Excerpts from from an e-mail from the Recreational Fishing Alliance (it is not the complete e-mail, mostly because some out-of-state info was omitted):

Heading into the New Year, we should look back on all that was accomplished in 2007. RFA staff, State Chapter Representatives and volunteers across the country contributed enormous efforts to protecting your right to fish. We thank those who worked tirelessly on the numerous critical issues we faced this past year, specifically the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).

RFA has made MSA reform its top priority for 2008.  We recognize that our sport and the industry are facing a crisis and despite the legislative challenge MSA reform puts before us, we see no alternative other than to fight for change.  Our success will depend upon the help of all our members.  Anglers need to contact their local, state and federal legislators and express their support for limited flexibility in federal fisheries law.  At a recent Congressional Hearing on MSA, industry witnesses and fisheries scientists agreed that rigid rebuilding time frames and overfishing are not science based and reduces the efficiency of our fishery management process.  RFA is dedicated to working with members of Congress to ensure that fishermen have access to healthy fish stocks, while at the same time achieve long term conservation goals.  When we accomplish both, we can claim success in fisheries management.  

In this Special Holiday Edition of RFA News, we will highlight important events from this past year.

MSA

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) was reauthorized and signed into law for the first time in ten years in January 2007.  Among the improvements are greater compliance of international fishing treaties, science base criteria for the implementation and monitoring of marine protected areas, and enhancements to recreational data collection problems.  Sections of concern include changes to ending overfishing provisions and rebuilding timeframes, both of which mandate impracticable and arbitrary deadlines.   The concept of applying non-scientific deadlines to management goals was initially established when MSA was reauthorized for the first time in 1996.  At the time, RFA was among the few groups who opposed arbitrary deadlines based on the understanding that the marine environment is a highly complex and ever-changing system.  As we now approach these deadlines, it is apparent that fisheries management can not control all factors effecting marine fish.  In many fisheries, tremendous rebuilding process has been made yet, consistent with basic ecological theory, growth tends to flatten once historical high levels of abundance are reached.  Current rebuilding and ending overfishing deadlines do no consider this and are inflicting unprecedented loss of access to many important recreational fisheries.   

It is apparent that limited flexibility is necessary in fisheries that have displayed promising rebuilding but cannot keep up the same high levels of growth towards the end of the rebuilding timeframe.  The result is quota reductions during times of high biomass.  RFA and top fisheries scientists elaborated on this problem at a recent Congressional Hearing that this effects all federally managed species.  RFA is working with members of Congress to incorporate flexibility in MSA for limited situations that will provide fishermen access to healthy marine fisheries, while still achieving long-term conservation goals.  A bill has been introduced in Congress by Walter Jones (R-NC), co-sponsored by Barney Frank (D-MA) and Timothy Bishop (D-NY).  RFA, in addition to members of the House Resources Committee, is working with the sponsors and co-sponsors of this bill to produce a final bill that address this problem.  RFA recognizes this is a legislative challenge, but the current crisis demands our action. 

Longline closures

Many will agree that offshore fishing for marlin, swordfish, and sailfish along the south Atlantic coast of the country is the best it has ever been.  This outstanding fishing has much to do with the implementation of pelagic drift longline closed areas off of South Carolina and the east coast of Florida.  These areas were closed to protect non-target bycatch associated with this gear as well as to protect juvenile swordfish grounds.  As a result, swordfish have made a remarkable comeback, which now supports a thriving recreational swordfish fishery.  Furthermore, marlin, sailfish, and tuna have all benefited from both closures. 

In response to a sluggish domestic swordfish market and competition from foreign imports, commercial swordfish landings have declined in recent years.  NMFS, hoping to spur commercial swordfish landings, proposed allowing upwards of 13 pelagic drift longline vessels into the closed areas to evaluate the level of bycatch and its associated mortality through the issuance of scientific exempted fishing permits.  The ultimate goal was to allow longline gear back into these important closed areas.  RFA was adamantly opposed to this proposal and launched a massive letter campaign against it.  Ultimately, NMFS declined the permits for the original proposal of 13 vessels but is now considering permits for 2 vessels.  RFA stands firm in its opposition. 

Menhaden

Two bills have been introduced in Congress, one by Representative Gilchrist and the other Representative Saxton that would eliminate the harvest of menhaden for reduction purposes.  Many states along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts have already prohibiting this industry scale fishery from their state coastal waters and bays based on impacts this fishery has on the marine environment.  Menhaden have long been identified as one of the most important in the ocean responsible for improved water quality and serving as the keystone forage fish for many state and federally managed fish species.  Dr. Bruce Franklin, RFA Forage Advisor Due to the political influence surrounding the main company prosecuting this fishery, this destructive activity has been allowed to continue much too long.  RFA is supporting the passage of these bills,

ICCAT

At the ICCAT Annual meeting in Turkey, the US Delegation offered a recommendation to impose a moratorium on the harvest of Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna.  Harvest of eastern Atlantic bluefin has habitually exceeded its harvest with many contracting nations failing to comply with ICCAT harvest recommendations.  Offered to send a strong message to ICCAT members, the moratorium recommendation failed to receive the enough votes to be enacted.   Other important outcomes of the meeting were the approval of an albacore rebuilding plan and including bigeye as a priority species for 2008. 

Summer Flounder

Experiencing a stalled recovery and a fast approaching rebuilding deadline, the summer flounder fishery in taking another substantial quota reduction in 2008 and is expected to experience even large cuts through the end of the rebuilding plan.  The issue is not necessarily the size of the stock which scientists and fisheries managers all agree is at history high levels of abundance but the rate at which the stock is increasing.   Federal law requires the summer flounder biomass reach 198 million pounds by 2013.  Currently, the stock size is about half of the rebuilding target and increasing by about 6 million pounds a year.  Simple math illustrates the Herculean task ahead and the divesting regulations that will have to come down on in order to meet this impossible goal.  RFA is working with members of Congress to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to allow flexibility in limited situations, such as summer flounder.  It has been widely discussed that even if all fishing for summer flounder stopped, the rebuilding goal still would not be achieved.  Nevertheless, federal law demands that summer flounder be rebuilt.  This is a serious problem that must be fixed. 

RFA submitted comments in favor of a 15.77 million pound summer flounder quota in 2008.  It appears that this meager quota may in fact be the highest quota for summer flounder in the coming years unless the law is amended.  Extreme environmental groups are pressuring NMFS to impose a 2008 quota closer to 11 million pounds.  If an 11 million pound quota is put in place, the recreational summer flounder fishery would most likely be an incidental fishery. 

HR 21

HR 21, The Oceans 21 bill, attempts to merge recommendations offered by the US Commission on Ocean Policy and Pew Oceans Commission reports and link activities that occur on land and in the atmosphere to the health of the marine environment.  While RFA supports this concept and agree that is approach complies with ecosystem base management, HR 21 creates a level of bureaucracy that would severely limit any activity having even a slight chance

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