Blue Water Fishermen=92s Association
PO Box 398
910 Bayview
Avenue
Barnegat Light, NJ 08006
Phone: (609) 361 9229
Fax:
(609) 494 7210
E-mail: bwfa@usa.net
Website: www.bwfa.org
July
12,2000
To: Atlantic HMS Industry & Other
Interests
From: Blue Water Fisherrnen's
Association
Subject: Unprecedented Fisheries
Coalition Needs Your Help to Enact
Conservation
Bill
The following mailing to members of The
Billfish Foundation clarifies
the cunrent
situation regarding various legislative and regulatory
proposals.
Blue Water
Fishermen's Association encourages its members and all others
with an interest in the sustainable harvest of
Atlantic highly migratory
species to call their
elected officials to encourage support for and the
swift passage of Senate Bill 1911 and House Bill
3390.
Thank you for your efforts toward the
responsible and sustainable
harvest of these
renewable international resources.
Blue Water
Fishermen's Association represents commercial pelagic
longline fishermen, fish dealers and related
businesses with an interest
in the harvest of
Atlantic highly migratory species such as swordfish,
tuna, sharks and mahi-mahi. Our fishermen are
proud to carry on the
tradition of providing
fresh domestic seafood to other Americans who
cannot or choose not to catch their own.
The Blue Water Fishermen's Association is working
together with The
Billfish Foundation, the
Coastal Conservation Association and the
American
Sportfishing Association to reduce unwanted commercial catches
of undersized swordfish and marlin. Together we
hope to create a
reasonable and practical model
to enhance existing conservation measures
that
can be pursued internationally where 95% of all Atlantic highly
migratory species are harvested.
A THE BILLFISH FOUNDATION
CONSERVATION THROUGH RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND
ADVOCACY
2161 E. Commercial Blvd., 2nd Floor
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33308
PO BOX 8787, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33310-8787
USA
(954) 938-0150 - (8OO) 438-8247 Fax (954)
938-5311
Website: billfish.org E-mail:
tbf@billfish.org
TBF rarely calls on you for
direct action. but this issue needs your
input
today, with repeated follow-up until the job is done. Prompt
contact with members on Capitol Hill in support
of the Breaux/Tauzin
Bills is important and will
benefit the fish and fishing. Thank you and
good
fishing?
DON'T BE FOOLED
It's the Fish stupid! Fish are forgotten as
campaign re-election desires
take priority on
Capitol Hill with Jim Saxton (R-NJ). Even though some
would describe the Saxton Bill as a "pie in the
sky" bill and one that
has no chance of passage,
Saxton touts its possibilities in what appears
to
be a post-primary re-election campaign strategy to win votes, at the
expense of billfish conservation. If something
sounds too good to be
true, it usually is --
reality is no different here. Don't be fooled!
Saxton has to get reasonable.
Truth and Consequences
Truth - pelagic longline gear creates billfish
bycatch problems;
Truth - the overwhelming
majority of billfish killed on longlines
(millions of fish) die on foreign hooks;
Truth - U.S. anglers and the pelagic longline
fleet combined kill a tiny
fraction of Atlantic
billfish;
Truth - international negotiations to
reduce foreign longline bycatch is
dependent upon
a united U.S. recreational and commercial fishing effort;
Truth - Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Spain and others
capitalize on
divisiveness between U.S.
interests, which allows them to continue
killing
tons of Atlantic billfish;
Truth- Congressman
Saxton's bill destroys cooperation between U.S.
recreational and commercial fishing interests and
plays into the hands
of foreign fleets:
Truth - some U.S. interests benefit from
continuing the backyard fight
between anglers and
longliners while the real problem (foreign boats)
goes unabated;
Truth - a
longline closure is desired by Mid-Atlantic anglers off their
coasts even though the Breaux buyout would remove
the largest producing
longline boats from their
canyon;
Truth - Saxton's bill must be modified to
reflect reasonable measures
for it won't pass as
introduced;
Truth - Senate Bill S-1911, the
Breaux Bill & Tauzin Bill in the House
offer
realistic means to improve billfish conservation by reducing
longline bycatch, establishing a research program
to identify ways to
clean up longline gear and
reduce the foreign slaughter, to reduce
angler/commercial conflicts, to reduce the size
of the U.S. longline
fleet, and to improve
fishing;
Truth - Breaux and Tauzin Bills do not
solve all longline bycatch
problems, no one has
ever claimed it does, but they take a step forward
for conservation through a rare cooperative
opportunity, and
Truth - Congressman Saxton's
Bill plays well for re-election politics,
but
must be modified if it is going to help the fish - all other parties
have made some compromise, its time for NJ to do
the same, and TBF is
working hard on Capitol Hill
to help find the solution.
The government is here
to help - Some Grossly Mis-read Fishery
Management "Tea Leaves"
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
released its Final
Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement in June, which offers little
to
improve billfish conservation through its regulations:
Truth - many in longline industry pleased with
NMFS preferred Final
Action;
Truth - those opposing the Breaux & Tauzin
legislation, primarily from
NJ, rallied support
for the government's regulations based on false hope
that NMFS would actually take meaningful action;
Truth - Gulf of Mexico states receive a token
closure under regulations
and longline industry
breathes sigh;
Truth - Florida's east coast
benefits as its longline boats relocate to
NJ,
but billfish bycatch increases in other areas; and
Truth - regulations will give South Carolina and
Georgia anti-climatic
closures for billfish
February, March, April.
Reality Check
Failure by some interests to focus on the real
problem (tons of billfish
killed by foreign
vessels) at expense of realistic billfish legislation
(Breaux & Tauzin Bills) will:
Consequence - please foreign interests and fringe
U.S. longline
interests;
Consequence - encourage activating latent U.S.
longline permits;
Consequence - increase bycatch
of billfish;
Consequence - prolong unchecked
foreign billfish bycatch problem; and
Consequence
- wipe out opportunity for a funded research program to help
identity means to "clean up" longlinc bycatch and
to reduce the size of
the U.S. longline fleet.
Implementation of government (NMFS) regulations
will:
Consequence - force longline boats closed
out of waters off FL to move
to Mid-Atlantic,
Consequence - increase bycatch of marlin;
Consequence -won't help marlin off SC or GA;
Consequence - increase pelagic longline presence
in Mid-Atlantic;
Consequence - increase
shore-based longline operations in NJ, NY, MD;
Consequence - increase interaction between
anglers and longline boats,
Consequence - not
reduce size of U.S. longline fleet,
Consequence -
not include means to help identity realistic alternatives
that have a chance of adoption by countries
responsible for most of the
billfish bycatch: and
Consequence - will facilitate animosity between
the recreational and
commercial interests, which
distracts from the fish and benefits groups
that
capitalize on stirring frenzies rather than offering realistic,
credible solutions.
4th
AND GOAL - sustained drive needed - Atlantic future fishing
championship at stake for billfish - don't get
drawn off sides with
distractions:
Mid-Atlantic - inform NJ delegation on Capitol
Hill that
conservation-minded sportfishermen want
to cross the goal line with the
Breaux and Tauzin
Bills rather than shaking pompoms at political pep
rallies.
FL - get Senator
Connie Mack and Bob Graham immediately to take a
pro-active role with the Breaux Bill and get FL
Congressman to support
the Tauzin Bill in the
House, identical to Breaux's.
SC & GA - get
Senator Hollings to immediately reinforce his support for
the Breaux Bill; Gulf of Mexico - immediately get
your Senators to
actively support the Breaux Bill
and to enlighten the NJ delegation that
"falling
on a campaign sword" that would defeat the Tauzin/Breaux Bills
would be a failure for the fish and anglers. Gulf
Congressmen need to
bump up the heat they can
bring to bear on the importance of the
Tauzin/Breaux Bills.
This
isn't a scrimmage, its not an election. It's the fish stupid! Let's
get the job done, the clock is running. Anyone
can kill a bill, it takes
real people to succeed
for the fish. Call and write today, tomorrow and
again.
June 26, 2000
