Here is another view on the subject of fishing. Putting more people out of work with complete shut downs based on what data is the bone of contention by some on the east coast. I fish out of Hatteras with a couple of different boats here below is Patrick Caton's take on what is going on, I see him as a hard working honest fisherman. Pull the plug on this if you want it's just another opinion, I'm with him. They say cod fishing in New Jersey is the the best it's been in fifteen years. We are fishing the 40 to 60 mile offshore wrecks tomorrow on the Jamaica out of Brielle new Jersey. It's not just a summer time fishery in N.J. lots of lives depend on it. The sudden recent complete shut down of the traditional winter time sea bass fishery from North Carolina north for 180 days is what looks like the start of some heavy handed so called fisheries management.
see below
Help Save Fishing... posted by Patrick Caton
To whom it may concern,
My name is Patrick Martin Caton. I am a commercial fisherman and for-hire boat captain working out of Hatteras, North Carolina.
Im writing you because, in case you werent already aware, the South Atlantic Marine Fisheries Council (SAMFC) is considering a 35-year closure of all bottom fishing from 95 feet and deeper. That means no more fishing for snappers, groupers, sea bass, tile fish, triggerfish, amberjacks and more.
This fishery supports numerous families, individuals, and business up and down the East coast. Such a ban would completely shut down many small, owner-operated commercial fishing boats, head boats, and charter boats, and would adversely impact fish house owners and employees, marinas, fuel docks, tackle companies and suppliers, public fish markets, and other related businesses.
At a time when congress and the president are (supposedly) desperately trying to curb the out-of-control unemployment rate, I think it would behoove them to not intentionally destroy any remaining jobs.
The impetus behind this ban is bad science and the unreasonable parameters of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. You can ask any bottom fisherman from North Carolina to Florida whats really out there on the bottom of the ocean, and their responses will almost always be exactly the opposite of what the SAMFCs SEDAR program reports.
You may be wondering, why the discrepancy? Well, I can tell you.
I am 23 years old, and I have spent well over half those years working as a fisherman. From the age of seven, I worked on a boat with my father, also a commercial and recreational fisherman, each summer, and when I graduated from high school, I got my captains license, bought a boat and began working on my own. This will be my fifth year in business.
All that time on the water and Ive yet to see a NOAA boat conducting research off the coast of Hatteras. Sure, they may come down and survey some of the historical wrecks, offering a mediocre-at-best fish count, or they may come down to the docks and measure some fish from a boats catch, but surely you can see that that kind of research is hardly enough basis for a 35-year moratorium on all bottom fishing.
Fishermen are already heavily regulated. To do my job, I have to have a USCG captains license, a Transportation Worker Identification Card, a random drug testing certificate, a South Atlantic Operators card, a North Carolina saltwater fishing license, a North Carolina commercial license, six federal fisheries permits, USCG vessel documentation, and I have to comply with myriad other safety and security measures.
What do the people regulating me have to have? A college degree? A six-month internship counting fish and collecting water samples?
Doctors regulate doctors, lawyers regulate lawyers, but a bunch of guys with a Biology degree and no actual fishing experience get to tell me how many fish I can keep on a given dayif I can keep any at allwhile being extolled by environmental dilettantes across the country for their efforts to save the world.
See, the knowledge required to be a working waterman isnt something you can learn in high school or trade school or college or graduate school. Its something that has to be learned through years on the water, from the people who did it before you. Its a specialized kind of knowledge that has providedand could continue to providefood and jobs for hundreds of thousands of people all over the country
Without fishing, there would be no more fresh fish in fish markets; they will all be imported from places like Mexico and Panama. Or, theyll be unsustainably raised in aquaculture facilities, where they will become diseased from their unnatural diet and unsanitary conditions. They will be of little nutritional value to the consumers, and, in fact, could adversely affect their health.
And without fishermen, coastal communities up and down the East coast would suffer. The thing about commercial and recreational fishermen is that, in times of economic hardship, they can still support themselves while bringing food and money into their communities. In times like we are facing now, commercial and recreational fishing is invaluable. When the tourists stop coming, when the building comes to a halt, the men and women who know how to fish will still be able to support themselves and their communities.
Believe me when I say, the working watermen of America are the very last people who want to see the ocean overfished and her resources depleted. It is all we have. If this moratorium goes through, I will be 58 years old before I can do my job again.
With that in mind, I ask you to please consider amending the Magnuson-Stevens Act to allow more flexibility in its regulations and to please consider having congress put the SAMFC under review, before their poor judgment and egregious manipulation of science puts an end to fishing.
Sincerely,
Patrick M. Caton
Captain, F/V Little Clam
Hatteras, NC
D.D.
