Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
On September 5th and 6th, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will hold a two day meeting with their Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel (HMS AP). The meeting will be held at the Sheraton Silver Spring Hotel, 8777 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring MD 20910 from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday September 5th and from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday September 6th. Those who aren't able to attend may tune in online by conference call and webinar.
The HMS AP is made up of 48 members who typically meet twice a year with representatives of the NMFS HMS division to discuss with them and advise them on current and ongoing issues involving Atlantic tunas, billfish, swordfish and sharks. NMFS sets the agenda and conducts the meetings which typically revolve around current or proposed fishery regulations, essential fish habitat, new research, stock assessments and other fishery related topics pertaining to those particular fish.
The AP is made up of 48 members who represent most of the groups that have major interest in these fisheries including 12 representing commercial fishing interests, 12 representing recreational fishing interests, 4 from the academic (scientific) community, 4 from the environmental community, 4 from the Caribbean, Gulf, South Atlantic and New England councils, 9 state representatives and 1 from the ICCAT Advisory Committee. I serve as one of the recreational representatives.
Advisory panel meetings are an amazing assemblage of individuals who have very diverse interests in the HMS fisheries. There are commercial long-liners, harpooners, hook and line guys, seafood dealers and pilots who make a living spotting fish from the air. There are charter boat guys, private boat owners, tackle dealers, fishing organization representatives, tournament directors and marina owners. From the academic community there are scientists who do amazing research all over the world, many of whom you've probably seen on Discovery Channel documentaries. And there are environmentalists from a few big name ocean watchdog organizations who are always quick to remind us that fishermen's needs aren't the only reason why the big fish need to be protected. And most of the coastal states have representatives from their natural resource departments on the panel to help ensure that fishermen from their home-turf get a fair shake in HMS management decisions.
As you can see, it's a pretty diverse group that sits down a couple times a year with the folks from NMFS to discuss, prod, plead, gripe, alert, respond and advise them on how they think things are going within each fishery and what we think the department should or shouldn't do concerning all the different rules and regulations that control them. It's important to know that AP members don't make the regulations, we only advise the folks at NMFS how we think new rules should be crafted and they are the ones who, after listening to us, studying the science, reviewing all the public comments and considering the alternatives, come up with their final decisions on what's going to be what in the way of regulations. As you can imagine, because no fisherman wants to be told what they can't have or do, theirs is a pretty thankless job!
Last week I mentioned that NMFS has suggested that they are probably going to make the current 83-inch minimum size for mako a permanent rule by amending the HMS Management Plan. After almost a full season of fishing under that size limit (it used to be 54-inches) a lot of anglers know the pain of having to release every mako they catch because, for most anglers, hooking one that has an 83-inch or larger fork length is a very, very rare event.
There's no doubt that the new size limit did what it was intended to do, which was to provide mako sharks with a higher level of conservation than what they were getting with the smaller size limit. But at what cost? I know for certain that it stole the desire to go shark fishing from many anglers, and there were more than just a couple of shark tournaments that saw greatly reduced enrollment and landings than they were accustom to.
The new mako size limit, along with the coast-wide circle hook requirement, are on the agenda for next month's AP meeting and will certainly be topics of much discussion and debate. Other topics that will be kicked around will be bluefin tuna management, shark management in general, ecosystem based fisheries management, long-line gear requirements and whatever else someone might deem important enough to have added to the list between now and then.
The public is welcome to attend the AP meetings and I would advise anyone to do so if they are interested in seeing how the process of fishery management really works. "Yes" the meetings are long and some of the discussion can be quite boring if it doesn't pertain directly with the fishery you're engaged in, but those who attend will not only come away with a better appreciation for what it takes to manage our nations fisheries, but also an understanding of who all the players are that attempt to nudge NMFS one way or the other on the different issues, and it's not just fishermen! AP meeting agendas usually have specific times allotted for members of the public to make comments on HMS topics if they are so inclined. Written comments can also be sent in and comments can be made by conference call.
A part of my duties as an Advisory Panel member is to help facilitate communications between NMFS and the public. So in preparation for this upcoming meeting I would like to remind folks that if anyone has questions or comments about any HMS issues I'd be interested in hearing them. I can be reached by phone at 410-726-7946 of emailed at [email protected]
Capt. Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
