Thanks sincerely to the few of you (you know who you are) who posted comments on the MAFMC website. Brewlugger, thanks so much for trying to rally others to do the same in spite of the outcome. Your efforts are very much appreciated.
In spite of the embarrassingly few comments made, I would ask everyone to review the attached link which contains the briefing materials posted today under Tab 12 for the 3:30 to 5:00 Summer Flounder 2020 Summer Flounder Specifications portion of the meeting on December 10th by Kiley Dancy. The first 23 pages contain Fisheries Management memorandums regarding Summer Flounder, Scup and BSB and recommendations being made by the Advisory Panels and Monitoring Committees for 2020 regulations. It'll give everyone an idea of what we're up against not just with summer flounder but the management of stocks in general.
https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...es_2019-12.pdf
It'll also give you an idea of the exchanges with Commission and Council Members through emails which were also included by Kiley Dancy and the thought process we're dealing with. I personally had exchanges with three different Council Members regarding recruitment, all having a completely different view of the problem ranging from the data is bad due to lack of resources to accurately quantify the number (resource issue for the largest most well funded institution in the world, the US Federal Government, involving a multi billion dollar industry), to the biomass has too many fish which is causing reproduction to decline (interesting perspective which the data 100% refutes), to we have no idea what's happening but if it continues expect more cuts. This in addition to the Monitoring Committee's position that the almost exclusive harvest of female breeders is having no negative impact on the fishery so no need for a slot. The lack of logic and positions not supportable by their own data is at epidemic levels.
I've been a Member of this site for quite some time. I was one of the many for a long time who complained about regulations. Then I went to the Galloway meeting with Dan (Hammer4Reel) and everything changed for me. I'm a CFO by trade and by definition more left-side minded or analytical and fishing is one of my many passions. So I decided to use my left sided skills and start analyzing mountains of data using fishery management's own data and approach this differently than others before me have. Not politically, not scientifically. Didn't introduce new data, which doesn't mean I accept their data as correct, just means I used it to identify trends and changes within the fishery over the last 35 or so years to determine why a once thriving fishery has been failing since 2003. Something clicked at that meeting and like Forrest Gump I started running and never stopped.
Why? I want to assist fishery management in how they might be able to better manage stocks. Not just summer flounder but all fisheries. I know that's another way of saying changing how State and Federal government functions which is to some degree a fool's dream but I decided I'd rather try and fail as opposed to not trying. I want both recreational as well as commercial people to enjoy and benefit from this resource for years to come. I want party boats and for hire owners to have hope for the future. I want our kids and grand kids to enjoy the same resources I did with my father when I was growing up. I want recreational fishing to last and I want generations of commercial families who've made a living harvesting the ocean's bounty to continue doing so. In order for that to happen, fisheries have to survive and no parties rights to access should be at the expense of the others or the fishery as a whole.
But quite possibly the biggest reason I got involved was to try giving all of us collectively a platform supportable by data to have our voices heard. Change begins with awareness, awareness begins with communication and communication begins with us. I probably have over 1,000 hours of time into the analysis, documentation, correspondence, meetings over the last 2 - 3 years and I did that willingly. Not asking for recognition, a pat on the back, a spot light on my efforts, nothing at all along those lines. I'm looking for change in how a fishery that's been failing since 2003 in every aspect to be managed differently and reverse it's fortunes which would benefit us all. Declines anywhere from 35% to 50% in the last 17 years in just about every aspect of the fishery including the overall biomass population, spawning stock biomass, catch levels, egg production, recruitment statistics, gender composition etc. The only thing increasing is size fish being harvested and discard rates because of bad regulatory decisions and it's absolutely killing the fishery yet management appears to have us on the same path for 2020 and 2021 which will not only guarantee continued declines it'll accelerate them. This fishery if you read the attached link as I said to the Commission and Council Members will end with the same fate winter flounder did. 35-yr. trend analysis doesn't lie and with the same policies in place it guarantees that fate.
We complain about the regulations being forced down our throats but we complain more about not having a voice. I gave everyone an opportunity on this site to have that voice. Had bigger aspirations to open it up to social media but that never materialized. Aside from a handful of people who commented who I thank immensely, the opportunity to share that voice, your opinion was overwhelmingly ignored. That's not a fisheries management issue, that's an issue within the recreational fishing community and as Dave mentioned that's a golden opportunity which comes up only once or twice a year to have our voices heard and what takes maybe 15 minutes of your time was not important enough to a majority of the members on this site.
This fishery without major changes in the regulations will fail. Every passing year, below average recruitment will further damage the biomass. Every year of harvesting older age classes (larger fish predominantly females) will further reduce the gender composition of the spawning stock. Translated the stock's reproductive capacity will become further impaired causing further declines in subsequent year recruitment levels and the cycle will continue from there. Add to that insanely higher levels of discards due to size regulations on the recreational side and the selective harvest of larger fish commercially due to regulatory cuts in catch quotas and the fishery stands no chance of recovering or being deemed sustainable.
We had our chance to voice our opinions. Most, not all, chose to let that chance slip by. In doing so we by default accept fisheries management of this stock and the crumbs we're thrown every year and the on-going sacrifices we're asked to make. We'll unfortunately have to live with the consequences of that decision. Maybe it's time to stop running, very sad to say the least. There's a very applicable saying, "Actions speak louder than words". For anyone who takes offense to this post, just remember it when summer flounder starts being discussed in the same discussions as winter flounder, cod, weakfish, mackerel, whiting etc..
