None of the rhetoric surrounding sector separation in red snapper management seems straight forward. >Shrill best describes some of the tactics by organizations campaigning against this proposal by the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council, which has scheduled a meeting Aug. 5 in Port Aransas to garner public input on the issue also referred to as Proposition 40. >Officially the council says the purpose of dividing the recreational annual allotment of red snapper between private recreational anglers and for-hire outfits “is to define distinct private angling and federal for-hire components of the recreational red snapper fishery and allocate red snapper resources between the components of the recreational sector to increase the stability for the for-hire component, provide a basis for increased flexibility in future management of the recreational sector, and minimize the chance for any recreational quota overruns which could jeopardize the rebuilding of the red snapper stock.” >Allow me to translate. >Currently the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sets an annual quota for the snapper harvest for the entire Gulf. This total is divided between commercial fishermen and recreational anglers. They get 51 percent. We get 49 percent. >Under the proposal, NOAA would create two recreational components for management purposes. Anglers who catch snapper in federal waters from for-hire charter and party boats would get a share of the 49 percent, and anglers who fish from private boats would get a share of the 49 percent. >At this point no one is certain how many snapper each recreational sector would be allowed to catch. We are more certain about how the harvest would be counted in the for-hire sector than we are about how we’ll know when the private recreational sector has reached its quota. Maybe a tag system like we have for deer, turkey and oversized redfish could be adopted. >We know the for-hire sector has been testing a system that would provide an almost exact count of fish taken from the Gulf. And we know at this point that no enforceable system of counting fish caught has floated to the top of the conversation from the private recreational sector. The private recreational interests are suspiciously hushed regarding a tag system, which would allow us to break free of ridiculously short seasons dictated by the federal government. >In large part, this disparity of wills has driven the push for sector separation, which would release anglers who fish from charter and party boats from the shackles of short summer seasons. This year the federal snapper season lasted nine days. >You see, once charter outfits get an individual allotment, they can decide when to harvest those fish. From a business perspective, this makes sense because it allows them to target snapper when the weather is favorable and when their clients want to fish. The commercial sector enjoys a similar system that has boosted profits, reduced waste and improved accountability. >The management goal here is to eliminate the guesswork in tabulating the number of red snapper we all are removing from the Gulf. How can we expect quality management with sustainability as its goal without accurate harvest data? This question is rarely addressed in the rhetoric. >In a reasonable world, recreational anglers would assist in this worthy goal toward improved management. Instead the organizations that represent recreational anglers are fighting against what one group calls a private ownership scheme that steals a public resource from us and gives it to private interests. Really? Folks who fish from party boats are private interests? >One group suggests sector separation might impose further hardships on the for-hire businesses, but it does not define or list these hardships. Somebody please tell me how a party boat business, given a reasonable share of snapper to catch whenever it wants, could possibly suffer a hardship from this system greater than a nine-day season that only contained a single full weekend. >And then there are the scare tactics. Several organizations suggest if this evil scheme is adopted, then we will suffer an avalanche of additional species falling into the hands of private interests to the point that recreational offshore fishing will be lost completely or become unrecognizable as we know it. >Meanwhile others believe getting a better handle on how many fish we take from the sea — really, this is what this is all about — will result in more effective management and greater flexibility, which will lead to more sustainable fisheries and greater opportunities for all. >I say build more artificial reefs in state waters, and leave retired rigs where they stand. >David Sikes’ Outdoors columns appear Thursday and Sunday. Contact Sikes at 361-886-3616 or david.sikes@caller . Twitter: @DavidOutdoors. > > >David Sikes >Outdoors Columnist >Corpus Christi Caller-Times >Chairman of the Board Texas Outdoor Writers Association >361-886-3616 newsroom >361-813-3474 >
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 20:02:32 +0000
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