As a charter boat owner who conducted over seventy cod fishing trips last year I am sitting on pins and needles here. I am getting calls and emails from customers which state:
We went on a trip with you last April and had a good time. I am just checking in with you because I read an article in the paper a couple of days ago that indicated that they were proposing cutting cod fishing by up to 90%. Just wondering what your take on the situation is.
Is that proposal for commercial fisherman or recreational or both? Also when will the new regulations be put in place?
Valued customers who have fished with us in the past are not booking trips yet, we are telling them to please pick a date, send in your deposit so your desired date is held and if things go to hell we will reimburse your deposit.
These regulators and the elected officials seem to think this is only a commercial fishing issue. They don't understand that most charter boats are financed and the business plan is based upon running trips. My question to all the regulators and environmental groups if the fleets get tied up is this. How would you like to have to move out of your house, pay your dockage, I mean taxes, monthly mortgage, insurance and by the way you can not sell it because you have no value? It would cripple the real estate market much worse than now and that is what will happen if a very low bag limit is put into plave. When I bought RELNTLESS back in 2001 I did it with a year round business plan fishing for cod. SInce then we were reduced to a ten fish bag limit while our southern boats fishing Georges and BI were at no bag limit. I believe we should all have a ten fish limit for cod per person. Then the council decided to take away and not allow us to fish for cod from November - March. Then the council decided we needed to have two more weeks of closures which is a forty two percent annual closure to recreational and charter boats fishing in the GOM for cod.
We all know that when a customer comes north from PA or NY and arrives the night before for the $1300 charter they get three hotel rooms for one to two nights, eat in the restaurants, buy lunches at the deli or grocery store, gas up locally and stop in the tackle shop to buy new gear. The $1300 trip is worth much more to the economy. This is what bothers me when we have had this situation brewing and not one elected official has concerns for our industry even though we have taken hits just like the commercial sector.
It all boils down to us not having hired lobyists and I recommend folks join the Recreational Fishing Alliance, National Association of Charter Boat Operators an the Stellwagen Bank Charter Boat Associaton if they fish Stellwagen Bank. Each of these groups does write letters and attends NEFMC meetings to voice our needs and concerns trying to protect the industry and the rights of the recreational angler.
Lastly I would love to build a new CB 36 and this plays a major decision in the process unless I change homeports to Rhode Island and fish other areas in the winter and tuna fish in the summer. Only time will tell what the devil will do.
By the way lets not forget how the Stellwagen Sanctuary is trying to close nearly 250 sqare miles to fishing of some sort to commercial and receational fishing. The areas defined as hook and line only WILL become no fishing zones. When this was tabled under the guise of job loss the Stellwagen Alive group along with the OCean River Institute out of Cambridge, MA is driving a letter writing campaign to Secratary John Bryson requesting the Sanctuary Environmantal Research Area (SERA) be put into place.
Stellwagen Alive!
This group is also proud how they delivered over 1500 letters to NMFS requesiting Bluefin Tuna be placed on CITES. OK, enough of this today but please pass onto your friends and families.
Shortly I will be drafting a couple of letters that can be cut and paste for the cod, haddock and SERA situations that I hope members take the time and send along with family members supporting the recreational angler and the charter boat industry. Please note I also feel very sorry for what has taken place to our commercial fisherman as folks like the Marine Sanctuary staff could care less if they put everyone out of business for their own agenda.
Need to get off my soapbox and get a cup of coffee as my blood presure rises just thinking about this.
Dave
