[prewittjr]

Sorry bout the bad spelling and misleading onfo...I hope this clears it up.
The next council meeting is sept 14-18. A public meeting is to be held in november.

SAFMC update – July 2009
Many people have stating it’s tough to keep up with the all the issues with the SAFMC and have been asking what are they up to and how is it going to affect us, well here’s an outline of what’s presently going with fisheries management at the SAFMC and a little commentary of my own.
Grouper Amendment 16
On June 29th Amendment 16 was adopted and will go into effect July 29th 2009, the closure will be January through April starting in 2010.
3 fish Grouper aggregate bag limit (1 Gag or Black Grouper within the 3 fish aggregate)
Closed season January – April
5 fish Vermilion Snapper bag limit
Closed season November – March

Note: the FRA will be filing a lawsuit before the July 29th deadline to fight these closures.

Grouper Amendment 15B
Amendment 15B has 6 components that deal with a number of issues they are:
1. Specify commercial/recreational allocations for snowy grouper and red porgy.
Note: The present allocation proposed is 95% commercial and 5% recreational, this is obviously not the “fair and equitable” as required by the Magnuson Stevens Act.
2. Revise the stock status determination criteria for golden tilefish.
Note: This is a technical revision of the amount fish for the Optimum yield of Golden Tilefish. However it does not address the allocation disparity of approximately 97% commercial to 3% recreational. This is obviously not the “fair and equitable” as required by the Magnuson Stevens Act.
3. Prohibit the sale of snapper-grouper harvested under the bag limits unless the vessel owner possesses a federal commercial snapper-grouper permit.
Note: This would be a prohibition on charter boats from selling their catch.
4. Expand the allowable transfer of a commercial vessel permit under the limited access program and extend the allowable period for renewal of such a permit.
Note: This would allow for the commercial fisherman to sell a permit as a commodity.
5. Require an owner and operator of a vessel for which a commercial or charter vessel/headboat permit has been issued and that has on board any hook-and-line gear to comply with sea turtle and smalltooth sawfish release protocols and possess on board specific gear to ensure proper release of such species that are incidentally caught.
6. Require a vessel that fishes in the exclusive economic zone, if selected by NOAA Fisheries Service, to carry an observer and install an electronic logbook and/or video monitoring system
Please we need everyone to go online to Deep-Blue-Sea.org or FloridaSportsman.com East Central section and make your comments known.


HR 1584 Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2009
This is an extremely important piece of legislation that is currently pending in the U.S. House of Representatives. It would give more flexibility to the councils in dealing with management issues. Flexibility means no closures!
We have been trying to get our local representatives to cosponsor this bill without success. We need everyone to pick up the phone NOW and call their representatives and demand that they cosponsor this bill! They have expressed their support but none has stepped up to the plate! Let’s light a fire under some butts!
Rep. John Mica (R-7) 202-225-4035
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-8) 202-225-2176
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-24) 202-225-2706
Rep. Bill Posey (R-15) 202-225-3671
Rep. Tom Rooney (D-16) 202-225-5792

HR 1584 Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2009

This is the companion bill to the House bill, Please call your Senators today?

Senator Bill Nelson 202-224-5274
Senator Mel Martinez 202-228-2183


Red Snapper Interim Rule
The Interim Rule was published and there is a comment period until August 4. The interim rule will close the Red Snapper fishery for 180 days with a 180 day extension.


Grouper Snapper Amendment 17:
The threat of a lawsuit from the Fishing Rights Alliance prompted the SAFMC to split Amendment 17 in two amendments 17A Red Snapper and 17B all others.

Amendment 17A
Red Snapper
This is the permanent closure of the Snapper fishery and also will include the ban of all bottom fishing from the 90’ line on out. The Fishing rights Alliance will file suit in federal court to fight this closure.

Amendment 17B
Speckled hind/Warsaw grouper
Sets the Annual Catch Limit at 0, which means total closure. Also prohibits landing of snowy grouper, golden tilefish, blueline tilefish, yellowedge grouper, warsaw grouper, speckled hind, misty grouper, queen snapper, and silk snapper.

Golden tilefish
Sets the commercial quota and the Annual catch limits at the same level and would shut down the fishery when the quota is met for both recreational and commercial anglers.

Snowy grouper
Sets rec limit at 1 per vessel per day.


Snapper/ Grouper Amendment 18

Amendment is a mixed bag of miscellaneous items that were thrown together to get implemented without being tied to a more controversial issue.
The issues are:
Extend Snapper-Grouper FMU Northward:
Note: This would extend the range of the SAFMC North of its present area. Basically they’ve screwed up the management of their area so now they want to screw up someone else’s area too.
Limit Participation in the Golden Tilefish Fishery
Note: This will not change the 96/4 percent commercial allocation and must be changed to an equal split.
Golden Tilefish Longline Endorsement Eligibility Requirements
Note: This sets a minimum number of pounds to keep a longline permit.
Modifications to Management of the Black Sea Bass Pot Fishery
Separate Snowy Grouper Commercial Quota into Regions/States
Separate gag recreational allocation into regions/states
Adjust Golden Tilefish Fishing Year
Improvements to Data Reporting
Commercial
For-Hire
Private Recreational
Note: This is just a continuation of MRFSS through the MRIP system, which simply puts lipstick on the pig that was MRFSS. A broken system replaced with a new system based on the last broken system.
Update Wreckfish ITQ Program

Note: ITQs or Individual transferable Quotas simply give the commercial fisherman an ownership right in the public fishery and should never be used.

Shrimp Amendment 7
1. Remove the requirement for vessels with limited access rock shrimp endorsements to land 15,000 pounds of rock shrimp in one of four consecutive calendar years.
2. Reinstate all endorsements lost due to not meeting the landing requirement.
3. Reinstate all limited access endorsements for those vessel owners who renewed their open access permit in the year in which they failed to renew their limited access endorsement.
Note: This would effectively double the number of Rock shrimp boats working the east Coast. Boats that kill juvenile fish, destroy habitat and remove forage for fish. Forage has been determined to be the primary factor in the growth rate of fish.
Please we need everyone to go online to Deep-Blue-Sea.org or FloridaSportsman.com East Central section and make your comments known.
Upcoming SEDARs (Stock assessments)
19 - ongoing – SAFMC & GMFMC black grouper, SA red grouper
24 - 2011 - SAFMC black sea bass
26 – 2012 - GMFMC red snapper
27 – 2012- SAFMC speckled hind, Warsaw grouper
29 -2013 - SAFMC & GMFMC Goliath grouper
SEDARs give us an indication as to what is on the horizon as far as future regulations.


SAFMC changes:
Tony Iorocci hit his time limit and is leaving the council August 2009. Tony while being a commercial fisherman from the Keys has been a friend of the recreational angler. He will be missed. Replacing Tony is Ben Hartig, a commercial fisherman from Jupiter. He has a background in Marine Biology and was doing his thesis on Age, Growth and Reproduction in the Mutton Snapper. Hopefully he will be as good as Tony.

Wallace a commercial fisherman from Georgia also timed out. He is being replaced by Charles Phillips who is a commercial fisherman and owns a wholesale seafood company in Townsend Georgia.

Tony Iorocci and John Wallace were two of the six who used their common sense and intelligence and voted against the Interim Rule for the closures.

Shareforce task force:
This is a new initiative that is designed to set the usage of the fisheries by NOAA its stated goals are:

1. To develop a new NOAA policy on catch shares that ensures that catch shares are fully considered when councils take up fishery management plan amendments.
2. To make sure that councils that want to move forward with catch shares have the technical and administrative support to move quickly to design a catch share systems while empowering local fishermen to be part of the process.
3. To make sure that catch share designs achieve the best possible environmental and economic performance by supporting healthy ecosystems, reducing bycatch and habitat damage, and helping to meet annual catch limits.
4. To consider whether any organizational changes are needed within NOAA to provide the best possible communication and support.
5. To provide advice to the under secretary on how to allocate resources to the councils to support this work, and how to create milestones so that progress can be evaluated.

NOTE: Basically government bureaucracy gone wild, a new taskforce to determine why the last one didn’t do its job. The scary part is George Geiger has been appointed and his track record has been horrible in regard to the recreational angler

Dave Heil
President, South Atlantic Chapter of the Fishing Rights Alliance





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