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Date: Letter to Martinez - Grouper Closure
Title:
Date: 10 Aug 2005
Time: 23:17:49 -0400
Dear Senator Mel Martinez This letter is concerning the closure of all recreational grouper fishing in Gulf of Mexico from September through December. And I’ll be honest that writing this letter is difficult because I have reservations believing that my words will actually fall into your hands. I imagine you have much on your plate and those that separate the ‘wheat from the chaff’ for you will most likely file this in a bin with similar letters that you may peruse when time allows. But I write on because my life hangs in a balance. You see I don’t have a job; I enjoy fishing, taking all kinds of people fishing and the adventures on the Gulf so much that I can’t separate me from what I do. I’m assured you have received many ‘nasty-grams’ regarding the negative impact of long-liners on the red grouper populations. From what I understand there are only 100 long-liners operating in the Gulf. It doesn’t seem that much but those one hundred are twenty four-seven killing machines that count on “legal discard” (undersized dead grouper) to re-bait the lines. Long-lines are indiscriminate killing strings that rape the bottom they lay on. I believe if you can sleep and fish at the same time, that technique of fishing is more than likely detrimental to the targeted resource, as well as, the over-all environment and needs to be banned immediately. All over the world long-line equipment has been proven to overwhelm the resource and has been outlawed. I am shocked such activity is permitted in our Gulf waters. Then I was informed a portion of the long-line catch money is automatically taken off the top to support lobbyist. Brings to question: If the activities of a mere 100 vessels is so severe on the fishery that they predispose moneys for legal protection, why is it allowed in the first place? Fish traps are supposed to be banned in 2006. A step in the right direction, be it somewhat late. Remember, the sleeping and fishing thing. From where I’m located, I don’t see a conflict between the hook and line commercial fishermen and the charter fishermen. I honestly admire them. They endure long periods at sea hoping to find the bite before the ice runs out while praying the weather doesn’t turn and hammer them for their efforts. They earn their money. If anyone says otherwise I bet that a single week stint as a deckhand on a grouper boat will make them appreciate a minimum wage job anywhere. Furthermore, commercial hook and line harvest are regulated by total annual industry quota’s. No doubt recreational grouper fishing, which includes charter boats, has boomed in the Florida Gulf waters. Weekends do bring a flotilla of shiny boats to Steinhatchee, as well as, other Gulf coast communities. Advancement of technologies such as sonar and GPS have enabled the novice angler to gather some latitude/longitude numbers and get on the fast track to catching more grouper than they ever thought possible. The weekender harvest needs to be accounted for, for proper grouper management. I had no qualms regarding the reduction in red grouper harvest July of 2004 to two fish per angler. I have no problem reducing the overall bag limit to 3-4 grouper per person per day with one or two being red grouper. Count me as supportive. Off my boat, I often wondered what six people are going to do with >150 pounds of grouper with an additional 100 pounds of amberjack, cobia, and kingfish and a five gallon bucket of grunts and sea bass? I imagine much of that fish is lost due to mishandling and/or freezer burn. What a waste! People like fish fresh. Those frozen fillets slowly get moved to the rear of the freezer and are soon forgotten; speaking from personal experience. Cutting back the harvest translates to the fish being better handled because they aren’t ‘saved’ as bulk meat, the fish are eaten on a more timely fresh basis and people return to fish more often because their supply is exhausted or running low. A win for the fish, the consumer, charter captains, marina’s, tackle shops and … Furthermore, reducing the grouper bag limit will teach people to fish; something I attempt to do as a daily routine. Most of people that board their boat or mine have the mind set that offshore fishing in the Big Bend area is no more than dropping a chunk of meat to the bottom to wait for a grouper to come along and eat it. If the bite doesn’t occur in an ambiguous time period, they move to the next spot and repeat the process. Wow! I can’t imagine fishing the same way for the same thing time and time again in such a dynamic environment. When does the mind click to ‘this is getting boring?’ To me, it would be like golfing with only one club in the bag. On my charters, I give an offshore seminar by showing them that offshore fishing doesn’t necessary mean bottom fishing only. Over the course of the day we will troll for grouper and kingfish, toss jigs and top water plugs to amberjack, have a shot at a cobia or spend a few minutes jumping a barracuda, as well as, deliver the typical bottom fishing scenario. I love interacting with the clientele with humor, fish tails, or whatever keeps things running casual, taking an opportune moment to slip in a tidbit of information, while maintaining an active situation to produce a varied catch they, as well as, me are proud of. I hope that by marginally reducing the grouper bag limit it will force other people to further explore what the Gulf fishery has to offer. I like shutting down any fishing technique that indiscriminately kills fish, such as, the long-liners and fish trappers because it just makes common sense. How someone can defend that is beyond me. I am for reducing the recreational grouper catch because of the extra human pressure put on the resource which is no more than a ramification of our burgeoning population. Now what I don’t like is when ‘the best available science’ is being used to force a four month closure on grouper fishing. By the way, that four month closure period, Sept-Dec, is effectively a six month closure for me because foul weather precludes most January and February trips and then we fight weather the other six months of the year. And although I seasonally fish for cobia, kingfish and amberjack on my charters to allow folk to experience something different, a surprise bonus learning experience, and to keep my interest; grouper are the ‘money’ fish people are chartering for in the Big Bend area. If grouper weren’t part of the package deal, I seriously doubt many would pay to go offshore fishing. In fact, so few would take a charter that closing grouper fishing would close my business. A six month closure on grouper would be a ‘head shot’ for me and most of the offshore captains along the Florida Gulf coast. I’m not one to put economics before a natural resource. Historically, greed has indeed taken away so much of what we loved. If I felt my activities where to the detriment of the grouper population, I would volunteer to stop fishing for them. I want children to enjoy what I’ve experienced. I see the population as being quite healthy here in the Big Bend area of Florida. Every trip we release 50-100 short red and gag grouper (<1% fatality rate). As a matter of fact, undersized grouper are so abundant they are a nuisance, costing me extra bait, yet are a welcome sight. “I can’t wait to next year when all these grouper grow up” I’ve heard hundreds of times. When the ‘best available science’ data was analyzed to produce a blanket statement that Gulf grouper populations are stressed; I know they failed to properly sample my area of the Gulf of Mexico. I have a Masters degree from the University of Florida, worked several years as a research scientist at the Center for Aquatic Plants in Gainesville, have developed, conducted, analyzed and written up numerous lab, greenhouse, as well as, field experiments to the point that I am painfully aware that sampling method is cornerstone to good science. If the sample method is questionable, the results of which will be tentative at best. Furthermore, even when the science is good, with reproducible results, a prudent scientist is more apt to give a conservative evaluation, and wait for additional research to support the findings. Blanket statements in science are so rare that I can only think of two true situations of which; those being the theory of gravity and quantum mechanics. The point is I have a hard time believing the data when I see hundreds of red grouper swim away from my boat on any given week. Perhaps the findings are representative of other areas of the Gulf. If that is the case, then restrictions would best apply to those regions where the grouper populations are in trouble. Regional management strategies would have greater impact while being more cost effective. Money and resources could be better targeted where they are most needed not watered down over the entire body of the Gulf. If the leg is broken why cast the entire body? Although my livelihood depends on the harvest of grouper, I try and remain objective about their good management. For one thing there is no incentive for me to run down the fish population I so depend on. Putting a halt to those that can sleep and fish as soon as possible is a step in the right direction. How many tons of grouper and other fish as well, would be saved by the “No Sleeping and Fishing Act of 2005”? Dropping the recreational limit by one grouper would save, on average, seven pounds of grouper per bag limit. Those two simple steps would save tons of grouper without dropping a billion dollar hammer on the fishing world. I’m just asking for a fair common sense management program that first considers what is best for the grouper. Second, an honest program that reflects historical information as to whom and where the demise first started. Hint: follow yesterday’s fish money. Third, an unbalanced program that focuses on areas where the grouper populations are in the worst condition. And last, a monitored program which does it’s best to avoid emergency situations such as closures. After all, we are dealing with many peoples livelihoods which can’t absorb abrupt changes like fish closures. Aside from a large scale natural disaster, closures indicate past mismanagement. I thank you for your time in reading this. You may contact me anytime. If you would like to see first hand what I see daily, you’re invited on a fact finding mission on my boat here in Steinhatchee. Sincerely, Captain Brian E. Smith