FISHERYNATION.COM

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Dear Senator Warren,

I personally do not share your optimism about our individual, yet collective futures. Every day fishermen are sinking deeper into debt. Every day more fishermen are forced to come to the conclusion that they will have to sell the boat just so they can come up for air.

The point that seems to escape those who feel that “you guys can just go pound nails for awhile until things rebound” is that our hammer is our boat, and a boat can’t support itself in any other manner than that for which it was built – fishing.

I’ve always said that “any day that you don’t make money with your boat, you lose money with your boat”. So what the financial equation boils down to is simple – how much money do you have to lose?  Because that’s the measure of how long you’ll be able to hold out. How far behind in your dockage, insurance, maintenance, mortgage, credit (debt), and emotional stability can you get before you’re forced to pull the plug, or someone else does? No Senator, we have never been confronted with a crisis of this depth before. Nor have we ever experienced such a callous, even contemptuous, attitude by those in government who are supposedly in positions of stewardship.

Do you realize who are going to be the beneficiaries of these “sustenance crumbs” which have fallen under NOAA’s banquet table will be?

The consultants, the grant writers, the lawyers who represent the consultants and grant writers, basically, the chiselers.

There is nothing here for the fisherman whose boat has set idle for months and will continue to do so until the bank repo man shows up. The fact of the matter is that the only reason why the bank hasn’t already foreclosed is that they don’t want anything to do with any “asset” that they can’t turn over at a profit, especially one which is now costing them money every day and that they have no hope of selling, because without a fishery there is no market for fishing boats!

So far The Federal Government from the bottom right on up to, and including the tippity top, have turned a blind ear and a deaf eye to our urgent predicament. Is federal relief policy in reality “too big to fail, too small to bail”?

In short, which admittedly, this response has been anything but, We need a buy-out for those who want out, and low interest debt consolidation loans combined with stabilization grants for those who want to stay in. This should be funded by SK money which NOAA along with congressional blind oversight, has been embezzling for decades We are currently in the midst of what amounts to a regulatory fishery shutdown, although no-one wants to own up to it, and desperately needed, immediate financial relief must be prioritized and fast tracked to keep us afloat until such time as we can convene a congressional inquiry into just how we got into and, more importantly, how to get out of this black hole of fisheries management.

On behalf of my colleagues, I thank you for your concern and activism on our behalf, and hope that you may view this disaster in a different light after having read this, that is, of course if you actually did!

Captain Paul Cohan, F/V Sasquatch, Gloucester, Ma.

Comment Here

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Alaska Crab Quota Owner Found Alive after 8 Years of Catch Shares and Two Days Overboard

The US Coast Guard rescued an original shareholder of Alaska king and opilio crab fishermen today, who survived for two days floating off Dutch Harbor.  Sealord Ivan Fiodor Qualify, known in the fleet as “IFQ” had also won the most recent Flagstaff, Arizona amateur golf competition.  He said he could not wait to get back to his armchair, collect leases, and further his addiction to watching Golf on ESPN.

Ivan had been aboard his own vessel, F/V THANKS JANE, on sea trials, and claims he fell overboard while sitting against the rail and laughing so hard that when he gagged and stood up straight, he fell backwards.  The crew has been arrested on suspicion of failing to save a man overboard.  But each of them claims no one saw a thing, despite Ivan the sealord saying the last thing he was telling the crew was how much Crab Ratz allowed him to “legally” charge for lease fees before paying crew for the catch, and how stupid they were for not getting original shares by going along with the privatization game 15 years ago while Ted Stevens was alive and promising them he’d give away the resource to a few people.

In their version, the crew said they were in the galley eating cake and that Ivan said he was going out on deck to take a pee.  One crewman thought a whale had bumped the boat while Ivan was on deck and speculated in hindsight that it must have caused Ivan to fall over the rail.  The crew was scheduled to bunk down, and it was Ivan’s turn at the helm, so no one missed him for many hours, until another crewman’s watch clock alarm went off so he could take a turn at the wheel.  When they didn’t find Ivan in the wheelhouse, the crew wasn’t concerned, as that had happened many times before and Ivan was known to lock himself in his stateroom and snort lines of milk sugar – a habit he picked up as a baby when he spilled his formula mixture right after his mother weaned him.

Ivan said he stayed alive by the pure luck of finding a large black plastic buoy that was Japan tsunami flotsam, apparently used for high seas fishing, as he held onto his quota license in a passport case around his neck.  He kept repeating, “I got to live, as I still have to find Jane Lubchenco and give her a big sealord recipient kiss!”

When the crew was advised by officials that he was located, and alive, they didn’t seem to care much about Ivan.  One said, “Maybe next time Neptune will get him.” Another said, “He’s kind of a mean old cuss and likes to be at sea, and always complains about how lousy his home visits are, how greedy his kids are and more.  I am sure they’ll be glad to have poppa back home soon.”

Maybe next time, as the catch share game ain’t over until the fat lady runs the boat and sings in her wheelhouse.

Har har

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Thanks Danny, The truth about Carlos Rafael hurts so had to say something!

From the Moderator

The yack coming from the waterfronts of New England is, the article written by Danny McDonald, “Carlos Rafael and His Fish Are the American Dream”  has pissed off quite a few people, and who could blame ’em?

Maybe you didn’t get a chance to read it, because the other fishery websites, for some strange reason, never posted it, avoiding it like the plague.

Read the article if you haven’t already.

Carlos Rafael is talking about mosquitoes, elephant balls, and fishing, which isn’t unusual,,,,,

Rafael is currently railing against the lobbying effort of the smaller New England groundfishermen who he says are trying to put a cap on the amount of permits one individual can own.

“They are like mosquitoes on the balls of an elephant,” he says of the smaller operations in the port. “Biting, biting, biting, until finally [the government] is going to say fuck off, we got to do something.

”Sensing a significant shift in fishing rules before 2010, he horded fishing permits that would allow his boats to catch more product, spending $10 million on them. He now uses 57 permits to operate 15 full-time groundfish vessels called draggers and five part-time draggers. He operates the groundfish fleet at a loss—he estimates he’s losing a couple of million each year—but he’s still better off than the folks who only have less than a handful of permits.

“The maggots screaming on the sidelines, they’re done. They can scream all they want. Nobody can save them,” he says.

They’re screaming anyway. Smaller fishermen want federal regulators to change the rules, saying it unfairly benefits the large operations like Rafael. This pisses him off. Why should he be punished for his business acumen, he asks?

All of a sudden there’s this “in your face” information from the guy that refers to himself as “The Codfather”.

I’ll bet some people were probably even hurt reading this.

One would wonder what third, fourth generation fishermen, real fishermen, were thinking when they read that trash talk crap.

I wonder what all the Fleet diversity people think? You know, the “Who Fishes Matter’s” people?

Anyone that has lost his balls should be insulted, and that’s a lot of gelding fishermen walking around broke with nothing.

The article brings up that “us against them”, the “haves and the have not’s”. “Wall Street vs Main Street”, the “99% vs the 1%” shit.

Carlos Rafael can brag about his business acumen, but, I have to wonder, with his purchased majority stake in the ground fish industry is this the reason that a crew can bust their asses to bring in a trip of fish with a gross stock of twenty grand, and a fuel bill of sixteen grand to cover, with shit left over to share up?

Let alone money to do maintenance, or God forbid, preventative maintenance!

He told us he’s a slick, ruthless, winner take all business man.

Who knows, maybe he’s doing some of that forward selling stuff that takes the guesswork out of how much the fish will fetch, and avoiding the auction, creating a market condition of volatility for the smaller guys because his fish, and all the imported stuff have made buyers content, keeping prices low, are causing more contractions and pain that will push more out of the business, leaving him in the position to buy another permit.

When I think of the traditional New England fisherman , I think of a guy that owns a boat that is crewed by other independent self employed fishermen, and combined, they represent the ultimate free enterprise venture that has been a century’s old working model of risk taking, and profit sharing.

I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about the multi boat fleets because  when you advocate for the industry, you do it for the industry,

It is an industry that has been diverse in it’s collective make up of inshore/offshore boats, day boats, trip boats, and fleet boats, so by proxy, you advocate for a guy you wouldn’t waste your time launching a dredged from the gut, dripping loogey on.

You know the guy that has boats with secret compartments on his boats, and a robust reputation?

Rafael is a cutthroat capitalist who is perpetually at war with someone: regulators, competitors, environmentalists. He battles, forever with an eye on his profit margin.

Rafael says the groundfish industry will be completely wiped out by next year. He says that only a fifth of those currently in business will still be around by the end of 2014.

Then I start thinking about guys like Russell Sherman, who spent a lifetime busting his ass, and he’s about to unceremoniously be destroyed because of a perfect storm of circumstance from every possible direction.

I’ll let the guy that said he was made for this country finish up.

“I’m still making money.”

“Read my lips: fuck you”

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Fisherynation.com Editorial: The Great Atlantic Sturgeon Debacle

This Sturgeon debacle should serve as a pretty clear indication of how our fisheries “management” system works, or more to the point, how it doesn’t work.

How, by any stretch of regulation protocol, methodology, or just plain ol’ administrative integrity, can NOAA declare a species to be endangered without an assessment?  Perhaps NOAA’s luminous legal department, Lois Schiffer, could give us the “legal” justification for that one— of course, as long as it’s not attorney-client privilege, or National Security classified (we certainly wouldn’t want any terrorist fishermen getting their fishy hands on that info).

What is clear about this matter is the fact that NOAA is cowed and manipulated and directed by law suit threats from the ENGOs more than by what is actually occurring in the ocean.

This is something that can be witnessed at New England Fishery Council meetings when Pew and Conservation Law Foundation lawyers arrogantly scold the council and threaten law suit consequences during the public comment period. Threats that if the council votes contrary to the wishes of Pew, EDF, CLF, Oceana, etc. there will be “consequences”. In the case of the Sturgeon law suit brought by the National Resources Defense Council, do you suppose that the then Secretary of Commerce, John Bryson, a founding member of the NRDC might have also had something to do with the endangered Sturgeon decree?

And as the ENGO World Turn’s, Oceana Inc. has filed suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service over Observer coverage!

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DENIAL, DELUSION AND NMFS STILL  DOESN’T KNOW ITS NAME:   The third “Managing  Our Nation’s Fisheries” conference was held on 6-9 May, 2013 in Washington,  DC.  Titled, “Advancing  Sustainability,” the national event, sponsored this time by the Pacific Fishery  Management Council, is in preparation for the upcoming Congressional  Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation & Management Act (MSA)  reauthorization, a law set to expire in September of this year.

The conference  included personnel from the eight regional fishery management councils, along  with officials from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and its  regions, academics, fishing representatives and fishermen, and foundation and  environmental organization representatives. It also attracted attention from  Capitol Hill with both Senator Mark Begich (D-AK), Chair of the Senate Commerce  Subcommittee on  Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries & Coast  Guard, and Representative  Doc Hastings (R-WA), Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, on hand to  outline what their Committees are planning in the way of hearings on  reauthorization. Rep. Hastings indicated his desire to finish MSA  reauthorization this session; the past three reauthorizations have been decadal  events since the Act’s passage in 1976.

This conference was  regarded as an improvement over the last one, held in 2005, with a wider variety  of speakers with divergent views, including “Deadliest Catch” Captain Keith  Coburn (F/V Wizard). Coburn,  co-keynoting the event, told participants that climate change is real, based on  what he’s witnessed in the Bering Sea. This will be an interesting message for  that show’s largest viewer demographic, many of whom are still “climate change  deniers.”

The day prior (6 May)  to the conference opening, the Pew Environmental Group held a Capitol Hill  briefing on the Magnuson Act (MSA), talking about the successes achieved as a  result of the 1996 and, particularly 2006, language changes to the MSA, that  explicitly ordered a stop to overfishing, requiring the implementation of annual  catch limits and rebuilding plans for overfished stocks, and required fishery  management plans be science-based. For more, see “Despite gains, more challenges ahead for U.S.  fisheries” in the 4 May Washington Post, at: www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/despite-gains-more-challenges-ahead-for-us-fisheries/2013/05/04/fde80cb0-b4f0-11e2-bbf2-a6f9e9d79e19_story.html.

   Indeed, there was a  great deal of chest-beating by conference organizers about how successful the  MSA has been, with claims that U.S. fisheries are now the “best-managed” in the  world.  However, the changes made to  the MSA in the past two reauthorizations were primarily the result of the  efforts of the Marine Fish Conservation Network, along with groups such as Pew.  The 2005 MONF conference had little bearing on the following year’s  reauthorization or the biological successes in ending overfishing and rebuilding  stocks achieved thus far under the Act.

Despite these  biological success there is still a clamor on the Atlantic and Gulf to roll back  the 2006 language to provide more “flexibility” in managing stocks.  And there is increasing concern over how  the stocks are being allocated, with the creation of mini-oligarchs under the  individual fishing quota or catch share programs. These programs have cost jobs,  siphoned off dollars from fishermen and fishing communities alike into the  pockets of third party quota owners, and have or will cause a loss of access to  fish stocks by many fishing communities.   As an example of how little progress has been made since the last  reauthorization, not one community fishing association has yet to receive any  allocation of quota.

There was also a  strong undercurrent of denial at the conference about addressing funding for  fishery science and data collection, and other fishery needs.  Poor funding — the single biggest issue  facing fishery management — simply wasn’t addressed. This denial was coupled  with a large dollop of delusion by those thinking better management could be  achieved with less science. Climate change was acknowledged, but there was no  discussion of the additional science that will be required for understanding and  adapting to more frequent and radical changes in the environment resulting from  global warming.  Finally, there was  some wishful thinking of the regional councils on display as well, such as the  Pacific Council’s claimed success with its trawl groundfish “rationalization”  scheme, which is still very early in implementation and still highly  problematic.

And, as an example of  how far our fisheries still have to go, there were all the NMFS personnel and  their paraphernalia wearing “NOAA Fisheries” badges. That moniker was given back  in the late Clinton or early Bush Administrations by some National Oceanic &  Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) folks but has served to marginalize the  importance of the nation’s fisheries ever since.  True success will be measured by the  restoration to full abundance of fish stocks, a rebound of the nation’s fishing  communities — and NMFS’ recovery of its name.  (Note a special edition of Sublegals is forthcoming giving a full  report on the MONF3 conference and MSA reauthorization).

Articles taken from Fishlink Sublegals may be freely  reposted or reprinted with attribution to “Fishlink Sublegals.”

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Emails? Yeah. We get emails!

Hey Bore head. No stugots if you don’t put this up!

So! (I learned that from Sam Rauch yesterday when he answered questions at the hearing).

So! A flame war has broke out between the green pampered poodles from a green mafia outfit and Bob “Boom Boom” Vannase’s Saving Seafood crew! Seems that the green poochies don’t like it when someone calls them out on the not so legit crap that they use to get the bleeding heart support buck’s.

I just read an article here at Fisherynation about a conspiracy  or sumpin’  like dat, because the made guys on Boom Booms crew must’ve embarrassed ’em! Are you kiddin’ me? Fugedabout it!  They should be embarrassed!  Who’s  that Sean kid anyway. Sound Irish to me!  He writes, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”  My favorite sayin’ is from my Uncle Pauly Manella, God rest his soul. He used to say. “Teach a man to fish and some creep will try ta cheat ya out of yer livelihood!

Whoa! Uncle Pauly was so frickin’ right, heh? But hey. Sellin’ used cars beat fishin’ these frickin’ days.

This  cazzo di merda shoulda picked the one that says guys that live in greenhouses should never throw rock’s!

Anyway,,,, So!  This all started in the last couple a days, although it’s been festerin’ for years.

Lately, though, Boom boom and his crew has been woopin’ some green ass, and these guy’s don’t like dat! The poochie brigade, led by some high paid lawyer guy from this Consternation Law outfit has been out back, diggin’ up old bones. Stayin’ true to the racing form, he brought up old news that ain’t quite true  about this guy, Niles, Nils, whatever his name is, anyway, and started sayin’ he was a Capo in Bobby’s crew.

I seen this guy around for years, but had know idea he was picking up bag money from Boom Boom. But, hey. Ya never know about these inside things.

Word on the street is Nils ain’t even a made guy

All I know is dis , it’s about time someone started talkin’ the truth about the poochie pack. I hope the little ole lady’s pumpin’  out the greenbacks see these guys for what they are, because my inheritance is at stake. My mother keeps tellin me, that my success in the used car business and other entrepreneurial rackets will get me through, and I won’t need her money to survive, but the poor little animals do. I think she’s gonna leave her dough  to one of these green bean tax shelter outfits! Minga!

She says that me just wastin’ it playin’ cards, and going to strip joints, and chasing the phillies around would be a sin.

Her cat Cannoli crapped out and she feels like her dough could be better used for taking care of the frickin seals.

Hey. One more thing. I really like this thing of ours! Thanks for coming up with it! I check it everyday. I hear even the Irish guy’s like it.

Thanks a lot,,, Shut up.  Sal Manella Hoboken, NJ

hmm.

Catch Shares – the Experimental Drug Foundation (EDF) Prescription that you may be looking for!

Are you a Gulf of Alaska trawl fisheries permit holder who has borrowed to the hilt under government subsidized loan programs, and sick of sharing it with the crewmembers and captains who create the real capital surplus of the industry?  Are you ready for ownership in an oligopolistic economic model of socialism?

Do you suffer from an inability to sleep at night because you must compete with other permit holders in a fair and competitive fishery?

Do you find yourself getting older and growing tired of hauling trawls, pots or reeling in your long line gear?

Do you have to put up with the frustrations of whales, and having to avoid the bycatch of species such as halibut and Chinook salmon?

And would you like the relief that comes from a government approved giveaway of public resources so that you can retire early from such pressures?

Then Catch Shares may be the best prescription for you!  And we at Big Fish-Pharma are here to offer you total relief – at government expense, absolutely free of charge.

Warning: Catch shares may consolidate a once-free industry, cause job losses that make QS holders’ hair losses look like a bad comb-over.  Wig treatments may be required.  Catch shares may lead to suicide for non-recipients, and massive setbacks for once supportive fishery-dependent communities.  Gifted quotas may have to be shared by interest deductions in favor of your bank.  They may lead to excessive golfing which causes Arnold Palmer Foot disorder and carpal tunnel problems, as well as hip displacements, divots and consequent Turrets Syndrome (cursing at bad club swings and ball placements).  Catch shares may also lead to excessive down-family sharing requests with nagging wives and daughters who want their share of the dynasty now, not in the future.  Massive cash flow problems may result, as well as Bad Investor Syndrome, even though your bank and investment advisors get rich off of your awarded shares and tradable gains and losses.

If you suffer any of these reactions or warning signs, please consult the doctors at the regional fishery council.  Before using Catch Shares, also consult with your life insurance agent, tax consultants, and heart specialist to see if you can endure the dosages prescribed.

If excessive guilt, feelings of deep unworthiness, and social withdrawal and loss of friends should occur, please immediately discontinue the use of Catch Share wealth quotas and consult your prescribing doctor.  In the case of shortness of breath and extreme anxiety, pay a lobbyist to attend fish council meetings on your behalf and lessen your exposure to such sunlight.  If an Office of Law Enforcement special agent should show up on your doorstep, refuse to cooperate and tell them to go get an attorney.

See your doctor today for a prescription of Catch Shares to make you fabulously wealthy, healthy and wise.  You’ll sleep better than any captain or crew ever did!

This paid advertisement was brought to you by Dr. Jane Lubchenco and the Academy of Untrained EDF Catch Share proponents.  Copies of this ad are not available in Laotian, Swahili, Spanish and Vietnamese.