Fish Report 12/17/10

Fish Report 12/17/10

An Apology

A Video

Our Darkest Hour

A Regional Plan

Lots Of Stats

 

 

Hi All, 
I've stepped in it now.

In public comment -at the microphone- during sea bass management's debate I compared Council & Commission's use of MRFSS catch-estimates to Jack Nicholson's patients taking their pill in One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest..

There was no intent to insult when I took the mike; only to point out yet another serious flaw in MRFSS recreational catch-estimate data.

Analogy thought and spoken in unrecoverable instant, I knew I had sliced too deeply, That I had trespassed far beyond the respect I hold for all who work in Fisheries -- But especially those whose communications have helped so very much.  

Of that I am sorry.

 

Believe me, there are people who are trying hard to make fishing better while keeping businesses alive in our darkest regulatory hour; People whose efforts are wholly unsung in a system that is difficult to work with; People who deserve this public apology for a public insult.....  

 

 

More on the Council & Commission meeting in a bit. First my perspective on the 2 day Ecosystems Workshop.

 

Scary would be a good start.

 

There were lots & lots of descriptions of Agency missions, of "Partnerships" & "Next Steps" -- Screens & screens & screens & screens full of stuff I thought of as government-based eco$ystems; the fiscal components that keep oxygen, food, and a roof over some folks. Tales of adding to the mission, of piling on the work; But receiving neither money, materials or people in return were a theme..

That I did not see any use in some presentations simply reveals my ignorance of how an idea becomes reality in this multi-department/multi-agency government reality. There is no cost-free ecosystems work, no cost-free fisheries work of any kind.

 

It will be task enough to find key components of our marine habitat and simply preserve its remnants.

What I envision, What I endeavor to see done is to look far beyond simple preservation for restoration possibilities that offer far greater fisheries production.

 

There were presentations from our north & south, works far ahead of the mid-Atlantic; Their presentations of habitat & ecosystem considerations ongoing.

 

There were presentations from lower-down the food web that were of obvious import to me: Layer upon layer of GIS charting that screamed need of regional management, Tales of fantastic data unmined & unused because there are not enough to do the work, Charts detailing production hotspots all through the water column--Work that, again & again, decried our current regulatory convenience of coastwide data & management plans: Work that points plainly to better results from management in eco-regional division.

 

There was also a presentation I thought dangerous; Dangerous because 'ocean acidification' could be used as another scapegoat--Used as climate science now shows how we'll never restore Atlantic mackerel, scup nor red hake to their southern reaches

..even though we caught codfish almost every month this year; a cold-water northern species from where habitat management is begun

..even though we continue to see a decline in spadefish and amberjack; both warm-water southern species I've known to be common here.

Scup, mackerel & red hake will remain lost fisheries because of 'warming waters' despite that we could soon resume targeted cod trips--This after a 35 year hiatus..

 

Climate change offers excuse for Can't when there's been no effort toward Can. We should guard against 'ocean acidification' doing same.

 

By far the scariest part was meeting and listening to our country's coral experts, the people whose job it is to know where corals are and preserve them.

Perhaps restore them?   

It was obvious that our non-reef forming corals, so important to coastal economies, have caught them unaware. 

Profoundly so.

 

I had honestly expected to unload the job, to hand it off.. 

Not so much.
I hope they dig-in with their great wealth of resources - Get started.

 

I presented a video to the ecosystems committee that's now on the web. A simple YouTube search will find it: Maryland Corals - Nearshore Reef MAB or Capt. Monty's Reef Video.. Comes up as Capt. Monty's Promo Video 2010 with a description in the 'more details' section.  

 

I suppose my video effort for the workshop might have been characterized as demonstrating need, of showing why ecosystem work could have profound effect on fisheries restoration; that Reef Restoration Makes Fishery Restoration Simple.

 

I included artificial reef tire units in the video purposefully. They are the primary reason artificial reef is viewed by most senior managers as a waste of time & money; A project of their time that, after great effort, turned to disaster.

Built mostly as mosquito control & to get rid of mountains (yes, mountains) of unsightly tires; Those tire-units were very poorly designed and sited. They broke up and to this day wash ashore in storms.

Disaster.

Still are. 

I looked into a dumpster full on Assateauge 2 years ago--took pictures; could plainly see where corals had grown..

 

Units built in the early 90s however, the ballasted units of 4 to 8 tires fastened together with rebar-reinforced concrete, haven't budged an inch; Are still where the Army Corps scattered & piled them; Are among the most heavily fished reef units I know of..

And offer visual evidence of even their lowly stature's contribution to our "non-reef building" coral-reef habitat restoration/preservation.

 

No, I don't want to revisit tires as reef.

I want rocks. Big rocks.

Lots of 'em.

Little ones too.

And concrete. We can do great things with concrete.
Are.

Steel boats as well.

 

I think what I absolutely failed to communicate at the workshop was this: We have thus far created thousands of square yards of artificial reef to replace square miles--millions & millions of square yards--of natural reef, Some now lost more than half a century to industrial fishing gears.

 

The video was met with derision by one Councilman who felt restorations were going just peachy without any habitat work.

 

That management has it all under control.

 

The next day would show how wrong he was: That fish actually are doing OK on the habitat we have..

But, because of bad MRFSS Catch-Estimate Data, and -I think- because we are trying to restore past populations to remnant habitats, fish population rebuilding mandates & deadlines are crushing recreational fishing industries. 

 

Denied our restorations given in best faith during the Great Recession, management's unyielding use of the Marine Recreational Fishing Statistics Survey--MRFSS--has finally come to:

 

 

click-Click

 

 

 

Hammer back. All cylinders loaded.

For many businesses the regulatory Russian Roulette of MRFSS catch-estimate data has finally come to no good choices, to no empty cylinders.

Ranging from 1 fish over a longer period to 25 fish over a few weeks & now 13 inches: Six options, six cylinders. 

Each the end of all I have worked for.

Council & Commission's deliberations a slow, steady trigger squeeze.

 

 

 

CLACK

 

Misfire.

 

Maryland's Mike Luisi & Howard King led the charge for regional management, regional sub-division, A temporary repair of a badly misaligned restoration plan.

Many states supported the motion. It passed.

The Chair of the ASMFC, Vince O'Shea, lent considerable weight in a room with many heroes; NC's Pres Pate too.

Not present were even more.

 

But it has to get done soon -this regional division- and done well.

Much more on that in my next report.

 

Failing succesful division, the default-measure regulations will close sea bass fishing much of the year, will ensure many party boats sell-out or file for disaster relief.

 

Damned if I want their relief money.

Double damned if I'll swallow their bullet.

 

 

 

Always accompanying these statistics for Council & Commission is the statement: "Angler Effort Is Difficult To Predict."

Says that for every MRFSS catch-estimate data set.

 

But no, actually MRFSS is difficult to predict.

That's why the National Science Foundation said get rid of it and NOAA did.

That's why we have MRIP's recreational catch-estimates coming into play and MRFSS leaving.

 

You do not need to understand the math, just look at its product. Below are some key data sets that are going to throw a pile of work on a lot of people for Christmas - A ton of work that may yet fail to produce a serviceable Regional Management Plan - A ton of work that could be flushed by a single irritated bureaucrat..  Below are key data sets that have put the whole recreational sector over-quota on cbass.

 

As you'll see: If you're not actually out fishing, Angler effort can be difficult to predict. 

Especially in a recession.

If used to predict trends however, I'd say something is working up north..

And failing down here.

Almost as if a regional fishery situation had developed.

 

So ingrained is MRFSS catch-estimate's indisputable infallibility that when Maryland's flounder shore-fishers were thought to have caught what party/charter boats will catch in 15 years, That shore-bound anglers caught more in the fall--in 2 months--than all our paying clients will in all the months of 15 years: Attempts to overturn that statistic failed.

 

When daylight is finally cast upon this data --all recreational catch estimates-- trends will emerge that reveal billions of dollars either left on the table or given to commercial fishers because ghost-caught quota --reported catches that never happened-- gave them our fish through default.

 

MRFSS catch-estimates are destroying businesses, destroying faith in management, and -in using them blindly- are leaving true fisheries restoration to the same fate: Russian Roulette.

 

When the necessity of using biological behaviors to maximize spawning potential, Of migratory behavior to reveal the wrecking-ball that is industrial trawl effort convergence upon regional sub-stocks with habitat & spawning site fidelity, Of the so-simple idea --and so shocking!-- that sea bass, tautog & lobster live on the coral reefs which have received no attentions from any agency: All factored into management one day, I am certain billions of dollars have been squandered in our present MRFSS catch-estimate management.

 

An argument for eco-regional management next week.

Meanwhile, do not dare to question the validity of the catch-estimates below. What recession? Everyone's going fishing up north! And 50% of their sea bass are keepers!

 

Uh Hu.

 

Regards,
Monty

 

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

 

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - Massachusetts Private Boats - May & June

Year	Fish Landed	PSE
2000	3,748	72.5
2001	27,773	43.4
2002	52,891	55.4
2003	16,282	36.6
2004	17,177	46.7
2005	53,349	32.3
2007	28,281	85.3
2008	65,376	29.1
2009	26,827	38.9
2010	218,790	31.3

 

PSE is half the possible plus/minus error, As in a political poll where the complete margin of error might total 3% -- In MRFSS the PSE is half the possible error value.. 

 

TB = Shorthand for Throwback/released fish

 

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - Massachusetts - Private Boat - All Year -

Year	Fish Landed	PSE
2000	27,234	35.6
2001	52,312	29.3
2002	154,073	33
2003	65,689	24.8
2004	67,861	28.9
2005	122,141	25.4
2006	53,566	28.4
2007	125,589	30.1
2008	128,899	24.2
2009	244,022	22
2010	406,090	21.1

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - Massachusetts  - Private Boats - All Year- Releases Too

Year	Kept & TB	PSE
2000	184,064	32
2001	188,270	20.1
2002	306,057	20.1
2003	230,487	22.8
2004	110,150	22.1
2005	185,457	20.4
2006	164,199	19.6
2007	433,301	19
2008	379,820	15.5
2009	596,927	15.5
2010	995,261	14.6

 

 

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - Rhode Island Private Boat Landings - May & June 

Year	Fish Landed	PSE
2000	2,087	48.6
2001	26,263	31
2002	8,719	38.7
2003	1,745	46.9
2004	5,686	29.4
2005	6,160	57.2
2006	1,975	70.4
2007	3,601	43
2008	0	0
2009	989	90.4
2010	36,460	50.7

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - Rhode Island Private Boats - All Year

Year	Fish Landed	PSE
2000	171,650	40.2
2001	110,078	13.7
2002	44,117	16.8
2003	45,327	20.7
2004	32,626	21.2
2005	49,444	37.6
2006	38,028	28.9
2007	43,307	29.6
2008	36,851	33.8
2009	21,805	33.8
2010	130,406	20.9

 

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - Rhode Island - Party/Charter - All Year

Year	Fish Landed	PSE
2000	23,737	41.1
2001	11,380	24
2002	29,608	23
2003	24,219	16.3
2004	20,331	17.2
2005	5,277	14.7
2006	13,998	11
2007	9,768	14.6
2008	14,114	23.4
2009	10,436	28.8
2010	13,789	22.9

 

 

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - NY - Private Boats - September & October

Year	Fish Landed	PSE
2000	8,906	51.2
2001	5,185	50
2002	24,262	81.7
2003	101,350	31.7
2004	29,863	49.2
2005	7,749	50.3
2006	58,398	32.7
2007	42,352	25.7
2008	54,352	34.7
2009	105,256	45.1
2010	314,266	24.4

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - NY - Private Boat - September & October - Releases Too

Year	Kept & TB	PSE
2000	411,907	28.1
2001	237,982	25.6
2002	550,745	22
2003	457,883	21
2004	340,374	29.5
2005	285,133	28.9
2006	956,405	18.1
2007	619,737	19.1
2008	539,831	19.9
2009	745,213	29.2
2010	1,303,773	18.6

 

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - NY - Party/Charter - All Year

Year	Fish Landed	PSE
2000	138,315	24.8
2001	74,678	27
2002	104,311	23.6
2003	103,227	16.5
2004	29,534	17.9
2005	73,896	42.6
2006	91,136	27.9
2007	190,454	10.5
2008	68,721	14
2009	101,623	20.8
2010	135,959	25.5

 

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - Connecticut - July & August - Releases Too 

Year	Kept & TB	PSE
2000	31,026	46.6
2001	13,578	32.3
2002	37,081	30.7
2003	20,388	23.8
2004	13,011	42.7
2005	11,858	55.1
2006	44,176	41.2
2007	14,857	37.9
2008	98,279	26.8
2009	167,305	38.8
2010	58,606	25.7

 

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - Connecticut Private Boats - July & August.

Year	Fish Kept	PSE
2000	14,599	91
2001	7,147	50.1
2002	644	85.7
2003	886	71.4
2004	8,872	59
2005	84	100.4
2006	3,582	75.3
2007	1,496	83.8
2008	24,570	52.4
2009	0	0
2010	11,241	31.5