Swordfisherman Alert

[Ron.38 Special]

Dear Fellow Swordfishermen:

As you have already read, the NMFS will be holding a meeting on Wed. Sept 27th 2006 to try and find ways to increase the swordfish catch for the US quota. The longliners will be asking to come into the closed areas off of Florida.

We are asking that every recreational angler show up. We will have a free T-shirt for the first 200 anglers that arrive.

We are not asking you to speak so we can make this a fast meeting. We will have a few key speakers addressing the topic of the meeting. We will be short and to the point. All we ask of you is to stand in unison to show your support for the recreational fishing.

We ask everyone to get there early.

September 27, 2006 from 7 -9 PM at the Broward County Main Library which is at 100 South Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301.

Sincerely,

The SE Swordfish Club

[Captain Ollie]

I'm there.

[Uncle Buck]

Didn't need a free shirt to persuade me... I'll be there.

[RiskTaker]

Originally Posted by Uncle Buck

Didn't need a free shirt to persuade me... I'll be there.

Uncle Buck:

It is not so much a shirt being free, it is more so intended as, a sign of solidarity.

When it comes down to Swordfishing, without using Longline methods, whether you are purely recreational, a charter boat captain, or Hand gear style fisherman: we all have a stake in demonstrating our concerns for the future of swordfishing.

It is very important that we demonstrate a united cause. A uniform, a/k/a an identical shirt and a consistent "Voice of the Masses" as demonstrated by a Huge turnout come next Wednesday evening, will make a bold statement as an NMFS recommendation.

Please make it your individual contribution and do your utmost to attend this meeting.

Directions to meeting place: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp...unty%20Library

[quack quack]

It is funnt it went from no one asking to open the staits to now they are pushing for it.In one of the reg threads I said they would be asking and it is an end around by nmfs to open the straits.I will try to be there for sure

[pachi7tre]

I'll be there :thumleft:

[Fuzzy Details]

I'll go if Pachi brings his Avatar.

[Broadbill-Pro]

Eric,

I believe the proposal is to open the area from about 24'10n to the southwest and 27'30n to the north.

That would leave +/- 190 miles of coast from Marathon Hump to past Fort Pierce closed. That area is not under consideration for reopening.

The Straits of Florida is detailed as 21'n to 27'50n along our coast. The current closed area goes to 31'n

Local interaction (St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Broward, Dade and 1/2 of Eastern Monroe Counties) with Longlines is not proposed. The statement that LL's are asking to come into closed areas off of Florida is being purposely deceiving.

If the proposal turns out to include this 190 mile stretch, my shirt size is XXL. If not, I am willing to sacrifice opening these seldom used recreational areas in an attempt to retain our International quota. I know this can not satisfy everyone, but there must be a sacrifice somewhere.

[The BEAST]

Oh boy, here we go. Theres an old saying. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Our Government and their agencies always have a way of sugar coating what they want and then back dooring you while your head is turned.

I am going to try to make the meeting up there, hopefully. I'll try to get some of the Cutler Ridge guys here to come as well. I'm going to spread the words at Miltons Ultimate Angler tonight.

Capt. Jim
The BEAST

[Uncle Buck]

Originally Posted by RiskTaker

It is not so much a shirt being free, it is more so intended as, a sign of solidarity.

Ah! I didn't think of it that way... great idea! :thumleft:

[Fuzzy Details]

Originally Posted by Broadbill-Pro

I am willing to sacrifice opening these seldom used recreational areas in an attempt to retain our International quota. I know this can not satisfy everyone, but there must be a sacrifice somewhere.

I'm not taking a shot at anyone, just trying to understand.

Why do we (recreational fishing guys) care if we retain our International quota?

Do we only care in the aspect of our (US Commercial Fishing Fleet) being able to sell more fish and compete with the rest of the world?

Yes the sword population is on the rise but it does not appear that they are near the sizes prior to the LL days.

Other then the ban of indiscriminent and destructive fishing methods, what are we fighting for?

[Uncle Buck]

Very basic reply with my limited knowledge... If the US fleet is not taking it's full share of the quota, foreign fleets will lobby to be able to fish our waters and take what we are unable to.

[reel life]

i'll be there and have a few words to say
the area was closed for a reason lets keep it that way.
if we allow lliners to put a fence at each end of the area we fish what is going to be left to catch, i think we know. also the area was closed to protect small fish and to protect other HMS species
now if they would like to open up more rod and reel permits or hand gear permits bring them on
but the long liner does not want this. they do not want more competition they just want the fish that are here. close to shore with little fuel bills.
i would rather see us with a closed season than to go back to the good old days of no fish.

[Islander]

I personally do not want LLers in my back yard Period!!!

If I have to fish with them so should everybody that lives on the east coast of Florida. No quarter given.

A group of us from Vero and Sebastian have already made plans to be there and we will be more than happy to stand quietly in support with our other Florida Swordfishing brothers......right up to the point that us "Northerners" get sold out, then all bet's are off :doubt:

[reel life]

i agree with you 100%

[Ambitious]

I agree with Islander / there are quite a few of us fishing Ft Pierce and North and we will not be very happy to have LLs just north of us. Right now what little LL activity is up here is far east and north - let's keep it that way. I am sure the local LL boats would love to cut their fuel expenses by setting closer in and they likely will if given the chance.

[Broadbill-Pro]

Originally Posted by Uncle Buck

Very basic reply with my limited knowledge... If the US fleet is not taking it's full share of the quota, foreign fleets will lobby to be able to fish our waters and take what we are unable to.

Foreign vessels will never fish within 200nm of the US coast again. our unused quota will be given to them to catch in foreign waters and then export the fish to our markets.

[Ambitious]

so that begs the question, why compromise our U.S.conservation measures to revive an already receding domestic fishery? How far do our fish actually move is the key question I would think. If most tag returns remained within our 200 mile limit why worry about the quota? If most tag returns or a large % are outside the limit then yes, its a large concern (looking at it from a conservation standpoint only). We have brought 8 fish boatside in the past 4 weeks off Ft Pierce, not one has crossed 50" and a couple of these were tiny pups. What would it do to the fishery if LLs were harvesting just north of our area along the same line we all fish? I wonder if there is not pressure from the LL operators based upon fuel costs(?)

[The BEAST]

Originally Posted by Broadbill-Pro

Foreign vessels will never fish within 200nm of the US coast again. our unused quota will be given to them to catch in foreign waters and then export the fish to our markets.

Keep talking BBP,

If what you say is correct that the foreign LL's will never be permitted within the 200 mile EEZ, then the only people who really benefit from reaching the quota are the handful of remaining US LL's. The bottom line by your quote is we are only saving the commercial Swordfishing industry, not our fish.

Basically by your admission the rec fisherman are being back doored into believing the Foreiners will be fishing for our Swords when that is not correct. I thought it sounded awful fishy that killing more fish could possibly be the answer to saving OUR fishery. In essence the only person benefiting from all of this is once again the Comm sector.

Its funny how the original rally cry was that everyone needs to band together to save the US quota so the foreigners can't catch our fish and the Straits will never be reopened. Now as more people have a few drinks and continue posting... the truth begins to take shape that if some of the US quota is given away it only allows them to catch more of THEIR fish, not ours, AND the Straits are a target for LL's once again! The "quota" rally should really be "to hell with the rec fishernam, save a hundred commercials LL's instead". The commercial interests are also trying to get rid of the net ban in Florida by having it turned into law, which then can be erradicated by persuading a few of the state legislators to repeal the law, rather than a ban which must be voted out by the majority of the public.

It appears the rec fisherman are once again about to get it stuck to us without a kiss. Maybe Ron.38 Special had something in that post where he blasted away for what was trying to be pulled. Wolves in sheeps clothing!

I am not going to contribute by killing fish or standing up like an a$$ at a meeting which only benefits your X buddies and the buoy bandits that are here now. It looks like the joke is about to be on us, once again.

Maybe you would like to enlighten us, if you care to explain your quote. Enough of the rah rah rah, dazzling BS.

Capt. Jim
The BEAST

[Broadbill-Pro]

Some of you guys are thick as wood. Please call Bob Boyle, Skip Smith or other representatives of your fisheries sector. Maybe if the words come from their mouths you will take the salt out of your ears.

This is not my fight and I am begining to wonder why I subject myself to your hostility. I am content flying a kite for sails and deep dropping. If you still believe I have motive in all this you are not only deaf, but blind also.

Hicatch wrote:
Even though most feel ICCAT is not functioning on behalf of fisheries conservation the one voice on the floor that continually errs on the side of conservation is the U.S. Once we lose a large portion of our quota we know longer will sit at the big table and will be rellegated to the back of the room along side the minor harvesting nations. Once this happens the E.U., Japan and the other major harvesters will have free will to dictate fisheries conservation/mismangement as seen to fit their needs. We must do what ever it takes in order to prevent this from happening. I saw first hand at ICAAT in 2004 just how strong a voice we have on the floor and how standoffish the EU and Japan are when it comes to conservation issues, primarily swordfish and blue-fin tuna.

Ron38 wrote:
As I heard said by someone wiser than me on this subject, these are our fish, our kids fish, and our grandkids fish. We, )the US) have a right to our fish and the right to use them any way we want. We have an obligation to our kids to protect our rights to this fish. And, we need to do whatever we can to protect our rights to this fish.

But , we are members of ICCAT and the US can;t give up our position on the Atlantic Fisheries. So we have to work within the system to keep our quota.
NMFS had the job to protect that quota and they must hold these hearing to get the pulse on the users of the resource and the fishermen who catch our quota and protect that ownership.

NMFS is simply brainstorming here so we need to think about what we can do with simple things like reporting our fish, etc. What is best for our fishery should be best for us .

So, we may end up with a meeting in South Fla after all but this isn't about closed zones or opening them, its really about how to catch more fish and report them, commercially or recreationally. At this time that's the only short term action you can take to protect our quota.


The Billfish Foundation wrote:
The failure of the U.S. commercial fleet to take their yearly quota places the U.S. in a position at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) where it is vulnerable to the demands of other countries with developing fleets to share quota. These demands are likely to increase as numerous countries are just now developing a fishery for swordfish.

The Billfish Foundation's concern is three-fold:

One, we want to see the recovery of North Atlantic swordfish continue.

Two, it is likely that the countries that may receive new swordfish quotas are not as committed to conservation as the U.S.

Three, if the U.S. allocation is reduced and reallocated to other countries, then the NMFS might redistribute the U.S. quota within the two U.S. user groups - recreational and commercial fishers. This decision would be based on catch history and could result in the government taking from the recreational fishing community's quota and giving to the commercial swordfish fishery. This is why TBF has maintained that it is very important for anglers to properly report all landings of swordfish. If the recreational fishery has no catch history for swordfish landed, then there is no catch history to base a reallocation upon. No catch history means no allocation.

NMFS knows how much quota the commercial sector requires to maintain current levels, that number is not going to be further reduced in light of recent past regulations and the depressed current state of the commercial sector. If the overall revised quota is reduced in such a way that there is not much remaining after the commercial sector share is distributed, then we will only have the remaining crumbs since recreational fishing is not regarded as necessary.