Just click on the link below and it loads itself for the house debate....... It takes a minute or two to load up after you click on it, so be patient!
  
  The floor debate on the Amendment can be viewed here:
  
  http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Hous ... stop/50773
  
  Passed the United States House of Representatives on a recorded vote of 259-159..
  
  Thanks to all who made phone calls and send in emails and faxes. The fight is not over...
  
  
  Now we need to be on the phone plus sending emails and faxes to our Senators and Senators from other States too to support the Senate Amendment to Block Spending on Catch Shares...
  
  Kudos too Rep Jones for making this amendment.
  
  Kudos to Rep Franks for standing up and Opposing Catch Shares...
  
  Now we need to call and set Rep Moran from VA. That Catch Shares are bad for us. On the commercial side Catch Shares are a bad idea because the INC's and Fishhouse owners will wind up owning all the shares. The little will get screwed! You can tell that EDF got to him the last few days, by the way he talks... Here is his phone number we need to still burn up his phone to keep him from talking about what EDF told him... Rep Moran 202-225-4376
  
  Senate Contact info
  http://www.senate.gov/general/resources ... e_list.pdf
  
  Area code for DC is (202). Just follow the directions on the top of each of the above to get full phone number for each guy's D.C. office.
  
  Thanks
  Keith
  
  
  Jones Amendment to Block Spending on Catch Shares Passes House of Representatives
  
  WASHINGTON - Feb. 19, 2011 (Saving Seafood) - Amendment #548 to H.R. 1 sponsored by Walter Jones (R-North Carolina) and cosponsored by Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) and Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) passed the United States House of Representatives on a recorded vote of 259-159 at 1:43 a.m.
  
  The Amendment would prevent funds from being expended by NOAA to enact new limited access fishing programs. The Amendment, if H.R. 1 is passed by the Senate and signed into law, would prevent spending on new catch shares programs.
  
  51 Democrats joined 208 Republicans voting in favor of the Amendment.
  
  Amendment No. 548 to H.R. 1 would ensure that no funds made available in the continuing resolution may be used to develop or approve new limited access privilege programs for any fishery under the jurisdiction of the South Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, New England or Gulf of Mexico Fishery Managment Councils.
  
  This would prevent further spending on "Catch Shares" programs, a heavily-promoted fisheries policy of the Obama Administration under Dr. Jane Lubchenco's leadership at NOAA. The policy, backed by several environmental groups, has been controversial. The Catch Shares policy has faced widespread opposition by East Coast fishermen.
  
  The Amendment does not affect fishing programs on the West Coast or Alaska.
  
  Link to: FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 130: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll130.xml

[Capt. DQ]

• Copied this from Fryingpantower.com
  
  Leave it to good old John F Kerry of MA to support something before he opposes it, again. I can not tell by reading this if he is in favor of or opposed to catch shares.
  
  The other MA Senator (Brown) is clearly opposed to catch shares
  
  Gloucester Times reports Massachusetts Senators' positions on Jones Amendment
  
  
  GLOUCESTER, Mass. - Feb. 28, 2011 - The Gloucester Times has reported the positions of Massachusetts Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown on the Jones Amendment, which would block NOAA funding of new catch share programs and which passed the House of Representatives 259-159 with 51 Democrats (including 8 of 10 Massachusetts Congressmen) joining a majority of Republicans.
  
  Senator Kerry, the senior senator from Massachusetts and a Democrat, stated: "We all share the frustrations that led to the Jones Amendment," Kerry in a statement e-mailed to the Times. "But if there's no viable path for it to become law right now, what's the best practical route forward to get the job done?"
  
  Kerry's press secretary, Whitney Smith, told the Times she did not believe the statement meant he had decided against voting for the Jones amendment.
  
  Both Republican and Democratic Capitol Hill sources in both the House and Senate have indicated that the Senate Majority Leadership (Democratic) and the House Majority Leadership (Republican) are leaning toward supporting a "clean" continuing resolution with no amendments. However what will actually happen remains uncertain.
  
  Kerry concluded that he would "keep working with our fishermen to fix the way catch shares are implemented in New England, and get the relief and results our guys deserve, end of story." He added, "I'll do that by any means that are necessary and viable."
  
  Senator Brown, a Republican, told the Times via email that he would vote for the House-approved federal budget amendment to cut off funding for introducing new catch share programs. His press secretary, Colin Reed said: "Sen. Brown believes we should stop funding NOAA's current catch share policy, and (he) looks forward to working with his Senate colleagues to do just that."
  _________________

[In Memory Walter K]

John Kerry is the epitome of "doublespeak" and you will not know how he will vote until after it's all over...and then he will deny it. How anyone could have thought this man was Presidential material speaks volumes about brains behind the Democratic Party.

[John Brownlee]

Another perspective, without the hysteria.

JB

Opinion
Another Foolish Move By Congress
By Peter Roff
Published March 01, 2011
FoxNews.com

A new Government Accountability Office details billions in potential cuts Congress can make to the budget just by streamlining the federal government.

The 345-page GAO report released Tuesday identified nearly two score areas in which federal programs duplicate one another’s functions, are spread across several departments and agencies – making them candidates for consolidation – or are simply wasteful when it comes to the efficient use of taxpayer dollars.

In it’s zeal to find ways to cut federal spending the U.S. House of Representatives has focused instead on some things that are actually worthwhile rather than the waste. For example, while putting together the continuing resolution to fund the federal government through the end of the current fiscal year, the House voted to block federal funds from being used to expand “catch shares” -- the free market fisheries management system first established during the Bush Administration in 2008.

Contrary to what some claim, the ban won’t save the taxpayers any money; in fact it’s likely to put them on the hook for billions more in subsides for fisheries management.

Traditional U.S. fisheries management has been a failure. Over the last decade the federal government has spent nearly a billion dollars bailing out failed federally managed fisheries -- all without improving economic, environmental or biological conditions.

The result hasn’t just been bad for the taxpayer. Because of the way the subsidies work, they’ve been bad for the fishermen and bad for the fish. The traditional approach to fisheries management forces everyone to compete against one another in a race to “catch” as much of the fishing supply as possible –leading to dwindling resources and contributing to inefficiencies and distortions in the marketplace.
The better approach is to rely on the free-market and on property rights.
The Bush administration – which sought to grow the number of fisheries managed under a program known as “catch shares” said in its FY 2008 budget submission to Congress that “[M]arket-based approaches … move fisheries management away from cumbersome and inefficient regulatory practices and have been shown to lead to lengthened fishing seasons, improved product quality, and safer conditions for fishermen.”

Catch share systems change the existing dynamic, giving fishermen a more secure stake in the resources they use, improving the economics for their personal and business lives while encouraging conservation of a national resource that too often languishes in the tragedy of the commons.
What the “catch share” system does is provide fishermen and other fishery participants with a license to harvest a specific amount of fish.

Those shares can be redeemed through fishing or they can be sold or leased to other concerns. The utilization of a property-rights based licensing system gives fisherman more freedom to fish – or not to fish should they choose or should circumstances require – and ultimately gives them greater control over their lives while providing a more reliable revenue stream and notably allowing for better management of resources without the need for onerous or excessive government regulation.

This isn’t just theory – where “catch shares” has been implemented fishermen have seen an increase in profitability and wages. In New England fleet-wide profits are up 10 percent over the same time last year. Wages have increased more than 100 percent for crew fishing in the Alaska crab catch share program. The implementation of the Alaska halibut “catch share” increased the price received by fishermen and improved the competitiveness of Alaska caught halibut in international markets.

In the Gulf of Mexico, since the implementation of the red snapper catch share program in 2007, the value of the fishery (based on quota prices) has increased by 82 percent and the inflation adjusted ex-vessel price of red snapper has increased by 17 percent.

The program is also popular within the industry. In the Gulf of Mexico, fishermen have voted overwhelmingly to approve catch shares (by at least 80 percent for both red snapper and grouper catch share programs. In an Oregon Trawl Commission poll, twice as many fishermen responded to move forward with catch shares in the Pacific ground fish trawl fishery than to delay.

Catch share is not only a better deal for the fishing industry, its good for the U.S. taxpayer. A recent study published in the December 2010 Journal of Sustainable Development finds that Limited Access Privilege Programs – one form of catch share program -- would help reduce the federal deficit by over a billion dollars if broadly implemented in the U.S. The study reports that the government’s costs of administering these programs are exceeded by the revenues to the government from more profitable fisheries.

The benefits of catch shares, relative to tradition fisheries management programs, should be obvious. Taxpayers save. Fishermen profit. And the stability it encourages in the industry inevitably leads to a stronger, more stable fishing economy that broadens the tax base at the local, state and federal level.

While taxpayers of all stripes support efforts to reduce spending and control waste in government, attacking the catch shares program is pennywise and pound foolish. Given all the evidence that it is a success on most every level, Congress would be wise to continue and expand the catch shares program. As the GAO report makes clear, there are plenty of places where smart cuts can be made that actually will save the taxpayers money; this just isn’t one of them.

Peter Roff is a senior fellow at the non-partisan Institute for Liberty as well as a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/03/ ... z1FS2kwD4o

[Capt. DQ]

From above,

Traditional U.S. fisheries management has been a failure. Over the last decade the federal government has spent nearly a billion dollars bailing out failed federally managed fisheries -- all without improving economic, environmental or biological conditions.

That statement should not suprise anyone, just look at us now.

John,

Please tell me your take on this quota catch share in point on Sword's for me please, if the U.S. does not meet it's quota on Swords each year, it stands to lose its quota share to foreign fleets or country's instead of letting the stocks keep on rebuilding itself?

Where's the logic in that for conservation, even though the stock is supposely rebuilt, but for how long will that last with our quota's being given away which lower's our ratio.

The Larger Commerical Fisheries do like catch shares as it protects their livelyhoods and them, but as for everybody else, on well and that is not hysteria to some. Most all Rec. fishermen I know are for conservation and agree with it and practice it without rules. But there are some who need some serious training agreed.

Just like people need to take a boating course before purchasing a boat so they know the rules of the water, just like drivers edu in school for young adults, although that is still a scarey thought to me for some drivers.

Doug

[John Brownlee]

Doug, I think they should reduce the overall swordfish quota if we can't catch it. Leave them in the water. The idea that these fish are somehow "wasted" if someone doesn't harvest them is nuts, but that's what's happening, and the eastern Atlantic fleets can't wait to suck up our quota.

On the catch shares issue, remember that NOAA is not going to implement them for recreational fishermen, they're only looking at the concept for commercial guys and maybe charter boats. The charter boat issue is the trickiest, I don't believe it will work there.

I continue to think that in SOME commercial fisheries, it COULD be a good thing if properly implemented. Once again, big if, but as this article points out, catch shares programs can actually take government out of fishery management, with the exception of setting quotas, and let the free market determine events. Capitalism at its best.

I'm more concerned about Annual Catch Limits, another provision in Magnuson inserted in the 2006 reauthorization. I'm particularly worried about ACLs (which are the same as TACs, Total Allowable Catch) for dolphin, wahoo and cobia. There is absolutely zero evidence that dolphin and wahoo are in any danger whatsoever, and no baseline data on their abundance. There is only slightly more information regarding cobia. All three species should be excluded from ACL limitations in my view because any limit would be arbitrary.

[In Memory Walter K]

John-Wouldn't that be reason enough to oppose it? It gets more confusing every day.

[John Brownlee]

Could be Walter, it sure is confusing. I do think creating ACLs for dolphin, wahoo and cobia is a bad idea, and I also think catch shares for charter boats is a bad idea.

But I also think the government has made a mess of fishery management. It's hard to imagine that anyone thinks the current system is really working.

On another note, are you still in touch with Bobby Bodden in Grand Cayman? I still talk about the rotary club dinner we went to with Chef Tell. That was my first and last experience with Indian curried goat.

[In Memory Walter K]

Although retired for a while now I have maintained my friendships with many of my Caymanian friends, Bill Rewalt who introduced me to Bobby Bodden and Heather has unfortunately passed away recently, but Bobby and Heather are fine. I will pass on your regards.

[Capt. DQ]

John,

Agreed, but better to voice up early and lay down a guantlet. An gather the troops as they are slow to gather up sometimes until its been changed and wondering how that happen. Also I'm worried about who's agenda is this really going to benefit.

Doug

[Fisherdude]

Having been a commercial fisherman, rec fisherman, a fish monger the problem I see is fishermen do not stand together. Baymen hate rec people, draggers hate tuna guys, bill fishermen hate all others, black fishermen hate seabass guys. The list goes on forever. Till that chnges we will get the shaft.

What Brew said! :(

[CaptPatrick]

Consumer advocacy group asks Congress to fight catch shares and Lawmakers, fishermen call for more reform to NOAA