Miami Herald Sun, Jan. 06, 2008

[Skip Smith]

OUTDOORS | SWORDFISHING

Daytime catches prompt fears
Catching swordfish under the sun -- a boon to the charter boat industry and the recreational community -- has spawned concerns of overfishing.

Posted on Sun, Jan. 06, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY SUSAN COCKING
scocking@MiamiHerald.com

'I hope this thing we've come up with will not lead to the demise of this fish off the planet,' said Richard Stanczyk, left, holding a swordfish Vic Gaspeny caught in daylight - a method Stanczyk pioneered.The recent development of daytime recreational deep-dropping in South Florida is a double-edged swordfishery, according to participants.

Catching big swordfish under the sun has been a huge boon to the charter boat industry and the recreational community.

However, the practice has spawned fears among some of overfishing a valuable resource only recently bouncing back from collapse in the 1980s.

''Now the cat is out of the bag,'' said captain Richard Stanczyk, owner of Bud 'n' Mary's Marina in Islamorada and pioneer of the daytime rod-and-reel swordfishery.

``I hope this thing we've come up with will not lead to the demise of this fish off the planet.''

Absurd, according to North Miami Beach charter captain Ron Schatman, a former commercial longliner.

''I don't think we're hurting anything at all,'' Schatman said. ``I think for a change they ought to leave us alone and let the people who want to go fishing. It's not cheap. It's not easy. For every one we catch, we lose 10.''

Fishermen credit the federal government's 2001 closure of the Florida Straits to swordfish longlining for the species' reappearance in the region.

Formerly caught mainly at night, swordfish weighing hundreds of pounds are being brought in daily by recreational anglers and charter crews dropping dead baits 1,500 to 1,800 deep along the South Florida coast in daylight.

''It's easier to catch a swordfish during the day than it is to catch a tarpon,'' Key West light-tackle guide Rob Delph said.

The most recent assessment performed by scientists with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) shows swordfish stocks throughout the North Atlantic -- not just the Straits -- are nearly rebuilt.

A significant factor in the rebuilding, federal fisheries managers say, is that U.S. commercial longliners haven't landed their ICCAT-allotted quota of swords for more than a decade. NOAA Fisheries' landings update for 2007 states only 16.5 percent of the quota of 4,406 metric tons (dressed weight) were brought in last year. That figure does not include recreational swordfish landings, but they are believed to be a small fraction of the total.

The recovering swordfishery has led to a small -- but thriving -- buoy gear commercial industry in the Straits where relatively small boats deploy up to 35 buoys on a line up to a mile long holding a total of a dozen to two dozen baits down to about 400 feet deep. The recovery also has prompted longliners displaced from the Straits and from South Carolina's offshore Charleston Bump to seek re-entry to these closed areas. NOAA Fisheries announced last week it would allow two longline boats to set a limited amount of gear in portions of the closed areas for a yearlong pilot study on the effectiveness of circle hooks to reduce bycatch of such species as turtles and marine mammals. The study will be conducted by researchers from Nova Southeastern University.

Some recreational and charter fishermen predict the U.S. government will soon reopen the Straits to widespread commercial longlining, wiping out the gains made in the past decade. Even worse, says Pompano Beach captain Skip Smith, longliners and buoy fishermen will learn how to set their gear on the bottom in deep Gulf waters, where he believes large females go to spawn.

''They could do real damage,'' Smith said.

``We're not too far from disaster.''

In the meantime, Smith and Miami Beach captain Bouncer Smith (no relation) say buoy gear should be banned from the Straits.

''Between buoy gear and the assault on the bottom, I don't see how [swordfish] can't collapse,'' Bouncer Smith said.

Pompano Beach's Shawn Benyo, who operates four buoy gear boats, vigorously defends his livelihood, saying it has very little bycatch and few discards.

''We average about 200 pounds of meat a night,'' Benyo said. ``We've never hooked a turtle or a marlin or a marine mammal.''

Benyo said he and his crews tend their gear constantly to enable quick, live release of any undersized swords.

Some say recreational anglers can help swordfish by reporting landings as required to NOAA Fisheries (NMFS Permit Shop) and by resisting the huge temptation to sell their catch illegally in the face of skyrocketing fuel costs and the preponderance of big, high-dollar swords being caught on the bottom in daytime.

Still others, such as captain Ken Harris of Key West, favor stiffer rules on recreational swordfishing, such as banning the use of electric reels to bring fish up from the bottom and harpoons to gaff them. Harris would like to see a reduction in the recreational bag limit -- currently one fish per person up to three per vessel.

''I am absolutely appalled at the electric reels, the harpoons and the number of fish people are willing to kill,'' Harris said.

Said Stanczyk: ``The sophistication and the technology outstrips the fish's ability to survive. How much can you eat?''

[Broadbill-Pro]

Originally Posted by Skip Smith

OUTDOORS | SWORDFISHING

Daytime catches prompt fears

Said Stanczyk: ``The sophistication and the technology outstrips the fish's ability to survive. How much can you eat?''

That's from a guy who admits to catching neary 200 swordfish in 3 years off the bottom.

[kyle]

I know I haven't lived that long or seen too many things, but from what I can remember I have never seen a fishery depleted, or overfished from regular rod/reel fishing. Past history shows that it is only larger commercial exploitations that do the damage i.e LL, Trawls, Seines, Gill Nets ECT

Just interested does anyone know of a fishery overfished due to rods/reels?

[Uncle Buck]

NMFS upped the rec limit to 4 per boat max... regardless of time of day. They're obviously not concerned with the rod-n-reel fleet doing critical damage. Besides... for every boat that has caught a daytimer, how many others have not? It's not a guaranteed method. We've got nearly 30 unsuccessful drops to prove it. Of course, we'll keep trying until we get one... but that'll probably be our last attempt for quite a while.

[snookman86]

how about the guy who said it is easy to catch a daytime sword than a tarpon? You can go places and feep tarpon from your hand!! How hard could catching one be? I dont see anyone hand feeding a sword! But we did see a guy catch one by hand!!

[Broadbill-Pro]

The Delph boys are accomplished Charter Captains, for them and a few others catching a sword on the bottom has about a 100% success rate.

In light of losing 25% of the US North Atlantic Swordfish quota and based on a fishery that the best science says is at 99.9 MSY (MSY = we are catching at a rate less than reproduction) NMFS has determined that a recreational vessel can keep 4 fish per voyage or 1 fish per person. I would hope that responsible fisherman would catch only what they need since we are not talking snapper size fish.

There are 4 or 5 fisherman who are abusing the new fishery, no need to mention who they are because most of us already know. It would not be difficult to trace some of those vessels to illegal sales since there currently is no legal way to sell an electric reel (bottom) caught swordfish in the closed zone.

The big question, is it hurting the stock. I have gone against popular opinion that removing the PLL from the Straits was the result of today's improved fishing. I have always placed the blame on PLL's catching large spawning fish in the Caribbean basin as the problem. I lived the pre-US/PLL Caribbean era and the post-US/PLL Caribbean era and saw first hand the effects. It appears now that many of those spawning fish may use the seabed of the Straits for their summer and Northernmost migration. At the current rate of catches it is doubtful that any harm is being committed. That said we need to be aware that we are touching on the heartbeat of the North Atlantic stock again and any new developments in commercial process should be closely monitored, as well as recs. who are targeting them each time the weather allows.

[Great Escape]

the day-time thing is not as easy as some say it is. I'm 0 for 20 in the drops. A few instances we had a fish on, but pulled the hook.

[savanna lynn]

there talking the keys where it is easy also they make money on charters and imagine the tips they get after dolphin fishing half the day then wacking a swordy
recs can take as many as they want they still cant compete with the # of hooks in one set of a pll

[pushbutton2]

sorry the guy just gets me going everytime I see him or hear his name...

[PURPLE FEVER]

Originally Posted by pushbutton2

Cheating Dirt bag Charter captians like bouncer would be working at publix if it wern't for swordfish and someone showing them how to catch them. Now he want's them all for himself. Reef Police! .....oh sorry I didn't mean to say that... really!

Huh!

[Nick C]

Todd, really.... how do you feel. Don't hold back

[pushbutton2]

Originally Posted by Nick C

Todd, really.... how do you feel. Don't hold back

Nick Sorry ...Long story... Bad sportsmanship.... stuff like that. never mind... i'm good now! back in control!

[RiskTaker]

Until the recreational fleet starts harvesting swordfish by the hundreds of tons, all of the complaining, whining, and fear-factoring about 4 fish per vessel and catching swordfish off the bottom in daytime, or night-time, is a MUTE point.....

My point of view has been crystal clear for several months now: the recreational impact on swordfishing harvest is insignificant, if not negligible ratioed to the harvested mass that is accomplished by the domestic PLL fleet.

If you spend enough time reading pertinent posts on this forum (SFC), real subject matter, reports of data, and not just opines, you may notice that especially now, and going back for more than a decade now that the recreational harvest only accounts for a very small slice of the harvested swordfish pie. One percent, two percent, or less. Anyone want to be so bold as to say 5% ? No matter how thickly you slice it, recreational impact is not a significant contributing factor, even on the Gold Coast specifically.

In cost competitive industry we are smartly compelled to drive out defects, defects being anything that lessens optimal performance, by the most significant contributing cause, typically first. This will most often yield the biggest bang for the buck. Other defects are driven out, typically in descending order from there. The few exceptions are the easy fixes, or "low hanging fruit" if you will.

So if you want to view recreational fish harvest as low hanging fruit and an easy win: I suggest you start heading for the desert. Recreational anglers in this part of the country have been very vocal, and have the power to protest. We may even rise up and fight for our rights if mis-educated souls want to trample on those rights/priveleges.

In a time of "rebuilt fisheries" and a time of opening up commercial PLL studies in the FEC and perhaps elsewhere, it simply does not make much sense to be picking on the recreational harvest, to curtail it further, even if there are a few fish caught by way of electrical reels.

Swordfish that are caught on the bottom are not being harvest on the third reef; they are being boated by fishing in the deep waters of the trough, ranging from 1500-2200 FSW. This is no easy feat and not something that will amount to much by recreational fishermen. I really think, that based upon the results so far people are really crying "wolf", as there is no significant impact.

Show me the data, that the recreational fishermen are catching more breeder fish, before they have spawned, than commercial impact, then I will listen carefully. Maybe I would change my tune if there was proven a significant IMPACT. Otherwise, may I suggest that our "sensationalized daytime fishing" impact may be slightly off base.

Until then, it is just smoke and mirrors. Although I must say that the Miami Herald article was well written with a lot of good information, at least presented, even though I am arguing the intent with this post.

A good forum post nevertheless, even though I boldly disagree with the direction it may be going.

[savanna lynn]

well said see ya on the 3rd reef this week end

[BLUELIGHT SPECIAL]

Originally Posted by pushbutton2
Cheating Dirt bag Charter captians like bouncer would be working at publix if it wern't for swordfish and someone showing them how to catch them. Now he want's them all for himself. Reef Police! .....oh sorry I didn't mean to say that... really!

PUSHBUTTON2 DONT REALLY KNOW YOU. I DO KNOW BOUNCER EXTREMLY WELL AND CHEATING AND DIRTBAG ARE NOT TERMS THAT I WOULD USE TO DESCRIBE HIM. HOPEFULLY YOU CAN GET THINGS WORKED OUT WITH HIM!

[Disco Lady]

COÑO!!!!!!!

[WhItEoUt 23]

Originally Posted by BLUELIGHT SPECIAL

Originally Posted by pushbutton2
Cheating Dirt bag Charter captians like bouncer would be working at publix if it wern't for swordfish and someone showing them how to catch them. Now he want's them all for himself. Reef Police! .....oh sorry I didn't mean to say that... really!

PUSHBUTTON2 DONT REALLY KNOW YOU. I DO KNOW BOUNCER EXTREMLY WELL AND CHEATING AND DIRTBAG ARE NOT TERMS THAT I WOULD USE TO DESCRIBE HIM. HOPEFULLY YOU CAN GET THINGS WORKED OUT WITH HIM!

RIGHT THE FU** ON BLUE LIGHT BOUNCER IS A GREAT GUY AND EVEN A BETTER MAN I GUESS YOU NEVER MET HIM BEFORE...... PUSHBUTTON

[Capt'n Shane]

pushbutton2, what is your real name? Just curious. Not trying to be funny but that is a pretty slanderous statement about one of the areas most well known and respected fishing personalities. The couple of times I ran into or fished around bouncer he was courteous and friendly.

[OFFDUTYpushbutton]

For all you guys that are bad mouthing PB2, the statements were edited after the initial post after further introspect. In my opinion it is in very bad form for someone to leave a quote up that was retracted....and then every swinging d**k with an assumption piles on. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, I respect that......and I'm sure that everyone on here has never said anything that they regretted after the heat of the moment. I must have forgotten that we are dealing with a bunch of perfect people on here. I have to get back to the real world where people sometimes make errors in judgement....I wouldn't want to taint this perfect pool of ethical fishermen.

If we worried about the fish that everyone on here supposedly reveres so much, maybe there would be no need for articles like the one that this thread is really supposed to be about. Instead we beat dead horses and ignore the issues that keyboard jockeys supposedly champion.

Here's my suggestion:

JUST FISH!