A Partnership to Promote Responsible Fishing

Transcription

1 Agenda Item F. 1.d Public Comment September 2005 Pacific Whiting Conservation Cooperative Alaska Ocean Seafoods American Seafoods Glacier Fish Co. Trident Seafoods A Partnership to Promote Responsible Fishing Dr. Steve Freese, Acting Assistant Regional Administrator National Marine Fisheries Service 7600 Sand Point Way NE, BIN Cl5700 Seattle, WA Dr. Freese, Please accept these comments on behalf of the Pacific Whiting Conservation Cooperative (PWCC). The PWCC is comprised of the four companies that operate fishing vessels in the Catcher-Processor (CP) sector of the Pacific whiting fishery. The PWCC was formed in 1997 to promote efficient utilization of the whiting resource and to minimize bycatch in the whiting fishery. The PWCC also sponsors research to facilitate improved understanding of Pacific coast groundfish population dynamics. These comments are in response to your July 18,2005 letter to whiting industry participants. Your letter highlights National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) concerns about salmon bycatch in the 2005 whiting fishery. Specifically, bycatch rates of Chinook salmon in the whiting fishery are higher than normal and it is likely the annual bycatch limit of 11,000 Chinook salmon will be exceeded. You encourage whiting industry participants to take immediate action to voluntarily reduce bycatch to the maximum extent possible. During 2005, PWCC vessels have fished exclusively outside 100 fathoms to minimize our bycatch of salmon. For the season, our salmon bycatch rates are well below the acceptable level of 0.05 Chinook salmon/metric ton of whiting specified in the 1999 Biological Opinion. In response to your request, we are prepared to move out to 150 fathoms for the remainder of the 2005 fishery to ensure that our salmon bycatch rate stays below 0.05 sahnon/mt. We recognize that fishing outside of 100 fathoms might not be practical for other sectors of the whiting fishery. Moreover, treaty Indian tribal fisheries are constrained to fishing within their usual and accustomed (U&A) areas. However, the PWCC is deeply concerned that if immediate measures are not taken to reduce salmon bycatch rates NOAA Fisheries will be forced to take Draconian measures that could severely impact the CP sector of the whiting fishery. If NOAA Fisheries were to close the directed whiting fishery when the annual bycatch limit of 11,000 Chinook is exceeded, the CP sector stands to forego 30-40,OOO mt of Pacific whiting, an economic loss of tens of millions of dollars. Therefore, we request guidance from NOAA Fisheries about specific remedial measures available to address salmon bycatch in the whiting fishery. Given the significant potential economic loss to PWCC companies, we request NOAA Fisheries seriously consider more surgical measures to address specific problems rather than a blunt closure of the whole directed fishery. For example, we request NOAA Fisheries consider emergency action to allow Tribal fisheries to operate outside of Tribal U&As (i.e., in waters deeper than 100 fathoms) for the remainder of the 2005 fishery. Thank you for considering these suggestions. The PWCC stands ready to do what is necessary to ensure salmon bycatch rates stay below 0.05 salmon/mt in our sector of the fishery. If NOAA Fisheries determines that inseason actions are needed to curtail salmon bycatch, we urge you to employ precise remedial measures to address specific problems. Generic measures, such as closure of the directed fishery, would result in unnecessary and severe economic harm. Sincerely, Daniel A. Waldeck Executive Director PWCC - Portland 205 SE Spokane Street, Suite 338 Portland, Oregon L^_^. <#I9? )P -Inn7

2 [Fwd: Pineapple Trawls] Subject: [Fwd: Pineapple Trawls] From: PFMC Comments Date: Wed, 20 Jul :01: To: John DeVore X-Mozilla-Status2: ooooooo0 Return-Path: Received: from [ ] ([ ]) by mercury.akctr.noaa.gov (Netscape Messaging Server 4.15 mercury Jun :53:48) with ESMTP id IJXOI2OO.CAS for Wed, 20 Jul :01: Message-ID: Reply-To: Organization: Pacific Fishery Management Council User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 (Windows/ ) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.O Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary= Original Message Subject:Pineapple Trawls Date:Wed, 20 Jul :50: From:Sara Skamser H e ll o t o t he counc il, M y na m e i s Sa r a Ska m se r. M y husband John and m yse lf o w n Fou l w ea t he r T r a w l i n N e w po rt, O r egon. W e have been i nvo l ved i n t he deve l ope m en t and cons tr uc ti on o f t he se l ec ti ve fl a tfi sh tr a w l ( p i neapp l e ) fr o m t he beg i nn i ng and w e w ou l d li ke t o upda t e you on so m e o f ou r r epo rt s fr o m fi she r m en. Th i s season w e have bu ilt 18 ne w p i neapp l e tr a w l s and cu t back ano t he r 4 exs i s ti ng 2 sea m tr a w l s ( w h i ch see m t o w o rk very w e ll). I n p r ev i ous yea rs w e had so l d 6 ne w P i neapp l es. S i zes range ( f oo tr ope l eng t h ) fr o m 58 t o l oo, w it h t he 80 ve rsion being the m os t popu l ar. W e have asked t he fi she r m en t o ca ll and g i ve a r epo rt on t he pe rf o r m ance o f t he ir cu t back ne t s. W e go t co mm en t s accross t he boa r d t ha t w e r e ve ry s i m il a r. Tha t ne t fi shes r ea l good. And CLEAN! W e a r e a fr a i d t o t o w m o r e t han an hou r W e have t o shu t do w n t o ge t t he fi sh i n t he ho l d I a m sav i ng 3 ga ll ons an hou r i n f ue l Tha t ne t,i s f un t o fi sh because it i s so easy l o hand l e I w i sh I had one o f t hese yea rs ago Its t he w e ir des t ne t I ve eve r seen, bu t it r ea ll y ca t ches M os t o f ou r sa l es w e r e N e w po rt and sou t h. O ne As t o ri a boa t go t one. The Newpo rt fl ee t a l so w en t a s t ep f a rt he r and have s t a rt ed us i ng 5 l/ 4 BK ( be t w een t he kno t s) codend w eb i ns t ead o f t he l eaga l li m it m esh o f 4 l/ 2 BK. They a r e no t r ea t a i n i ng as m any s m a ll fi sh and a r e no t l os i ng any m a rketab l e fi sh. Thay a l so f ee l as t hough t he ne t fi shes be tt e r l onge r because it i s no t filli ng up w it h j unk. W e a l so hea r t ha t t he r e i s a l o t o f fi sh ou t t he r e. A ll i n a ll, t he guys a r e r ea l happy w it h t he ne t s. Ex tr e m e l y happy. The boa t s f a rt he r sou t h see m l o have be tt e r l uck fi sh i ng t he ne t i n deepe r w a t e r. So m e pe rf o r m ance d iff e r ences w e a r e see i ng i s j us t t he d iff e r ence o f a r eas be i ng fi shed. Eve ryone i s see i ng good pe rf o r m ance on t he beach. W e have t o be li eve t hey a r e hones tl y as t on i shed on ho w c l ean t hey a r e fi sh i ng w it h t he co mm en t s w e keep ge tti ng. Th i s has obv i ous l y been w onde rf u l f o r us and exc iti ng i n it s o w n littl e beach d r agge r w ay. O u r P i neapp l e t he m e song i s D ay T ri ppe r ( one w ay ti cke t, m an. It it ook m e soooo l ong t o fi nd ou t...) Thank you f o r your ti m e, Sa r a Ska m se r Pacific Fishery Management Council lofl 8/10/2005 1:46 PM

3 [Fwd: FW: Re: Request to Rescind Fish Closures for Boccaccio] Subject: [Fwd: Fw: Re: Request to Rescind Fish Closures for Boccaccio] From: Mike Burner Date: Fri, 01 Jul :26: To: John DeVore X-MoziIIa-Status2: ooooooo0 From - Tue JulO5 OS: 53: X-Mozilla-Status2: ooooooo0 Return-Path: <mike.bumer@noaa.gov Received: from [lo.o.o.l lo] ([ ]) by mercury.akctr.noaa.gov (Netscape Messaging Server 4.15 mercury Jun :53:48) with ESMTP id IIYJOGOO.7OP for dohn.devore@noaa.gov; Fri, 1 Jul :26: Message-ID: <42C56EB @noaa.gov X-Mozilla-Status: 0200 User-Agent: Mozilla/S.O (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-us; r~1.7.2) Gecko/ Netscape17.2 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.O Content-Type: multipart/altemative; boundary= fyi Original Message Subject:FW: Re: Request to Rescind Fish Closures for Boccaccio Date:Thu, 30 Jun :25: From:Hoover Ng <hoovemg@hotmail.com To:Mike.Bumer@noaa.gov afrom: "FGC" <FGC@dfg.ca.gov To: <hooverng@hotmail.com XC: ~~~ss~l~~ar.ron.calderon@assembly.ca.gov~,~governor@governor.ca.gov~,~senator.romero@sen.~a.gov~ Subject: Re: Request to Rescind Fish Closures for Boccaccio z-date: Thu, 30 Jun :59: Dear Mr. Ng, These closures were set by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC). The California Fish and Game Commission had to amend its regulations to conform with those of the PFMC. You should contact the PFMC with your request. See the PFMC's web site at Sherrie Koell Xalifornia Fish and Game Commission "Hoover Ng" <hooverng@hotmail.com 06/29/05 3:52 PM Dept of Fish and Game currently has severe restrictions for boccaccio, a ty-pe of rock fish. Each angler is limited to one per day. I went fishing yesterday, June 28, 2005, on the "Gentlemen", a 3/4 day boat out of Channel Island Sportfishing in Oxnard, California. I could not Bbelieve the number of boccaccio and the size of each that were caught. Even Bthough we all limited out at one each, and kept moving to different spots, awe still kept catching them. It was a shame to return them to the water because most of them were dead already!!! As you know, these rock fish die when they come up to the surface and cannot be returned alive to the water. I have a busy schedule and when I am able to go fishing, which is not that soften, I'd like to be able to keep the fish I catch unless there is a real 1 of2 g/10/2005 1:49 PM

4 [Fwd: FW: Re: Request to Rescind Fish Closures for Boccaccio] threat to certain species. It would have been a much better experience ato shave been able to keep these so called "overfished" boccaccio or salmon agroupers. Please rescind the fish closure for boccaccio., To Governor Schwarzenegger, State Senator Romero and State z-assemblymember Xalderon, could you talk to the Deparment of Fish and Game Commission z-to rescind this fish closure? If they won't listen, can you sponsor legislation to rescind the fish closures for boccdccio in Southern z-california? Hoover Ng z-1929 Deerpeak Drive z-hacienda Heights, CA Mike Burner Staff Officer Pacific Fishery Management Council Phone: (503) Toll Free: (866) Fax: (503) of2 g/10/2005 1:49 PM

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