Monday, July 4, 2011

Who Do They Think They're Kidding?

NMFS continues to disguise the damaging bycatch of Prohibited Species Catch through their statistics.  By protecting the catch numbers we are left to guess at the totals taken by individual vessels.  But some extreme examples stand out: Vessel Specific Bycatch:
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While dockside rumors say the Pacific Star has been shut out of further rockfish dragging (this quarter? this season?) due to excessive bycatch of halibut, it appears that they are not the worst offenders.  And it further appears that the US Intrepid is aptly named; appears anyway, unless their observer was compromised.  Without video observer confirmation, how would we know?  Appears too, because observer coverage in general is spotty and inconsistent, heavy gaming of coverage is the rule and halibut PSC is a percentage of the total catch, we are not allowed to see. 

Halibut PSC needs to be in numbers of fish, so we can be informed of the real destruction going on.  NUMBERS OF FISH!  Yes, including the little ping pong paddles that the draggers choose to ignore as unimportant.  Im told that these are converted to what would be the 'recoverable weight,' so it heavily skews and belittles the loss to the halibut resource. 

Since when is killing off nurseries an acceptable practice?  (Which NMFS allowed  for king crab in 'cod alley).  If we could see the true numbers of halibut being killed, not some craftily abstracted numbers, the decline in halibut abundance in the GOA and elsewhere would no longer be a "mystery."
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How many halibut is seven tons of ping pong paddle halibut, the future?  15,400 one pounders?  But the recoverable weight of a one pound live halibut can only be at best maybe 9 ounces, so go figure---27,400 individual ping pong halibut.  See how it adds up?  What the hell does 2000 mt of small hallibut amount to in actual numbers? 

"I have seen the future, brother, it is murder." L. Cohen

Keep yer flippers wet.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some of those numbers look pretty good.

Wiglaf said...

You bet they do. Question is how much rockfish did the US Intrepid catch with such coverage? Did they lose their ass? But, if they can do it why can't other draggers? Let's get rid of the dirty boats/skippers.

Anonymous said...

"recoverable weight" !!!

Thanks Wiggy! Just when you thought it couldn't get more absurd.

Someone needs to get the real story on this one.

Anonymous said...

Does it go by recoverable weight or estimated mortality?

Anonymous said...

why haven't the other gear groups or "stake holders" filed laws suites against these boats?

Anonymous said...

Looks like the RPP is doing it's job, time to rationalize the rest of it? Then Wiglaf could blog about happy things, the boat owners could get rich, and the fisheries would be saved?

Anonymous said...

What happens when they get all those 0%'s during Rockfish and then go out flat fishing without an observer? How do they factor how much by-catch is being caught unobserved?

Wiglaf said...

"Looks like the RPP is doing it's job, the boat owners are getting rich!"

Exactly! I fiddled your words about, but that is the whole point. Screw the resource and your grand kids and GET RICH!

Anonymous said...

You should get a boat like the Sea shepard and go ram them and fling dooky at them.

Anonymous said...

"In the beginning of time God made the earth. Not one word was spoken at the beginning that one branch of mankind should rule over another, but selfish imaginations did set up one man to teach and rule over another."
- Gerrard Winstanley, "The New Law of Righteousness", 1649

Anonymous said...

In psychology and logic, rationalization (or making excuses) is a defense mechanism in which perceived controversial behaviors or feelings are explained in a rational or logical manner to avoid the true explanation. It often involves ad hoc hypothesizing. This process ranges from fully conscious (e.g. to present an external defense against ridicule from others) to mostly subconscious (e.g. to create a block against internal feelings of guilt).- wikipedia