Topic: Petition request.

[Sirgod]

this is from a good friend of mine in Florida, her family has been commercial fisherman for almost 6 generations.

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Hi everyone,
I haven't posted in a few days as I've been working my fingers to the bone!(phew)

If any of you could be so kind to have a look at petition, I'd appreciate it so much. Please sign it and pass it on if you agree. If you don't that's OK we are all entitled to our thoughts and opinion. Ofcourse you all know where I stand on fishing issues! LOL 

I am sending out this petition far and wide as many(seafood industry) jobs are at stake here. If you haven't heard about the grouper issue, I'll give you a quick run down. Basically each sector has a "Total Allowable Catch". Recreational catch is roughly 20% and the Commercial catch is roughly 80%. The way I understand it is that once a sector reaches it's quota they are shut down for the season.
Last year by National Marine Fisheries Service numbers, the recreational sector over caught their Catch by about 130%. The NMFS has decided that an emergency closure is in order for the recreational sector. The Commercial sector has already caught their quota and is closed as well.
The gripe from the recreational sector is that there is no way that they exceeded their quota by that much and therefore should not have to have an emergency closure. (Personally, I feel it's possible because there are thousands of anglers fishing the gulf on a daily basis.)
Now here is the problem. Because the recreational sector is not agreement with the closure, they are lashing out at the Commercial Grouper fishers and Shrimpers and are asking Congress to outlaw commercial longlining and shrimp trawls. They are siting bycatch as the reason for their request.
This is where I have a problem. First, this petition didn't "surface" until the recreational sector was faced with the grouper closure, so I question their motives. Second, the longline fishery and shrimp fishery, though not perfect, have made changes in their gear to reduce bycatch. Both industries work with Federal and State fisheries managers on conservation issues as well.
How does this effect you? If the Sportfishing groups pushing these bans get their way, you will have a very hard time finding fresh domestic seafood. That is unless you have a boat and all the fishing tackle it takes to catch your own, you will be stuck with vietnamese shrimp and and Chinese "grouper".
Why did I bring this to you? Because an overwhelming majority of Americans don't have the means or the desire to catch their own seafood and you might be part of the percentage. If you are, then you are dependant on the longliners for fresh grouper sandwiches, and you are dependant on shrimpers for fresh shrimp ****tail.( and this doesn't just apply to shrimp and grouper, but a wide variety of seafood that we enjoy) If the longliners and shrimpers are banned, not only will good families and hard working Americans be put out of business, but You the seafood consumer will have virtually no access to the resource that belongs to all of us.
Please sign the petition to ensure your right to domestic seafood and the livlihood of so many. Thank you and pass it on.http://www.petitiononline.com/grouper1/petition.html

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Please take a few minutes to sign this , and help support her and her family.

Stephen

[Bonk]

Sigh, the TAC (total allowable catch) quota system... 

Peruvian anchovy fishery - gone. (ran on a TAC quota system)

Atlantic Canadian cod fishery - gone. (ran on a TAC quota system)

See a pattern?

It was proved to me that the TAC quota system is undeniably flawed when I took population ecology 10 years ago, still, those responible for fisheries management persist... (what is happening with this grouper fishery is a classic example of why the TAC quota system is flawed - fishermen lie)

This grouper fishery is doomed.

We're down to fighting over the lobster and crab fisheries up here now, and the quota numbers I hear scare me.

Seafood will soon be a thing of the past. Unsustainable resource harvesting is just unsustainable... can't put it any other way.

Sorry to be so doom and gloom, but that's how I see it.

Sea urchins anyone?

[Sethan]

What the post does not mention is what the bycatch numbers are in relation to the commercial and recreational quotas.

Without that information, it is impossible to determine whether signing this petition is reasonable.

[Sirgod]

I tell you what, Let me send her an Invite, and I'll Move this to ten forward, so she can better answer the questions.

Stephen

[Sirgod]

Everyone Please welcome CommercialFishingGirl.

Stephen

[prometheus]

seems things are the same as they are on this side of the pond with fishing quotas...  I don't think GW's gonna care much about a mad Scotsman's name on petition, but best wishes to the family in any case...

[Sirgod]

Thanks Prom. I think she's digging up the relevant answers to the questions asked here.

Stephen

[CommercialFishin]

Hi Stephen,
 Thanks for inviting me over.
First off, I'll try to answer questions to the best of my knowledge.
As far as by-catch issues, its hard to compare as the millions of recreational fishers do not have to keep a logbook of their activities on the water where as commercial fishers do.  So it is hard to make comparisons.
 What I can tell you is that longliners and Shrimpers work closely with state and national agencies to reduce by-catch. Now, you can look at it this way, in Florida there are over 3 million registered recreational fishing vessels. For fairness sake we'll say that only half of those engage in fishing. Compare that to less then 200 Commercial fishing licenses with all commercial fishing activity such as blue crabbing, lobstermen,stone crabbers, shrimpers and longliners and so on, making up that 200.  The recreational sector is still going to take more of the resource. Which they did last year. They over caught their TAC on grouper by 130% per NMFS.
 The issue that is taking place which lead me to write this petition is one of reallocation.
When the Commercial industry meets their TAC on grouper, they stop for the season, they don't ask for the recreational industry to be shut down so they(commercials) can keep fishing.
 As a person in the commercial fishing industry(blue crabbing), I have seen people get put out of business left and right due to politics. And if the sportfishing industry get their way on this issue more people will be put out of work and the grouper stocks will be none the better.
 As far as conservation goes, I believe it is extremely important to my industry. I know how important it is to conserve the fish stocks. How important it is to preserve wetland and grass beds. Commercial fishers do work with environmental groups to be better stewards of our oceans(in the U.S. that is, I have no knowledge about other countries). But unfortunately that doesn't make it in the mains stream media who all to often portray us "rapists of the sea". Are there bad apples, yes of course, there are so with many industries. But Commercial Fishers as a whole are good people that are proud of what they do and care about the environment.
 Thanks for your time, like I said I'll answer questions to the best of my knowledge.

[Sirgod]

Thanks again for stopping by. I'm sure there will be others here so Please feel free to step in anytime. Also, if anything else grabs your eye, Jump in there also.

Stephen

[prometheus]

Thanks Prom. I think she's digging up the relevant answers to the questions asked here.

Stephen

I hope it all works out for the best for them...

[CommercialFishin]

Thank you, I appreciate your words of encouragement 

[Alidar Jarok]

As far as conservation goes, I believe it is extremely important to my industry. I know how important it is to conserve the fish stocks. How important it is to preserve wetland and grass beds. Commercial fishers do work with environmental groups to be better stewards of our oceans(in the U.S. that is, I have no knowledge about other countries). But unfortunately that doesn't make it in the mains stream media who all to often portray us "rapists of the sea". Are there bad apples, yes of course, there are so with many industries. But Commercial Fishers as a whole are good people that are proud of what they do and care about the environment.

From a lot of what I've heard from interviews with fishermen (or I guess fisherpeople ), they tend to agree.  The worst possible situation would be to fish the industry into extinction.  Obviously there are concerns about trawling and stuff like that destroying the water, but aside from that, I tend to support the fishing industry.  I hope my signiture will help

EDIT: How long will this petition last?

[CommercialFishin]

Thanks Alidar Jarok,
 Every signature helps!
I haven't decided when to close the petition it's not soon though.
 Again thank you for your support!

[Mackie]

fishing for his/her living = gets my support.
ever since EU came around Finnish fishermen and women have been f*cked the sideways so i support them fishers. i like fish. eventhough im allergic, i still like fish :p
fishing/hunting for a sport is just retarted; you should not kill anything unless youre going to eat it or such. otherwise youre a greedy bastard.
i hunt and fish my self but never kill anything that i wont eat my self or sell to a lesser degree.

[Sirgod]

When I was younger, I may have told this story before, I used to go fishing just about every other day. I love Freshwater bass. anyway, I really didn't care for Catfish, but there in Claremore , OK, there was of course the poorer part of town. I'd go over there with the catch I wasn't going to eat, and give them to the families, over the weekend.

They loved It, and I loved fishing + Learning something about giving to the community. win/win IMHO.

Stephen

[CommercialFishin]

fishing for his/her living = gets my support.
ever since EU came around Finnish fishermen and women have been f*cked the sideways so i support them fishers. i like fish. eventhough im allergic, i still like fish :p
fishing/hunting for a sport is just retarted; you should not kill anything unless youre going to eat it or such. otherwise youre a greedy bastard.
i hunt and fish my self but never kill anything that i wont eat my self or sell to a lesser degree.

Thanks for your support!
 

[CommercialFishin]

When I was younger, I may have told this story before, I used to go fishing just about every other day. I love Freshwater bass. anyway, I really didn't care for Catfish, but there in Claremore , OK, there was of course the poorer part of town. I'd go over there with the catch I wasn't going to eat, and give them to the families, over the weekend.

They loved It, and I loved fishing + Learning something about giving to the community. win/win IMHO.

Stephen

Stephen you made me think of this
There was an old fella up in North Florida about a month ago. He's in 80's I think, anyway he took his gillnet down to the bay to catch some mullet for the oldfolks home. The Florida Fish and Wildlife arrested him! Now granted it's against the law to use a gillnet in FLorida, but it just show how rediculous things have become. The Florida netban is another law the Coastal Conservation Association "bought"
 Which reminds me, I've got to find out what happened to poor old fella.

[Sirgod]

When I was younger, I may have told this story before, I used to go fishing just about every other day. I love Freshwater bass. anyway, I really didn't care for Catfish, but there in Claremore , OK, there was of course the poorer part of town. I'd go over there with the catch I wasn't going to eat, and give them to the families, over the weekend.

They loved It, and I loved fishing + Learning something about giving to the community. win/win IMHO.

Stephen

Stephen you made me think of this
There was an old fella up in North Florida about a month ago. He's in 80's I think, anyway he took his gillnet down to the bay to catch some mullet for the oldfolks home. The Florida Fish and Wildlife arrested him! Now granted it's against the law to use a gillnet in FLorida, but it just show how rediculous things have become. The Florida netban is another law the Coastal Conservation Association "bought"
 Which reminds me, I've got to find out what happened to poor old fella.

Yeah Let us know when you do. That's just typical beurocracy getting in the way of a private Citisen trying to help someone out. That GillNet thing still angers me. I mean, you all went out of the way to ensure younger Smaller fish could easily slip through, in order to preserve the spices. once again, It's in the Commercial fishermans best Intrest to Conserve the waters.

Stephen

[Mackie]

fishing for his/her living = gets my support.
ever since EU came around Finnish fishermen and women have been f*cked the sideways so i support them fishers. i like fish. eventhough im allergic, i still like fish :p
fishing/hunting for a sport is just retarted; you should not kill anything unless youre going to eat it or such. otherwise youre a greedy bastard.
i hunt and fish my self but never kill anything that i wont eat my self or sell to a lesser degree.

Thanks for your support!
 

no trouble at all, well, trouble yes but my opinion on the trouble is my true opinion. or something along those line ;p

[The Postman]

Done