Report, Rumor, Analysis

Report:
Potential changes to halibut hired skipper regs forwarded for further analysis by NPFMC staff. PVOA and DSFU are adamantly opposed to reform.

Large owners of halibut IFQ commonly loan the 20% cash down payment required by the NMFS loan program to their crew members. So who really controls/owns that IFQ? Hint: Follow the money. Where the hell is the IRS?

Options are moving forward to require observers on small vessels fishing groundfish, including halibut. The buzz word is data gaps, quality data. Thinly veiled attempt by trawlers to reduce the pressure on their hidden dirty fishing by allying with other gear groups. Refuse them the compromise they crave. Do not go over to the dark side.

Bruce Leaman says only 50 million pounds of halibut are missing. Says bycatch needs reduction. (Really?)

Denby Lloyd wants assessments of halibut bycatch by October 2010.

Rumor:
SOS. Same Old Stuff. A Kodiak trawler, the Sea Mac, cod trawling last month came up with a huge bycatch of halibut while the observer was in the bunk, sea sick. Estimates ranged up to 20K pounds. They set back and killed 20K more! WTF. That is $720,000 at current IFQ prices. Tell me it ain't true. 'Sammatter wit you? Do you care? No more coffee at that place for me.

The Kodiak Chamberpot of Commerce forwarded only Matt Moir's name to the Governor for the NPFMC. They didn't know we already have a hard working Member? Not possible. If we lose our current Kodiak Member, the replacement will promote the agenda of foreign processor and trawler interests, and the interests of boots on deck owner/operators will be damaged. If you want to have any chance of making progress at the NPFMC, write letters of support by the end of February for Duncan Fields and Sam Cotten to:

Office of Governor Sean Parnell
Attn: Jason Hooley, Director of Boards and Commissions
PO Box 110001
Juneau, AK 99811-0001

CC:
Cora Campbell
Fisheries Policy Advisor
PO Box 110001
Juneau, AK 99811-0001

Analysis:
We have no evidence? The resources are collapsing. The trawlers operate without or around observers; some sell and transfer at sea their cod bycatch to their former crew operating jig boats. They bring refused loads to the dock that are wasted and dumped. They rip out the bellies of their pelagic trawls dragging up crab pots. They regularly destroy and damage far more than they deliver. Everyone on the waterfront knows the story, but the very officials charged by the the people through their government to manage and protect these resources are too distracted or compromised to demand protection of the resources. Way past time to revolt, friends, the trawlers and their allies need to be brought down. Demand change.

Several AP and NPFMC Members are qualified to join the Corrupt Bastards Club. To figure out who they are, pay close attention to how they vote on controlling bycatch. Nothing of consequence came out of the Portland meeting, just potential. Meanwhile crab fishermen, salmon fishermen, halibut fishermen, charter fishermen, sportsfishermen, and subsistence fishermen wait while the resources are hammered by the horrific bycatch like that we posted on this blog http://www.tholepin.blogspot.com/2009/10/filthy-video-of-halibut-waste.html .

Don't be afraid of observer coverage on the under sixty fleet. This is a smoke screen aimed by the trawlers to distract from their continuing dirty fishing. All fisheries have bycatch. Some fisheries are just plain dirty, with unacceptable levels of bycatch and benthic destruction. Under scrutiny, the truth of trawler destruction will require major changes in the way they operate, if they operate. Support the changes to observer coverage that will expose the truth.

Keep yer flippers wet.