EDF Exceptionally Deceptive on Fishing
It’s time to set the record straight and expose the underhanded back-door dealings of EDF. EDF routinely misrepresents the facts.
– EDF wants you to believe the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Alaska and both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are fished out. Nothing could be further from the truth.
– EDF would sell off one of our nation’s greatest natural resources to the highest bidder at the expense of millions of fisheries dependent jobs in a country that cannot afford to lose even one!
– EDF refused to work with industry to correct issues in Magnuson-Stevens at an industry round-table in June in Orlando and continues to support inadequate science to justify widespread fishing closures in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.
– Gloucester, New Bedford and the State of Massachusetts are suing NOAA & NMFS over sector shares, fleet reduction and job loss that could bankrupt those cities and cause irreparable financial harm to the State in less than two years time.
– EDF misrepresented and submitted a Commercial Catch Share Plan to the South Atlantic Council in September reportedly drafted at meetings with Morehead City, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC fishermen for which they have no meeting minutes, no attendance records and did not publicly advertise the gatherings.
– EDF misrepresented and submitted a Commercial Catch Share Plan to the South Atlantic Council in September reportedly drafted at a meeting with Key Largo, FL fishermen. The meeting was not publicly advertised and it was later learned that 10 commercial fishermen attended, 8 walked out of the meeting after objecting to catch shares and 5 EDF representatives along with 2 pro catch share fishermen drafted the plan submitted to the Council. There are over 2500 commercial permit holders in Monroe County in the Florida Keys and this plan was crafted by just two of them.
– EDF’s latest piece of propaganda, “Collaboration with Industry is Crucial to Protect Fish and Put Fishermen Back on the Water,” is the result of a secret meeting held in Jackson Hole, WY in October and promoted as a sector share plan developed by and for the for-hire sector. There were 11 EDF representatives at the meeting and 5 for-hire captains. 3 fishermen were from Alaska, 1 from Texas and 1 from Rhode Island.
– EDF and NOAA were the sole presenters on the benefits of sector/catch shares at a SAFMC meeting in February of 2010 in Jekyll Island, GA. There was no industry input and only perceived benefits of sector/catch shares were presented. When asked about job loss associated with sector/catch shares, the NOAA response was “There are winners and losers with catch shares.” If you’re a winner, that’s great! If you’re a loser, that sucks!
– EDF will be the sole presenter on sector/catch shares at a GMFMC educational (NOAA Indoctrination) seminar in Tampa on November 8-10, 2010. No industry representatives have been invited to speak, including Capt. Bob Zales, President of NACO, and the largest for-hire fishing organization on the planet! A request by Zales, as Executive Director of the Conservation Cooperative of Gulf Fishermen (CCGF), to make a 20 minute presentation on sector shares was denied.
– Sector shares in combination with catch shares do not protect the resource and in many cases are detrimental through high grading and other practices. PEW Environmental Group reported in “Design Matters – Making Catch Shares Work” published in 2009, that “An analysis of 20 fish populations managed under IFQ’s in many countries found that 12 populations improved after IFQ implementation, while eight continued to decline.”
– While industry is ignored, EDF is embraced in spite of having little or no fisheries management experience what-so-ever.
– We need responsible management by NOAA, NMFS and the regional councils, sound science, sensible size and bag limits, rational commercial quotas, closed spawning seasons and improved water quality conducive to essential fish habitat and spawning environments, not more regulation and ill-conceived management schemes. Tell your elected officials today!
EDF Exceptionally Deceptive on Fishing
It’s time to set the record straight and expose the underhanded back-door dealings of EDF. EDF routinely misrepresents the facts.
– EDF wants you to believe the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Alaska and both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are fished out. Nothing could be further from the truth.
– EDF would sell off one of our nation’s greatest natural resources to the highest bidder at the expense of millions of fisheries dependent jobs in a country that cannot afford to lose even one!
– EDF refused to work with industry to correct issues in Magnuson-Stevens at an industry round-table in June in Orlando and continues to support inadequate science to justify widespread fishing closures in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.
– Gloucester, New Bedford and the State of Massachusetts are suing NOAA & NMFS over sector shares, fleet reduction and job loss that could bankrupt those cities and cause irreparable financial harm to the State in less than two years time.
– EDF misrepresented and submitted a Commercial Catch Share Plan to the South Atlantic Council in September reportedly drafted at meetings with Morehead City, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC fishermen for which they have no meeting minutes, no attendance records and did not publicly advertise the gatherings.
– EDF misrepresented and submitted a Commercial Catch Share Plan to the South Atlantic Council in September reportedly drafted at a meeting with Key Largo, FL fishermen. The meeting was not publicly advertised and it was later learned that 10 commercial fishermen attended, 8 walked out of the meeting after objecting to catch shares and 5 EDF representatives along with 2 pro catch share fishermen drafted the plan submitted to the Council. There are over 2500 commercial permit holders in Monroe County in the Florida Keys and this plan was crafted by just two of them.
– EDF’s latest piece of propaganda, “Collaboration with Industry is Crucial to Protect Fish and Put Fishermen Back on the Water,” is the result of a secret meeting held in Jackson Hole, WY in October and promoted as a sector share plan developed by and for the for-hire sector. There were 11 EDF representatives at the meeting and 5 for-hire captains. 3 fishermen were from Alaska, 1 from Texas and 1 from Rhode Island.
– EDF and NOAA were the sole presenters on the benefits of sector/catch shares at a SAFMC meeting in February of 2010 in Jekyll Island, GA. There was no industry input and only perceived benefits of sector/catch shares were presented. When asked about job loss associated with sector/catch shares, the NOAA response was “There are winners and losers with catch shares.” If you’re a winner, that’s great! If you’re a loser, that sucks!
– EDF will be the sole presenter on sector/catch shares at a GMFMC educational (NOAA Indoctrination) seminar in Tampa on November 8-10, 2010. No industry representatives have been invited to speak, including Capt. Bob Zales, President of NACO, and the largest for-hire fishing organization on the planet! A request by Zales, as Executive Director of the Conservation Cooperative of Gulf Fishermen (CCGF), to make a 20 minute presentation on sector shares was denied.
– Sector shares in combination with catch shares do not protect the resource and in many cases are detrimental through high grading and other practices. PEW Environmental Group reported in “Design Matters – Making Catch Shares Work” published in 2009, that “An analysis of 20 fish populations managed under IFQ’s in many countries found that 12 populations improved after IFQ implementation, while eight continued to decline.”
– While industry is ignored, EDF is embraced in spite of having little or no fisheries management experience what-so-ever.
– We need responsible management by NOAA, NMFS and the regional councils, sound science, sensible size and bag limits, rational commercial quotas, closed spawning seasons and improved water quality conducive to essential fish habitat and spawning environments, not more regulation and ill-conceived management schemes. Tell your elected officials today!