Sandtiger
12-22-2006, 11:45 AM
Link:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061222/SPORTS06/612220413/1017/
ICCAT tosses a few bluefin nibbles U.S.'s way
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/22/06
BY JOHN GEISER
CORRESPONDENT
Recreational bluefin tuna fishermen will gain a little nourishment next year from the crumbs that were brushed off the table at the recent International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tunas meeting in Croatia.
Raymond D. Bogan, general legal counsel for the Recreational Fishing Alliance and an advisor to the U.S. ICCAT delegation, said a slight increase in the recreational share of the U.S. quota was granted.
"We got an increase from eight to 10 percent," he said. "We've fought for 15 percent for years, and always been turned down.
"This is not as much as we had hoped for, but some is better than none — it was an accomplishment," he said.
The increase did not come easily. The U.S. recreational fishery is scorned by foreign nations, and the fact that the bluefin tuna fishery was once the mainstay of the New Jersey charter boat industry is not even recognized.
"Canada and the Europeans opposed us on this," Bogan said. "But Dr. Hogarth (William, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service) went into the meeting asking for 10 percent, and he got it."
James A. Donofrio, executive director of the RFA, said the move was supported by the U.S. commercial tuna fishing industry, and was an example of how the two sectors can work together.
Donofrio said a curious development has taken place on the eastern side of the Atlantic, where the commercial harvest of bluefins is taking an alarming toll on the stocks.
"The European community would never recognize their recreational fishery in the past," he said. "For the last eight years they've been saying that they have no recreational fishery for highly migratory species, and refused to identify anglers.
"Now, they're in big trouble — the stocks are being decimated — and they're looking for someone to put the blame on; so France is calling for measures against recreational fishing," he said.
Donofrio said that when he attended ICAAT meetings in past years, he was shown the huge recreational fishing fleets in Spain, Portugal and France.
"Now they're saying this is the problem," he pointed out. "It's not the problem at all. The problem is with the illegal, unreported, undocumented catch.
"This is a fishery that has been going on for hundreds of years and getting larger every year," he said. "Europe needs to ratchet back on their catch instead of increasing, but it's a question of how they're going to stop the momentum. They are grossly overfishing."
Donofrio said the European tuna fishery is not regulated as is the U.S. commercial fishery. Where U.S. law enforcement is zealously enforcing the rules, there is virtually no law enforcement or even monitoring of the European fishery.
"They're building more and more of these pens for bluefins," he said. "They call it farming; I call it ranching. One of these pens holds more than the entire U.S. recreational catch.
"But it's a cultural thing over there," he explained. "They've been fishing this way all their lives — this is the way they were brought up — and they don't want to stop; they just want to go fishing as always."
Donofrio said the European fleets have been relentlessly extending their range in search of more protein, and now fish all the oceans of the world.
"A cap was put on the number of boats by the United Nations, but they get around that by building bigger and bigger boats with huge crews," he said. "I've seen those vessels over there in Portugal and Spain, and they look like ocean liners.
"Another problem is Japan," he continued. "They eat more bluefin tuna than any other people on earth. Japan is the main market for tuna, and a powerful ICCAT force.
"Japan talks conservation, but buys and catches all of the bluefin tuna it can get," he said.
Donofrio said anglers in Europe realize that they have to organize and exercise political strength to retain any position in the eastern Atlantic fishery.
"We've had four meetings with them over the years," he said. "They know that they have to support fisheries management science and maintain a strong political presence to avoid being disenfranchised."
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061222/SPORTS06/612220413/1017/
ICCAT tosses a few bluefin nibbles U.S.'s way
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/22/06
BY JOHN GEISER
CORRESPONDENT
Recreational bluefin tuna fishermen will gain a little nourishment next year from the crumbs that were brushed off the table at the recent International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tunas meeting in Croatia.
Raymond D. Bogan, general legal counsel for the Recreational Fishing Alliance and an advisor to the U.S. ICCAT delegation, said a slight increase in the recreational share of the U.S. quota was granted.
"We got an increase from eight to 10 percent," he said. "We've fought for 15 percent for years, and always been turned down.
"This is not as much as we had hoped for, but some is better than none — it was an accomplishment," he said.
The increase did not come easily. The U.S. recreational fishery is scorned by foreign nations, and the fact that the bluefin tuna fishery was once the mainstay of the New Jersey charter boat industry is not even recognized.
"Canada and the Europeans opposed us on this," Bogan said. "But Dr. Hogarth (William, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service) went into the meeting asking for 10 percent, and he got it."
James A. Donofrio, executive director of the RFA, said the move was supported by the U.S. commercial tuna fishing industry, and was an example of how the two sectors can work together.
Donofrio said a curious development has taken place on the eastern side of the Atlantic, where the commercial harvest of bluefins is taking an alarming toll on the stocks.
"The European community would never recognize their recreational fishery in the past," he said. "For the last eight years they've been saying that they have no recreational fishery for highly migratory species, and refused to identify anglers.
"Now, they're in big trouble — the stocks are being decimated — and they're looking for someone to put the blame on; so France is calling for measures against recreational fishing," he said.
Donofrio said that when he attended ICAAT meetings in past years, he was shown the huge recreational fishing fleets in Spain, Portugal and France.
"Now they're saying this is the problem," he pointed out. "It's not the problem at all. The problem is with the illegal, unreported, undocumented catch.
"This is a fishery that has been going on for hundreds of years and getting larger every year," he said. "Europe needs to ratchet back on their catch instead of increasing, but it's a question of how they're going to stop the momentum. They are grossly overfishing."
Donofrio said the European tuna fishery is not regulated as is the U.S. commercial fishery. Where U.S. law enforcement is zealously enforcing the rules, there is virtually no law enforcement or even monitoring of the European fishery.
"They're building more and more of these pens for bluefins," he said. "They call it farming; I call it ranching. One of these pens holds more than the entire U.S. recreational catch.
"But it's a cultural thing over there," he explained. "They've been fishing this way all their lives — this is the way they were brought up — and they don't want to stop; they just want to go fishing as always."
Donofrio said the European fleets have been relentlessly extending their range in search of more protein, and now fish all the oceans of the world.
"A cap was put on the number of boats by the United Nations, but they get around that by building bigger and bigger boats with huge crews," he said. "I've seen those vessels over there in Portugal and Spain, and they look like ocean liners.
"Another problem is Japan," he continued. "They eat more bluefin tuna than any other people on earth. Japan is the main market for tuna, and a powerful ICCAT force.
"Japan talks conservation, but buys and catches all of the bluefin tuna it can get," he said.
Donofrio said anglers in Europe realize that they have to organize and exercise political strength to retain any position in the eastern Atlantic fishery.
"We've had four meetings with them over the years," he said. "They know that they have to support fisheries management science and maintain a strong political presence to avoid being disenfranchised."