Hello fellow diver,
Find below a report by another fellow diver from Scubaboard about the possible re-introduction of fist traps in US waters:
Fish Traps Coming Back
We all need to take a hard look at this.
It appears that commercial fishing lobbyist Bob Spaeth, Southern Offshore Fishing Association is maneuvering the Gulf Council to endorse the return of fish traps in the Gulf of Mexico. This, coming years after the long battle to have them banned from US waters in both the Gulf and South Atlantic EEZs.
Fish traps are without a doubt not only the most controversial gear type ever permitted in the snapper/grouper fishery of the Southeast US, but also the most destructive.
To get an understanding of the damage done by fish traps read this by highly respected and experienced fishery management expert Dr. Russell Nelson - http://www.seawatch.org/bibliography/nelsonpaper.php
The state of Florida banned fish traps in state waters in 1980, yet it took the NMFS over a quarter of a century (not until Feb. 2007) to finally ban the gear in the Gulf of Mexico. Bermuda also recognized fish trapping as an unsustainable method of harvest and banned their use years ago.
Unfortunately, fish trapping is so deeply entrenched in the culture of the Caribbean that many still view it as an acceptable method of harvesting reef fish. In every Island Nation – Haiti, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, St. Maartin, etc., etc., that actively uses fish traps the presence of bottom fish larger than my hand is nearly non existent.
One of the worst assumptions is that the fisherman simply releases the fish they don’t want, like angelfish, grunts, etc., or can’t legally take like undersize snapper and groupers once a trap is brought to the surface. Not true. Almost nothing survives with a swim bladder (bony fish) after being brought up from depth rapidly. It’s common practice among trappers to cut up this by catch, legal or otherwise and use it for bait.
To see what I am talking about watch this video - Explosive Decompression in Fish Traps - Fish Traps: Explosive Decompression on Vimeo or here YouTube - Fish Traps Explosive Decompression Part 1
Now it appears the conservation groups Ocean Conservancy, Oceana and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) are willing to consider throwing reef fish under the bus to do what they believe will save sea turtles by sitting down with the Gulf Council and at least two commercial fishing lobby organizations to re-consider fish traps as allowable gear to be included in Amendment 32.
This meeting will be taking place Dec 15th, 2009, 10 AM-4 PM at the Florida Wildlife Research Institute, 100 8th Avenue SE, St., Petersburg, 3rd floor conference room.
Currently this amendment is in the scoping process in order to get some public
feedback before the February Gulf Council meeting in Tampa, Florida.
According to Elizabeth (Libby) Fetherston, Southeast Fish Program Manager for the Ocean Conservancy, “We are trying to engage the stakeholder community in a productive dialogue about the issues with this gear type and giving the industry an opportunity to discuss trap evolution and if some of the advancements adequately mitigate the concerns that led to the gear's prohibition in the first place.”
Apparently Ocean Conservancy is unclear of it’s own Mission and even some of the “Issues” they are fighting against.
The very notion of bringing fish traps back into practice in US waters is highly irresponsible and unconscionable, but some believe that it will cut down on the use of long lines, which do kill sea turtles. However, most commercial fishermen will not be replacing their long line gear for fish traps, they will use both as long as they can get away with it.
The real root of the problem is that the ITQ – Individual Transferable Quota mess created by the Gulf Council has basically eliminated all of the smaller more traditional fishing methods, like bandit rigs (a far less destructive form of commercial fishing than nets, long lines and fish traps) and turned the fishery over to those that did the most damage (fish trappers and long liners). To add insult to injury, if the smaller operators want to acquire additional shares they have to buy them from the same individuals who forced them out of business years ago, again, the fish trappers and long liners. The result is the users of the most destructive gear types have been awarded higher ITQ shares and to catch this quota the long liners now want to convert to fish trapping so as to be able to fish more destructively and with less restrictions!
Believe me friends, if this gets passed in the Gulf, it won’t stop there. Before we know it fish traps will be back in action all over the US Coast and bottom fish stocks, including both food fish and ornamental species, will once again plunge to disastrously low levels.....like the islands of the Caribbean.
To express your concerns Contact:
Elizabeth Fetherston - Ocean Conservancy
Manager, Fish Conservation, Southeast
E-mail: efetherston@oceanconservancy.org or ph 727-369-6615
Vicki Cornish, Ocean Conservancy
Director, Marine Wildlife Policy
E-mail: vcornish@oceanconservancy.org or ph 202-351-0452
Dave Allison, Oceana
E-mail: dallison@oceana.org or ph 202-467-1945
Pam Baker, Environmental Defense Fund
ph 512-691-3439
Are fish traps coming back?
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Tubesnout23
- Submariner
- Posts: 585
- Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2008 11:24 am
Re: Are fish traps coming back?
I did send a letter and here is the reply from Ocean Conservancy:
As an organization of devoted ocean lovers, we understand and share your concern about fish traps. Many of us have seen firsthand the impact that trap gear has on ecosystems, fish populations and marine mammals, and continue to work tirelessly to minimize the impact that fishing has on the sustainability of fish populations, ecosystems, habitat, and marine wildlife. As such, let me state clearly that we do not support the introduction of untested fish trap gear into the Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishery.
The reason for the confusion has to do with a recent workshop.
Last year new data revealed that turtles in the Gulf of Mexico were being caught and killed at ten times the level authorized under the Endangered Species Act. In response, Ocean Conservancy worked with NMFS, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, and bottom longline fishermen to reduce interactions with sea turtles in bottom longline gear. Our work to find a solution to this problem resulted in the adoption of conservation measures to reduce effort in the longline fishery by 65% (see our recent article in Ocean Conservancy's Splash for more details:Ocean Conservancy: Laudable Decision on Loggerheads).
Out of concern about these and other restrictions on fishing effort, longline fishermen requested that the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) consider reintroducing fish traps as an allowable gear at the Council’s October 2009 meeting. The fishermen’s request is being incorporated into a proposed management plan to address overfishing of gag grouper, known as Reef Fish Amendment 32. Given the affirmative decision to consider this issue by the Council and knowing that many who currently follow the council process were not familiar with the concerns that led to a phase out of fish trap gear in 1997, we offered to convene a workshop to review the history and current state of science on this issue.
Unfortunately, there were some that misinterpreted the convening of this workshop as a show of support for bringing traps back. Instead the purpose was to provide a forum for discussion about the history of trap use in Florida, the observed and potential impacts of traps on wildlife, target and non-target fish populations, and bottom habitat, the management and enforcement challenges that traps present, and recent innovations in trap design.
The workshop held in St. Petersburg, FL in December included formal presentations on the history of fish trap use in the Gulf of Mexico, enforcement and management concerns from the perspective of FL Keys National Marine Sanctuary personnel, a summary of bycatch research done on fish traps, a summary of bycatch release survival rates in trap caught reef fish, a history and perspective from the FL Keys dive and commercial fishing community, marine wildlife interactions and concerns, habitat concerns, as well as the perspective of Gulf commercial fishermen who proposed the reintroduction of trap gear and presentation of a new trap design for discussion. The workshop fulfilled the intended goal of providing members of the wider Gulf fishery stakeholder community (ourselves and decision makers included) with a thorough review of the gear being proposed as well as the concerns that continue to surround fish traps here in the region and beyond.
This was what has become an all-too-unique forum in the Gulf of Mexico where people on all sides of an issue come together to discuss the science and management aspects of a controversial subject. While we have heard criticism of our effort to support the discussion of such a controversial fishing gear, we believe that the process of bringing people to the table to discuss and evaluate issues in an open and informed way is essential to achieving our shared goal of healthy and sustainable marine ecosystems. Following the workshop, Ocean Conservancy submitted comments on Reef Fish Amendment 32 which read in part:
We do not support the proposal to reintroduce fish traps as an allowable gear into the reef fish fishery. Design alone cannot mitigate the fundamental enforcement, bycatch, habitat and wildlife entanglement issues with trap gear that led to its prohibition in Reef Fish Amendment 14. The history of this fishing gear in the reef fish fishery reveals some overwhelmingly negative side effects that might accompany its restoration as an allowable gear, and it seems prudent to have a firm position of prohibiting new (or reintroduction of old) gears from the fishery until they can demonstrate performance improvement over existing gear and methods. This is certainly not the case with the traps that were common in the 1990’s and there is little-to-no testing or literature to suggest a newer version of the trap would perform better. In the absence of supporting evidence, one must assume the issues with traps remain and we therefore do not support the reintroduction of fish traps as an allowable gear.
We appreciate your commitment to the ocean and hope you will continue your valued work. Please feel free to contact Ocean Conservancy or me personally if you would like to know more about our work to restore the health and balance of our oceans.
As an organization of devoted ocean lovers, we understand and share your concern about fish traps. Many of us have seen firsthand the impact that trap gear has on ecosystems, fish populations and marine mammals, and continue to work tirelessly to minimize the impact that fishing has on the sustainability of fish populations, ecosystems, habitat, and marine wildlife. As such, let me state clearly that we do not support the introduction of untested fish trap gear into the Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishery.
The reason for the confusion has to do with a recent workshop.
Last year new data revealed that turtles in the Gulf of Mexico were being caught and killed at ten times the level authorized under the Endangered Species Act. In response, Ocean Conservancy worked with NMFS, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, and bottom longline fishermen to reduce interactions with sea turtles in bottom longline gear. Our work to find a solution to this problem resulted in the adoption of conservation measures to reduce effort in the longline fishery by 65% (see our recent article in Ocean Conservancy's Splash for more details:Ocean Conservancy: Laudable Decision on Loggerheads).
Out of concern about these and other restrictions on fishing effort, longline fishermen requested that the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) consider reintroducing fish traps as an allowable gear at the Council’s October 2009 meeting. The fishermen’s request is being incorporated into a proposed management plan to address overfishing of gag grouper, known as Reef Fish Amendment 32. Given the affirmative decision to consider this issue by the Council and knowing that many who currently follow the council process were not familiar with the concerns that led to a phase out of fish trap gear in 1997, we offered to convene a workshop to review the history and current state of science on this issue.
Unfortunately, there were some that misinterpreted the convening of this workshop as a show of support for bringing traps back. Instead the purpose was to provide a forum for discussion about the history of trap use in Florida, the observed and potential impacts of traps on wildlife, target and non-target fish populations, and bottom habitat, the management and enforcement challenges that traps present, and recent innovations in trap design.
The workshop held in St. Petersburg, FL in December included formal presentations on the history of fish trap use in the Gulf of Mexico, enforcement and management concerns from the perspective of FL Keys National Marine Sanctuary personnel, a summary of bycatch research done on fish traps, a summary of bycatch release survival rates in trap caught reef fish, a history and perspective from the FL Keys dive and commercial fishing community, marine wildlife interactions and concerns, habitat concerns, as well as the perspective of Gulf commercial fishermen who proposed the reintroduction of trap gear and presentation of a new trap design for discussion. The workshop fulfilled the intended goal of providing members of the wider Gulf fishery stakeholder community (ourselves and decision makers included) with a thorough review of the gear being proposed as well as the concerns that continue to surround fish traps here in the region and beyond.
This was what has become an all-too-unique forum in the Gulf of Mexico where people on all sides of an issue come together to discuss the science and management aspects of a controversial subject. While we have heard criticism of our effort to support the discussion of such a controversial fishing gear, we believe that the process of bringing people to the table to discuss and evaluate issues in an open and informed way is essential to achieving our shared goal of healthy and sustainable marine ecosystems. Following the workshop, Ocean Conservancy submitted comments on Reef Fish Amendment 32 which read in part:
We do not support the proposal to reintroduce fish traps as an allowable gear into the reef fish fishery. Design alone cannot mitigate the fundamental enforcement, bycatch, habitat and wildlife entanglement issues with trap gear that led to its prohibition in Reef Fish Amendment 14. The history of this fishing gear in the reef fish fishery reveals some overwhelmingly negative side effects that might accompany its restoration as an allowable gear, and it seems prudent to have a firm position of prohibiting new (or reintroduction of old) gears from the fishery until they can demonstrate performance improvement over existing gear and methods. This is certainly not the case with the traps that were common in the 1990’s and there is little-to-no testing or literature to suggest a newer version of the trap would perform better. In the absence of supporting evidence, one must assume the issues with traps remain and we therefore do not support the reintroduction of fish traps as an allowable gear.
We appreciate your commitment to the ocean and hope you will continue your valued work. Please feel free to contact Ocean Conservancy or me personally if you would like to know more about our work to restore the health and balance of our oceans.
-
Tubesnout23
- Submariner
- Posts: 585
- Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2008 11:24 am
Re: Are fish traps coming back?
Later I have received some more info from the same organization:
The following is a link to the Gulf Council's internal FTP site (hence why your search did not turn up the information) that is housing the various presentations and background information from the workshop itself: ftp://ftp.gulfcouncil.org/Fish%20Tra...ns-12-15-2009/
As far as where the Council is in the process of consideration of the traps, they are at the very beginning of a two-year management process that is primarily focused on ending overfishing of gag grouper (this is known as Reef Fish Amendment 32, also attached). You will note that this management document has a number of actions, of which the proposal to consider traps as an allowable gear is but one. This may be why you can find very little information on the proposal, it is very much in its infancy. The Gulf Council meets in the first week of February to consider the various options in this management document and will decide whether or not to pursue further consideration of traps as an allowable gear at this time. The The Council is accepting public comment on this entire management document through January 26 and I encourage you to submit comments to them at this address: gulfcouncil@gulfcouncil.org with "Amendment 32 scoping comments" in the subject line. I will be sure to let you know what the Gulf Council decides to do about traps at their February meeting.
The following is a link to the Gulf Council's internal FTP site (hence why your search did not turn up the information) that is housing the various presentations and background information from the workshop itself: ftp://ftp.gulfcouncil.org/Fish%20Tra...ns-12-15-2009/
As far as where the Council is in the process of consideration of the traps, they are at the very beginning of a two-year management process that is primarily focused on ending overfishing of gag grouper (this is known as Reef Fish Amendment 32, also attached). You will note that this management document has a number of actions, of which the proposal to consider traps as an allowable gear is but one. This may be why you can find very little information on the proposal, it is very much in its infancy. The Gulf Council meets in the first week of February to consider the various options in this management document and will decide whether or not to pursue further consideration of traps as an allowable gear at this time. The The Council is accepting public comment on this entire management document through January 26 and I encourage you to submit comments to them at this address: gulfcouncil@gulfcouncil.org with "Amendment 32 scoping comments" in the subject line. I will be sure to let you know what the Gulf Council decides to do about traps at their February meeting.