RFA-NJ TO HOST
FISHERIES TOWN HALL MEETING
PUBLIC
INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN SALTWATER REGISTRY DISCUSSION
9/19/09 AT JERSEY SHORE BOAT SALE & EXPO
-
Will anglers have to pay to fish New Jersey's bays and oceanfront in 2010?
- Is a
New Jersey saltwater license really inevitable?
- Is there
another way to satisfy the new federal requirements?
- What
about the "free" saltwater registry legislation now being heard in Trenton?
- What do
you think?
Get answers to these questions and more
this Saturday, September 19 at the Jersey Shore Boat Sale & Expo at FirstEnergy
Park in Lakewood, NJ as the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA)
hosts a Fisheries Town Hall with some of the top experts in fishery management,
policy, business and legislation - particularly as it relates to the new federal
saltwater registry requirements.
"There have been so many public questions and internal debates during the past
six months, we thought it was time to bring everyone to the table for a full
panel discussion before the
boating public," said Jim Hutchinson, Jr., Managing Director of the RFA. "This
Saturday at the Jersey Shore Boat Sale & Expo in Lakewood is really the first
time, and
perhaps the
only time, when all the folks with a hand in this latest registry/license debate
have been invited to bring the discussion to the floor, very much like the town
hall meetings
now being held throughout the country on healthcare."
The Fisheries Town Hall starts at noon on Saturday, and features Gordon Colvin
from the National Marine Fisheries Service, one of the architects of the new
federal data collection
program
now driving the federal registry; Jim Donofrio, Executive Director of the RFA
who has helped spearhead saltwater registry legislation in the New Jersey Senate
and Assembly; Ray Bogan,
representative of the Marine Trades Association of New Jersey who will address
how the state's marine businesses and consumers may be affected by the new
registry; and Fred MacFarland,
President of the Cape May County Party and Charter Boat Association, a group of
professional captains now working to promote the creation of a saltwater
fishing
license.
The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (Division) has also been invited
to participate in this two-hour open forum, but according to the RFA, state
officials have turned down
repeated requests to participate in the Fisheries Town Hall. "Division
representatives have been on a New Jersey stump tour for the past few months
trying to influence clubs into believing
that a license is more important than a registry," said Hutchinson, adding "but
that's just spinning a good yarn, and it's caused a great deal of confusion
about licenses and registries."
Hutchinson
said there's been some misunderstanding about New Jersey's saltwater registry
legislation (Assembly Bill 3252 and Senate Bill 2194) created in some of the
state's
presentations,
which is why he hopes the DEP will recognize the importance of sending a
representative out to FirstEnergy Park on Saturday to address the public.
"We're leaving
a chair open for the State
if they'd like to further discuss their needs and initiatives in a public
forum."
Following the Fisheries Town Hall, The Fisherman Magazine will hold a
series of 'how to' fishing seminars, with RFA's own Gary Caputi kicking it off
at 2:30 p.m. with a comprehensive striped
bass seminar - from the guy who literally wrote the book about Fishing For
Striped Bass! Event details including directions, a list of exhibitors and
show highlights can be found
online at
jerseyboatexpo.com.
Admission to the show is $2 per person, 12 and younger are free. The event
will run from 11am - 7pm on Friday and Saturday and 11am- 6pm on Sunday.
The
inaugural Jersey Shore Boat Sale & Expo at FirstEnergy Park, home of the
Lakewood BlueClaws, in Lakewood, NJ, is being presented
by the
Marine
Trades Association of New Jersey
(MTA/NJ).
Click here
to download copy of the promotional poster for this Saturday's Fisheries Town
Hall and Seminar series.
Commercial
striped bass quota rollovers
The Atlantic
States Marine Fisheries Commission – ASMFC – the group of East Coast states that
regulate striped bass, is taking public comment and holding public hearings on a
proposal to allow states with commercial quotas to transfer the quota that they
did not report as caught in one year to the next year. This means that if, in a
given commercial state, the quota was 1,100,000 pounds, and only 990,000 was
caught in 2011, then in 2012 the new quota could be 1,210,000 pounds.
Stripers Forever thinks this is just a thinly disguised attempt to add to
commercial quotas, and that it is a very bad idea. Here is why:
1. If the
state fails to reach its quota over the course of an entire season, it is a very
good indication that there simply are not as many striped bass out there as the
fishery managers estimated. Given the fishing reports that we have been
receiving this is a very likely scenario. Just adding one year's deficit to the
following year simply compounds unwarranted pressure on the fish. Fishery
management needs to be more risk averse, not more intent on vacuuming up every
possible fish for the market.
2.
Transferring uncaught quota to the next year provides an incentive for some
commercial fishermen to sell their catch under the table and, as a bonus,
receive a larger quota the following year. Time and again some members of the
commercial community have shown their willingness to sell under the table.
Every year there are arrests and convictions.
The ASMFC
ignores this and makes no estimate of the illegal catch nor allowance for it in
their management plans. They are sticking their head in the sand.
We are urging
all of our members to write to the ASMFC, and/or to attend the meeting in your
state and let officials know that you oppose any commercial quota rollovers.
