IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
RFA Executive Director Jim Donofrio Testifies Before Congress
"At least Pew [Environmental Group] admitted what they have
denied for so long. They just want to end fishing."
(Washington, DC) - Excerpts from the testimony of Jim Donofrio,
Executive Director, Recreational Fishing Alliance, before the Committee on Natural Resources, U.S. House of Representatives:
Jim Donofrio on Summer Flounder
"...fishing mortality has decreased over 80%, total harvest
has decreased over 96%, and both total stock biomass and spawning stock biomass have increased 251% and 280%, respectively.
No one, not even the environmental community, can deny that this represents good progress."
Jim Donofrio on Summer Flounder and Striped Bass
"...to put it [summer flounder's recovery] in context, let's
compare it to striped bass. During the same time period, 1988-2004, the striped bass biomass increased 202%. As
we all know, the rebuilding that occurred in the striped bass fishery has been described by NMFS, the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission, and many others as a rebuilding success."
Jim Donofrio on Pew Environmental Group
"Summer flounder is now at a stock size that has not been
seen in 25 years and it has experienced rebuilding similar to that of perhaps the most famous rebuilding success. Yet,
some in the environmental community are calling for a shutdown of the summer flounder fishery. In fact, the Pew Environmental
Group recently called for a 10-year moratorium on all summer flounder fishing. Their logic? It worked for
striped bass in 1985. At least Pew admitted what they have denied for so long. They just want to end fishing."
Jim Donofrio on Fisheries Science
There are many challenges in fisheries science, including
outdated tuning indices, unfounded modeling assumptions, inadequate sampling techniques, and unrepresentative data collection.
Moreover, a basic principle in marine ecology is that even in the absence of fishing mortality, natural variations in fish
populations occur for unquantifiable reasons. These challenges create significant amounts of uncertainty in the
science, yet the arbitrary statutory deadlines contained in the MSA do not allow for consideration of this uncertainty.
Jim Donofrio on Magnuson-Stevens Act and Summer Flounder
"Unfortunately, the Magnuson-Stevens Act has tied the hands
of the fishery managers, so that in 2008, summer flounder fishermen will be faced with the most restrictive management measures
in history – to achieve a target that has never been documented by a date certain, as required by the Act."
Jim Donofrio on the Need for Flexibility in the Magnuson-Stevens
Act
"These challenges create significant amounts of uncertainty
in the science, yet the arbitrary statutory deadlines contained in the MSA do not allow for consideration of this uncertainty.
This leads to a statutory regime dictating biologically impossible results. For this reason, managers need to have flexibility
to make effective science-based policy decisions. Without flexibility in the statute, fisheries managers will continue
to be held to unrealistic and unachievable expectations. It is patently unfair to place unrealistic scientific objectives
on fishermen to rebuild fish populations, knowing full well the limitations of fisheries science and the uncertainties in
the marine environment."
Jim Donofrio on Gulf of Mexico Fisheries
"In the Gulf of Mexico, the rebuilding and ending overfishing
provisions are poised to have significant impacts on gag grouper, vermillion snapper, and red snapper. The most recent
stock assessment establishes the spawning potential ratio at seven times larger than the last assessment in 2000. Similar
to summer flounder, red snapper is at historically high levels of abundance. However, as a result of the overfishing
requirements in MSA, an interim rule reduced the total allowable catch (TAC) from 9.12 million pounds to 6.5 million pounds
in 2007. The TAC will be further reduced to 5 million pounds, along with a very short 4 month season and a 2 fish bag
limit. This new regime is causing both unnecessary regulatory discards and severe negative social and economic impacts
to local fishing communities throughout the Gulf."
