Ocean Resource Privatization
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The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet
NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?
While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here
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Recent Posts
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Offshore Wind Farms: As turbines rise, small-scale fishermen have the most to lose
David Aripotch is 65, a weathered man with gray hair, just tall enough to see over the helm. He has been fishing for almost a half-century, Read More » -
Fish feud: ITQ’s – Will changes to the West Coast salmon industry hurt or help independent fishermen?
The B.C. salmon fishery keeps resisting a market-based management system. Critics accuse the feds of pitting independent fishermen against corporate giants, but what if this new approach Read More » -
How Commercial Fisherman Corey Arnold Got Hooked On Fishing
Chris Arnold was an avocado grower and nurseryman, in Southern California, who bought a fishing boat when Corey was a toddler. He was reeling in baby Read More » -
Commercials get nine hours to fish lower Columbia on Tuesday
Nine hours of commercial fishing for spring chinook salmon in the lower Columbia River will begin at noon on Tuesday. The Columbia River Compact today approved Read More » -
Sullivan Win’s! Begitch Out! Loses Chair, U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommitee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
Republican Dan Sullivan won Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, defeating first-term incumbent Democrat Mark Begich. Sullivan led Begich by about 8,100 votes on Election Night last week Read More » -
Andrew Cuomo’s wind farm plan needs 280 square miles off LI
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s ambition to develop enough offshore wind energy by 2030 to power 750,000 homes will require 280 square miles of ocean starting 12 Read More » -
Memorial Day surprise: Fleet of Flowers to sail quietly
An unannounced and unofficial “Fleet of Flowers” will cast off from the harbor Monday morning, May 31. The popular event was cancelled in 2020 during a Read More » -
Canada opens personal-use mackerel bait fishery, extends commercial moratorium
Canada is opening a personal-use bait fishery for mackerel this spring while extending the moratorium on commercial mackerel fishing in Atlantic Canada and Quebec in 2024. Read More » -
Coast Guard announces Captain of the Port closures for all of Pacific Northwest entrances
SEATTLE — The Coast Guard’s two Captains of the Port have closed all maritime entrances in the Pacific Northwest, Friday, due to severe sea conditions and Read More » -
Speaking of Science, DFO says trust the science!
In the midst of ongoing protests outside of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in St. John’s Friday, several DFO staff briefed reporters on fisheries science Read More » -
CETA: Liberals’ passivity a detriment to our fishery
The Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) was approved with Premier Dwight Ball and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in office. So, what was negotiated to transition our Read More » -
Elected panels are too quiet NC offshore oil drilling and seismic testing
In unanimously approving a resolution to oppose offshore oil drilling and seismic testing earlier this month, the Wilmington City Council joined about 60 other local governments Read More » -
The end of fish, or sustainable fishing? What’s the real status of fisheries?
Published on Apr 7, 2013 Dr. Ray Hilborn from the University of Washington, provides some eye-opening facts about our fisheries, some of the misperceptions about fishing Read More » -
PFMC Officials: No Sardine Fishing Off California This Year Due to Steep Population Decline
West coast regulators have voted unanimously to ban commercial sardine fishing for the fifth straight year after a recent evaluation of the northern Pacific stock revealed Read More » -
Alaska’s wild salmon are getting smaller
For years, people in Alaska have been noticing that wild salmon were getting smaller, but the reasons have been unclear. In the new study, published August 19 in Nature Read More » -
Commercial fisherman turns low-grade fish into healthy, tasty pet treats
No commercial fisherman ever wants to throw away or waste a fish he’s worked hard to catch. The reality is, though, some species demand very little Read More » -
N.C. Wildlife Federation’s Sound Solutions Campaign targets gear
The federation, a statewide conservation organization advocating for the state’s wildlife and habitat, held a press conference Tuesday at the Crystal Coast Civic Center, releasing what Read More » -
Second delay idles Newport crab fleet
The commercial Dungeness crab season has been pushed back — again — this time to at least Dec. 31 as fishery managers wait for pockets of Read More » -
Gloucester Fishermen Albert Cottone, Joe Orlando – NOAA Northeast Regional Administrator John Bullard owes fishermen apology
We’re writing to you today in response to the story headlined “Fishermen look to White House” (the Times, Page 1, Thursday, Feb. 22). This is an Read More » -
Federal Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo meets with Dwight Ball in St. John’s
Premier Dwight Ball welcomed new Federal Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo to Newfoundland and Labrador on Monday, as the new federal and provincial governments continued to showcase a Read More » -
A good plan or not? Dual-Purpose docks stir waters with local shrimpers
On the shores of San Carlos Island, just off Shrimp Boat Lane, the docks of the former Trico Shrimp Company look unchanged since Hurricane Ian. That’s Read More » -
SW Florida blue crab trap closure starts July 10
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is requiring recreational and commercial blue crab traps in state waters, from the Palm Beach-Broward county line to the Read More » -
EDITORIAL: Change tack to save lives
At this time of year, we tend to focus our attention on road deaths, particularly the role drinking and driving plays in them. But as a Read More » -
Tune In to freefish7 radio with your host, North Carolina commercial fisherman Chris McCaffity
This show is designed for you to be a part of and for your convenience. You can listen whenever you want and each episode is only Read More » -
Fisheries enforcement in the Gulf under the JEA – On offshore patrol
Thanks to a Joint Enforcement Agreement between LDWF and U. S. National Marine Fisheries (Service), wildlife agents also patrol federal waters extending from Louisiana’s boundary waters Read More »
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Comments
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The truth always hurts, Bullard is nothing more or less than a political hack who went from one political job to another. He will retire with a fat pension on the backs of the Fishermen that are being forced out of work. All Federal and state fishery agencies are well beyond saving and should be shut down, period. These people are bullet proof and their track records as “political scientists” speak loud and clear on the low level of performance at all levels. When a person knows they can’t be fired they have no reason to maintain a high work ethic. In any private sector you either produce accordingly or you are terminated.
The existing research programs should be “privatized” and put out to bid with a performance bond posted so there is some recourse if the project is not carried out to the highest standard possible.
There is a total lack of accountability from the top down in these agencies and they must be held responsible or face termination.
Spot on EE. These bureaucrats are teflon and they know it. Zero accountability, do and say anything they like.
How about Mr. Bullards private verbal assault of the young lady who read my prepared statement to the council in NY last year, complete with F-bombs and all. I was not able to attend this sham meeting unfortunately and she read my statement as a favor to me, so Mr. Bullard took the time after she read it to find her privately and dress her down. Not for her comments but for the comments she read on my behalf.
This coward would never have said to me what he said to her that I’ll guarantee. If he had I would have knocked his teeth out. This is what bullies and cowards do, go after those who they know they can get away with it and in a setting where no one can hear it.
This is what I asked her to read on my behalf that he took so much offence to. All I can say to the coward Bullard is prove me wrong.
And if by any chance the coward reads this, please feel to get up with me, any time, any place. Again these are my words and not hers.
Question: Why did you have to go after her, and do you deny doing it? Answer: Because you are a bought and paid for coward.
And by the way, nothing has been done to this day to address the explosion of Black Sea Bass on our coasts that are destroying the Southern New England lobster fisheries. Why?
Dear council members,
I write this letter to the council to voice my concerns with the way it seems to cherry pick the rules and the letter of the law it is sworn to uphold.
As a commercial fisherman who tries to fish responsibly and minimize the effects of the rules and regulations forced upon me by government agencies that seem to have no idea whatsoever of the effect of the rules they hand down, I have had enough. In the past I tried to attend many council meetings in order to voice my concerns and offer the fisherman’s perspective that should be part of the process but as we all know seems to fall upon deaf ears. I stopped attending council meetings in New England and in the Mid Atlantic because frankly I felt the process had been hijacked by special interest groups who have infiltrated these government agencies at their highest levels in Washington DC. These NGO’s who have taken over the leadership positions within the agencies that govern fisheries management now have become partners with government in order to push their industry destroying agenda’s.
It started with EDF’s Jane Lubchenco and her ill advised catch share plan in New England and seems to have continued unabated. And I have to ask the question, Is this part of an overall plan to rule management from within to see to it that the plans forwarded are constructed from theirs and only theirs playbook?
Now on to the source of my issues. For years now there has been an explosion of black sea bass up and down the eastern seaboard. This council has been hearing it and has been told for years about this problem. From Maine to Florida the cries of both commercial and recreational fishermen have fallen upon deaf ears. I ask myself why? Why would so many people who have taken the time to voice their concerns be ignored? To me there can only be two answers.
1. I am right about the agencies being taken over from the ranks of the NGEO’s or
2. There is gross incompetence and a total lack of reasonable leadership that is either totally blind, or totally ignorant.
Does it seem possible that people from all sectors of fishing, commercial and recreational alike, from up and down the Atlantic coast have colluded and conspired to attempt to pull one over on the government? Your inaction on sea bass over the years would seem to suggest that.
Now I hear through the grapevine that there is a plan to possibly increase the take on sea bass next year. That those in charge of managing this resource have finally seen the light. If this is true than it is welcome news. However I will tell the council this. As you sit here today there are literally hundreds of thousands of sea bass being caught and discarded every week. This is a result of the inaction of government agencies once again not listening to those who have the eyes and ears on the water.
Another question: Why have we not instituted an emergency action to allow for the harvest of these fish rather than this continuation of regulatory waste? These actions have been used in the past to close fisheries when there was a perceived problem, yet when a problem arises that screams of waste and mismanagement nothing is ever done to mitigate these problems. I would suggest that such an action would possibly restore some faith in the system that has brutalized this industry. You all have an opportunity and a legal obligation to do what is right. Please consider fixing this problem so we can stop this sickening waste.
The good lord put those fish in the ocean for a reason and it was not to be caught and discarded only to be eaten by the birds and crabs.
I will end this with a reading of national standard 9 which seems to have been forgotten, not only in this fishery but in a whole multitude of fisheries which are managed by this council and other councils.
National Standard 9 – Bycatch
Conservation and management measures shall, to the extent practicable, (a) minimize bycatch and (b) to the extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of such bycatch.