|
Last Chance to Derail Proposed Increase in
Commercial Harvest of Striped Bass
Coastal Conservation Association is opposing the increase in the coastal commercial harvest of striped bass proposed in Addendum II to Amendment 6 of the Striped Bass Fishery Management. We believe the striped bass population is currently declining and measures should be taken to reduce fishing mortality, not add to it. (Click HERE to see CCA’s full testimony).
Our members have told us repeatedly that they are seeing far fewer striped bass than they saw just a few years ago. The recreational catch data bears their observations out. Recreational catch has declined well over 60 percent since 2001, and has even fallen below what it was in 1995, the year that the stock was first declared “recovered,” without a concomitant decrease in trips. Anglers simply are not encountering as many fish.
W e wanted to use the most current information available, striped bass total catch through Wave 4 (July-August) 2010. Thus, we compared the 2010 catch through Wave 4 with the annual catch each year through Wave 4 since 1995. The results are still ominous:
As you can see, the decline in angler encounters continues. CCA believes this indicates a decrease in striped bass abundance, as there is no other logical explanation for anglers’ coastwide failure to find fish.
Additionally, the Maryland Young of Year Survey has declined again. That news, which reinforces a trend that began in 2001, is alarming. We are in a period of declining recruitment, which portends declining abundance well into the next decade.
An era of declining recruitment with decreasing abundance is not the time to expand harvest. We are strongly urging managers not to adopt the proposed increase in the coastal commercial harvest and instead start exploring management options to restore striped bass to previous levels of abundance. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) meets Nov. 8-11 in Charleston, South Carolina, to decide on this proposal –
This is your last chance to derail efforts to increase commercial harvest of striped bass!
Contact your state’s representatives to the ASMFC listed below and tell them not to increase commercial harvest:
James Gilmore – STATE ADMINISTRATOR
jjgilmor@gw.dec.state.ny.us
NYSDEC, Marine Resources
205 North Belle Mead Road
East Setauket, NY
Phone: 631/444-0433
FAX: 631/444-0434
Pat Augustine – GOVERNOR’S APPOINTEE
paugustine@erols.com
25 Stuart Drive
Coram, NY 11727
Phone: 631/928-1524
FAX: 631/928-3540
Senator Owen Johnson – STATE LEGISLATOR
23-24 Argyle Square
Babylon, NY 11702
Phone: 631/669-9200
FAX: 631/669-9007 |
Hi Z
Just FYI, I called the number associated with Mrs. Augustine. It appears that this is her home number. I not sure if you realize that. I’m also not sure that we want to bombard her at her home on a Sunday afternoon, or maybe that would be a good thing ??. Just throwing it out there in case you weren’t aware. I’ll be firing off three letters tommorrow morning.
↓Pat is the reason we are righting this letter, he is a Mr. He proposed the addendum. From what I understand he also tried to dissociate with the addendum at the NY hearing.
There is no logical reason to increase any quota at this stage of the game. It would be purely irresponsible. We have had poor juvenile recruitment over the past 5 years and a decreasing bio mass. If anything we should be reducing both recreational and commercial take.
As it stands the public comment is overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining status-quo and changing the recruitment failure guidelines. If there is a commercial increase and the recruitment indexes do not change. Then the public comment was all for not.
↓Shot out two e-mails with the links given. Hope this helps.
↓Mark Pirani says:
October 31, 2010 at 1:24 pm
“If anything we should be reducing both recreational and commercial take.”
Thats sound fair to me and right thing to do. Right on point.
↓Bill H–
“Pat” is a guy, so don’t worry about bothering Mrs. Augustine. He is also THE guy who is pushing the commercial increase at ASMFC, at the behest of Arnold Leo and the rest of the East End commercials. So you probably shouldn’t worry about making a few calls.
↓Here’s an interesting read on one of the forums (hope I’m not breaking any rules here by posting this!)
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/showthread.php?t=750950
↓We had a delivery failure to the paugustine@erols.com email address so they didn’t get it.
↓For thsoe that are interested in going a few steps further in your contacts the complete board in NEw England, East Coast is in a PDF on the same thread. Hope I am not breaking any other rules mentioning it but its for the future of our sport and the future of these fishes lives…otherwise we roll the clock back to the early 80’s between the Mycobacteriosis and the increased harvesting.
Check Steve Tags link…third page features a very long list of folks you can speak to or write to opposing the measure in PDF form.
Do your part!
↓