NMFS Meeting recap

[quack quack]

The LLers want to upgrade there boats :shock: and can.The problem is if they let the LLers do it then all fisherys would want the same and that would be very bad.

[Broadbill-Pro]

It appears that handlines are going to be the sacrificial lamb that the recreational sector is willing to throw into the pot to say they are willing to contribute to the cause. In other words, give us what we want and you can have something we don't care about anyway. I do have to say I support the theory that if commercial LL is restricted in this area, handlines and possibly Charter fishing should be also. Is there a difference between being paid to kill a fish that will be eaten and being paid to let someone else kill a fish that will be eaten? Not an opinion, just a question????? Where do we cross the line in the commercial fishing sector?

I have been to many NMFS meetings going back to 1980 or so. This was without a doubt the most behaved group that I have experienced. Possibly due to the prewarning on this forum and the overall consenses that this area should remain closed. You guys should be applauded.

Ellen Peel was to the point and very imformative, I have gained new respect for TBF thru her, but I am not so naive to think she does not know her way around the negotiating table and how to get what she wants with that big smile.

Bouncer was full of energy, the story of giant killing, lost gear and broken gaffs reminds me that before we attempt to take on these fish we should be responsible enough to make sure we are able to harvest the fish we injure.

Skip and Bobby did well, I am jealous of their ability to reform =D> . I have to work on that (this ones for you Ron38 :thumright: )

Greg from Fishermans Best was actually able to draw applause and at the same time make the point that there has been a sacrifice in the recovery of this local fishery.

Rich from Bluewater was informative as well, including stating the size of the fish that are currently being harpooned off Canada.

Tommy Greene, 47 fish out of 50 hooks :shock: :^o all I can say!


It was great to meet many of the forum members and old faces that I have not seen in years. I was surprised to discover how many fisherman both rec and commercial read this BS. I think the last few weeks have been a great learning experience for all of us thru this forum.

I met Mike who runs this pony show, I have to say this is the most functional web site and I want to thank you again for maintaining it.

[Mike]

Nice meeting you guys last night. I'm happy with the turnout and the level of professionalism last night. We'll have to get together and fish one night...

[Verado06]

thanks for the summary boys. we couldnt make it.. new born in the family taking all our time.

[Tom L]

I attended the meeting last night and although I do not have a long history in this fishery or personal knowledge of "the way it used to be", the storyline was very well articulated by a number of well-prepared, and highly-credentialed speakers. The group as a whole was extremely "calm cool and collected" (with a few exceptions) and made a statement by the professional approach of both the Recs and the Comms who were in attendance.

The NMFS however, began the presentation with some factual information. To me, the purpose of that information was to prepare the audience for the "likely direction" that the fishery is going to take. It seemed that the underutilized quota issue is a "done deal" in their mind, and without elaborating too much, the NMFS was hinting that their real goal was to find a way to convince ICCAT that the US will increase the % they take from the allocated amount. I would imagine that if NMFS could show some hard factual evidence and a "proposal" to increase the catch to ICCAT, they could attend the bargaining sessions with much more ammunition and feel confident that the US total allocation would not be reduced. It didn't appear that the suggestions made last night offered up a "end all" proposal to help them do that. Near the end of the session, I was asking myself, would I prefer to have full-on LLrs back in, or accept some more buoy gear "experiments".........like, which would be the lesser of 2 evils. If we had to choose one, which would it be? just my obeservations, but it seems they need "something" to load their guns with....whether it be opening up part of our area, parts of other areas, or some other techniques that might get the number of tons landed up there....

[Whitewater]

All, I live up north and have greatly enjoy sword fishing a few times a year. Being unable to attend I just wanted to send a big Thanks to all that did.

[e-money]

Originally Posted by Flatsfish B

Fish always, nicely written...

The reason a lot of our LL fleet wants to fish here is they have small boats. A LL permit can only be tranfered to a boat of the same size and horsepower. So to them the 40-60' boats you heard of last night can not run to the grand bank safely.

As far as bouys go, no bouy guy can fish 35 bouys PERIOD 20 wouldn't even be realistic for the most part. But that is not something you or I can proove that is something we are told by the guys who do it and it is up to you to beleive or not. As far as loosing gear, i'm sure it can happen. But imo it is no worse then all of these fish stories where the line breaks over 50-a few hundred feet away from the hook. Isn't that causing the same thing in the end?

[quote]


To FlatsfishB:

Hey Barry, glad you were able to attend. While it may not be feasible for most boats to fish 35 buoys, we have seen some boats off Jupiter that can and apparently DO. Last week, we counted a total of over 55 buoys spread out over an approx 3.5 mile stretch. Unless two or more boats were possibly working the same line together?

I take NO issue w the handline gear, but vehemently oppose the idea of opening up new areas to longlining. I hope that we can come up with a
solution that will be mutually agreeable to the rec / commercial sectors. :

[pachi7tre]

Here's some info they handed out.




Just trying to upload some of this stuff so that people who weren't there know what was handed out.

[Beerman]

E$.......I have never seen that many??? You sure it just didnt look like 20 or so with strobes??? Anyway it wasnt who I know, but have heard of a guy that jsut doesnt care.

Boy this whole thing is a mess :twisted:

[e-money]

Originally Posted by Beerman

E$.......I have never seen that many??? You sure it just didnt look like 20 or so with strobes??? Anyway it wasnt who I know, but have heard of a guy that jsut doesnt care.

Boy this whole thing is a mess :twisted:

Beerman, it was NOT who you know & I like / respect him.


We were utterly astounded, because we moved to get out of his way & had to travel for 3-4 miles before we were clear off all the gear.
Can only surmise that there were a couple boats working together & don't want to beat a dead horse or stir the pot more than necessary.

[Captain Ollie]

Broadbill......shutting the the whole area down is just me just going to the extreme in trying to make my point. Wouldn't that ultimatley be most beneficial to the fish in such a "sensitive nursery/spawning ground?"

If you or anyone else on this forum wants to tell me that the quantities of boats fishing out here on nice nights doesn't make some sort of impact you are living in a fantasy land. Your talking upwards of 500+ hooks in the water. The thing that really sucks is the fact that there are a lot of people out there that still fish multiple hooks on one rig (stingers). Having seen first hand the physical damage done to all size fish by these rigs I can tell you that release is really not an option. Unless you are some sort of barbarian and consider a "floater" to be a successful release. I don't think the fish that are released with giant lacerations are good candidates for long term survival either. Niether are the ones that have been exhuasted to the brink from a long drawn out fight. Then there's all the large fish being broken off and are left to swim off trailing hundreds of yards of line. They are as good as dead also. Mention that to someone and you generally get the response "The sharks gotta eat to." Nice really nice. I think the sharks will do just fine on their own without us serving up an easy dinner.

AND Broadbill I don't know how you seem to have pulled the gillnet/longline card on me here when you and anyone else who's read my posts knows I can't stand that type of gear to begin with. Its non descriminating and kills everything in its path. Get rid of it.

Fishalways you are correct in your statements about the bouys as to set up and quantities of hooks. There are several different ways to set up the bouys be it one two or three bouys to one drop. I happen to think that there are some flaws in this regulation and the allowable design and quantitiy of gear that can be fished. It IS and WAS intended to be a VISUAL RANGE, CLOSELY TENDED FISHERY. SO if you push the limits to 35 and fish one bouy per drop with 2 hooks you must have some damn good vision. Thats Superman status if you ask me.

I fish a three bouy set up with up to 10 individual drops. My rigs are triple lit just for redundancy. I use two stobes on my high flyer-one large white strobe on the top of a 5ft high flyer and one yellow strobe at the bottom. I also fish a yellow lighstick on top of my main rigid ball. Granted I didn't start out with this set up but have ultimately refined it to this to make it as close to 100% safe as possible. I just want to do my best to prevent "ghosting" of the gear. I think it would be a good thing if the approved bouy setup could be modified to reflect an intent of making it as environmentally friendly as possible. 35 individaul drops is just plain outrageous. But thats fisheries management for you. The wording of the regulation should be changed to allow a maximum of somewhere between 10 to 16 with requirements for use of a high flyer, more than one light source and possible a radar reflector.

As for anyones fears of legions of boats out here starting to fish this gear I do think they are well warranted. The fact that there are recreational guys fishing gear now is just plain ridiculous. This is where your biggest conflicts are going to happen. I can't tell you how many times I get asked if I had been out the night before and it wasn't me. This loophole has got to be closed...............AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
As for the commercial guys that fish it I think the NMFS should set a severe limit as to the number of boats that can fish it period. Maybe thru the issuance of an an additional permit that must be held in conjunction with the other three you already must have? The three of us that started it and maybe just a couple others. Its a concept known as "limited entry" and it works. It would be much better to ACT now rather than REACT later when its gotten out of hand.

[PURPLE FEVER]

Captain Ollie great post as always. I'm sorry I did'nt get a chance to meet you last night. Perhaps I'm wrong but I think the anti-bouy gear position is being targeted against the apparent "recreational"angler loophole. Most of the regulars know who these few abusers are. Hopefully there will be enough peer pressure to put an end to it before January.My understanding was that special permitting is required for commercial fishing in this manner, and that there is only a handful of those out there and that it is nearly impossible to obtain one today.Please correct me if I am wrong. Personally I have no problem with the current number of "LICENSED" bouy gear fishermen, but would change my opinion if too many operators were out there and especially if each one fished 35 bouys. :shock:

[Nick C]

Why can't we just keep things as they are now??? Keep the closed zones closed... japan, spain, etc have the same quota... etc...

just a question.

I don't have a problem with bouy gear... the few guys doing it now are fine. I have NO problems with them. But having everyone and their brother fishing handline gear out there, that would cause problems! Shit, a friday night in december on the 50 and the 04 is a pain to fish even with just guys fishing a rod/reel spread. What the point of a me or another rec fishing bouys if I can still only kill 3 fish. That's not going to help put a dent in the quota.



Those are just questions/comment... don't kill me!! correct me if I'm wrong

BTW, Capt. Ollie's not what I expected! he ain't too bad though lol.

[Nick C]

Sorry... did read Purple fever's post. Guess I kinda repeated what he said/asked about the current number of handline guys

[Flatsfish B]

Originally Posted by Nick C

Why can't we just keep things as they are now??? Keep the closed zones closed... japan, spain, etc have the same quota... etc...

just a question.




BTW, Capt. Ollie's not what I expected! he ain't too bad though lol.

The reason we can not keep it this way is because when NMFS goes to ICCAT they are representing us. ICCAT (who is put in place to make sure the WORLD is catching just the right amount of swordfish) is going to ask why havent you caught your quota. Then another country is going to say "wel if they are catching 30% give us 30% to at least help them, and give that country 10% etc. NMFS is going to have a hard time telling ICCAT not to take there fishery when scientist are saying our fishery is up to par.

[Nick C]

yea i guess