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| Press Release |
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| For Immediate Release: |
Contact: |
| September 26, 2000 |
Ted Forsgren (850) 224-3474 |
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| SOUTH ATLANTIC FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL TAKES FIRST EVER STEPS TO PROTECT DOLPHIN AND WAHOO |
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has adopted and sent to the National Marine Fisheries Service, the first federal fishery management plan and regulations for dolphin (mahi mahi) and wahoo. "Although the Council fumbled on one of the significant allocation issues; overall, they enacted some very good, proactive management measures which will protect dolphin and stop the development of a commercial longline fishery," said Ted Forsgren, CCA Florida Executive Director.
Dolphin has always been a predominantly recreational fishery; however in recent years a number of commercial longline boats began to directly target dolphin. Some landed as much as 28,000 pounds per trip. The longline threat and the absence of any federal fishery management plan or regulations moved the South Atlantic Council to initiate Council plans for dolphin in the Atlantic, Gulf, and Caribbean regions.
Recognizing the longline threat and the tremendous value of dolphin to the saltwater recreational fishing industry, CCA developed a "Five Point Plan and Recommendations for Dolphin" which was supported jointly by CCA Florida, CCA Georgia, CCA South Carolina, and CCA North Carolina. "The Council did a pretty good job of incorporating the CCA recommendations into their final actions, except for the 'historical allocation' issue," said Forsgren.
The Florida and Georgia representatives on the Council lead the way for the most conservation oriented measures, while all the North Carolina representatives consistently argued for higher commercial trip limits and a guaranteed commercial quota, as well as higher recreational bag limits and no minimum size limits.
The major new dolphin management measures adopted by the Council are as follows:
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- A commercial trip limit of 1,000 pounds off of Florida and Georgia, and 3,000 pounds off of South Carolina and North Carolina.
- This measure will stop the development of a directed longline fishery while allowing the traditional commercial hook and line fishery to continue.
- A prohibition on the use of pelagic drift longlines to take dolphin or wahoo in any of the areas recently closed by the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) to swordfish and tuna longlining.
- This measure eliminates a major loophole in the NMFS area closures and will prevent longliners in the closed areas from redirecting their fishing effort from swordfish to dolphin and wahoo. Coupled with the NMFS plan, the Council measure effectively removes all pelagic longlining from the entire Gulf Stream off of Florida's east coast from Key West to Georgia.
- A recreational and commercial minimum size of 20 inches (fork length) off of Florida and Georgia (no minimum size off of North Carolina and South Carolina).
- The minimum size is probably the easiest, least disruptive way to regulate recreational take while providing enhanced resource protection. Research indicates that dolphin grows extremely fast and most are sexually mature at 20 inches.
- A 10 fish bag limit or 60 fish boat limit, whichever is less, for recreational fishermen.
- Unlike the minimum size, these bag limits will have little, if any, impact on recreational landings. The current state bag limits in the various states are Florida - 10, North Carolina - 10, South Carolina - 7, and Georgia - 15.
- Prohibit the sale of dolphin by recreational fishermen.
- A provision was included which would allow charter boats that currently sell dolphin and have all the required state and federal commercial permits, to continue to sell.
- Establish an allocation measure which allows commercial interests to take 13% of the total landings or 1.5 million pounds, whichever is greater.
- This measure will result in a shift in historic allocation because the long-term average (1984 - 1997) is 89% recreational and 11% commercial. Additionally, the 1.5 million pound commercial quota is greater than the total pounds landed commercially in eleven of the last fourteen years.
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"The allocation provision is a problem because we do not want the same kind of shift from recreational to increased commercial take that occurred because of federal regulations in the amberjack, gag grouper, and shark fisheries. However, the other commercial controls, particularly the trip limits and longline area closures, should provide sufficient controls in the short term and allow the allocation issue to be readdressed" said Forsgren. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently published 1998 information on the total marine fishery landings, both shellfish and finfish, in all coastal states. The NMFS data indicates that in the southeastern U.S. from North Carolina to Texas, commercial fishermen take 94.6% of the total marine fishery landings. Recreational fishermen take only 5.4%.
"In dolphin management and allocation, CCA and the recreational fishers were not asking for any more fish, they simply wanted to maintain the historical allocation as a predominantly recreational fishery," said Edward LeMaster, a Florida member of the South Atlantic Council. The South Atlantic Council Dolphin and Wahoo Plan still has one more step, a review and final approval by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
"All too often federal fishery plans are recovery plans instead of management plans," said Forsgren. "The South Atlantic Council should be congratulated to taking these steps to protect the dolphin fishery before the overfishing damage occurs. If all goes well, these new dolphin protection measures could be in place by next spring." |
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State Office: P.O. Box 568886 • Orlando, FL 32856
Phone: (407) 854-7002 • Fax: (407) 854-1766
e-mail: Marcia Dunfee |
Advocacy Office: 905 East Park Avenue • Tallahassee, FL 32301
Phone: (850) 224-3474 • Fax: (850) 224-5199
e-mail: Amy Harllee |
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