Saturday, December 18, 2010

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

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