March on Washington!!!!! Feb 24

[B-Faithful]

FISHERMEN TO MARCH ON WASHINGTON “UNITED WE FISH” TO ASK FOR CONGRESSIONAL RESPONSE ON FEB. 24

http://www.joinrfa.org/Press/UnitedWeFish_121609.pdf

[drichitt]

Just joined RFA...Don

[alltackle]

This is real people! If you like fishing, I would suggest getting up to speed on this issue! As an example of what can happen here, see the Snapper/Grouper rule just implemented in the South Atlantic region:

NOAA Fisheries Service published a final rule implementing Amendment 16 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region on June 29, 2009 [74 FR 30964]. The final rule became effective on July 29, 2009, and includes a seasonal prohibition on harvest of shallow water snapper-grouper species in federal waters of the South Atlantic.

The closure will be effective 12:01 a.m. January 1, 2010, through April 30, 2010, and applies to recreational and commercial harvest of shallow water snapper-grouper species. During this time, no gag, black grouper, red grouper, scamp, rock hind, red hind, coney, graysby, yellowfin grouper, yellowmouth grouper, and tiger grouper may be harvested, possessed, sold or purchased. The closure also applies to shallow water snapper-grouper taken in South Atlantic state waters by any person on board a vessel holding a federal South Atlantic Charter/Headboat permit for Snapper-Grouper. Fishermen should contact their state agencies to inquire about compatible regulations in state waters.

[B-Faithful]

closer to home.. Look at what the use of fatally flawed science is doing to recreational fishing and the industries around recreational fishing here in the mid atlantic with the flounder seasons and sea bass closures. Here is what I posted on the other forum:

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the problem with the way fisheries are being managed currently is that they are using MRFSS data ( fatally flawed: http://www.joinrfa.org/Press/RFA_MRFSS.pdf )and combined with Magnuson resulting in devistating closures (ie. northeast sea bass closures, red snapper, amberjack, etc)

Here is what the RFA states on their website: "Despite a congressional mandate to fix the “serious flaws in design" and “inadequate analysis methods" that renders MRFSS obsolete, the National Marine Fisheries Service continues using this fatally flawed program to deny the public access to coastal fisheries like red snapper, amberjack and black sea bass, crippling the recreational fishing industry."

The closures using MRFSS stands to put the industries around recreational angling out of business. Charters along our coast are dying due to the sea bass closure alone and the MRFSS data shows a near impossible amount of fish were harvested based on some poor MRFSS surveys. Tackle shops, marinas, and other recreational fishing supportive business are paying the same price. Combine that with a slow economy and the access elimination based on this poors science model that was never intended for fisheries management and recreational fishing all around is under fire as a result of this flawed science...

Note that MRFSS was used to determine that Maryland recreational anglers went from harvesting 36,166 fish in 2008 to 90,654 fish in 2009 during the trophy season without an increase in effort despite many here noting that this year was a fair year fishing-wise at best. We could potentially lose access to fishing for striped bass over the use of this "fatally flawed science".

[drichitt]

Keith - I fished quite a bit in the Florida Keys during the winters of 2007 and 2008, when this issue first hit the headlines down there. This Florida Snapper-Grouper closure was suppose to go into effective early in 2009, but with a large commercial catch exemption. The poor economy in Florida evidently caused them to delay it. The fishing groups in Florida have been fairly well organized and tried to fight this, but to no avail. The conservationists in Florida have become very aggressive and have gained positions on key decision making boards. The economic impact is not very high up on their priorities list. The period of closure is the spawning period for these species if I remember it correctly....Don

[wino]

They expect over 5 thousand Florida fisherman to attend this rally, buses are being reserved now.