In a switch from wasting at least five million dollars worth of halibut last week, GOA trawlers hammered away on the king salmon, a species widely regarded as suffering from steady declines. Like halibut, the prevalent attitude of "the sooner they're gone, the sooner we can have our way with the GOA," is expressed by those draggers having no stake in the PSC resources.
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| We know from past observations that the Alaska Beauty is particularly dirty, so it is interesting that they have only one observation here. This is an example of gaming. Looks like the Walter N with double the observer coverage knows how to fish relatively cleanly. How about: reward the clean boats with a high proportion of the quota, when it comes to that? Since the practice has been to fish for history so they get the biggest share of the Gulf, turn this around and reward the cleanest boats....what a crazy idea, because now the rewards go to the pigs. http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/2011/pscinfo.htm |
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KYFW...
17 comments:
Wow. It's hard to even imagine the destruction that's being done. So many amazing fish, gone!
And what gets reported is simply the tip of the iceberg.
This guy is so proud of their catch...hanging five. This is a f&%$#ng outrage. We need action from enforcement now. We need action from NMFS now. Joe public help us stop the insanity of bottom dragging. Boycott drag caught products and put these unconscionable bastards out of business.
How is occurring in this age of social consciousness? I am at a loss for words. If I could do some physical harm to those in this pic, I think I might enjoy it. DEPLORABLE
These heartless bastards are destroying a way of life for small boat fishermen. This can not be happening. Lubchenko explain how this is going on under your watch.
So whats the guy with the beer doing? Must be working up a real thirst sorting through all that dead crab,halibut, and black cod!! Must be a couple flats in there somewhere! Gotta catch some of those 5 cent fish so The boats owners (Tim Blott.. plant manager of Ocean Beauty and Kent Helligso also owner of Trawler F/V Pacific Star can live in those nice houses. This boat is famous in the local fleet for being "dirty"...it might even have taken that title away from the F/V Dusk
I don't want to watch this happen anymore.
Don't want to watch this happen anymore? Then take action. Action through Begich, Murkowski, Parnell, the NPFMC; through spreading the word that this abuse of our precious resources must stop. Draggers rely upon public disinterest and apathy to maintain their status quo abuse of our GOA and Bering Sea. It would be something if the major news outlets covered this intstead of dummy-down programs like the Deadliest Catch. Ach, who cares?
"Action through Begich, Murkowski, Parnell, the NPFMC"
a waste of time. they are all in the "bag".
only civil law suite can possibly stop this. if you can find good "honest" law firm to take the case.
n.g.o.'s{aka political action committees hiding behind "public service" labels} are a farce and waste of time.
Your stupidity and cynicism work to collude with your enemies. Law suites(sic)don't work unless you are rich. Work through the system. Public outrage gets the attention of elected officials. Keeping your mouth shut is just what the draggers are hoping for...grow up.
How many times must we be dragged down by all those politicians w/their lies upon lies w/NPFMC each year and never seem to listen to those that had been here first and kept our natural resources from becoming how it is right now?
True. But the fact that the draggers recognized early on that their fishery is very dirty and destructive and have mounted a professional campaign to get their piece of the action in the face of our scattered opposition should not keep us from continuing to fight for cleaner, sustainable fisheries. Times are now that word can be spread without great expense to many fronts to demand change. How many times have you personally written letters, posted comments, called your representative? If you claim it is a waste of your time, then you have lost; you are admitting defeat. Get up off the canvas and get back in the game. Keep punching. Spread the word.
There is no justice through regulatory changes. There will be privatization and no recognition of the problems that led to it, just like RPP.
The politicians you're contacting are all maintaining their plausible deniability. Ask senator begich or murkowski face to face whether they are aware of how bad trawl by-catch is and how long it's been going on. They'll tell you they've never heard of it.
from the groundswell site "Finally, we do not totally discount the possibility that bycatch mortality of halibut is underestimated. We are cognizant of the possibility and, of course, want the best possible estimate of total halibut removals (from all sources). But the scale of underestimation cannot be anywhere near as high as the blogosphere numbers that are being presented. The average level of estimated bycatch mortality over the past four years is about 4.6 million pounds in the Gulf of Alaska (IPHC Areas 3A and 3B) and 5.6 million pounds in the Bering Sea (IPHC Area 4). The Bering Sea trawl fleet is almost 100% observed (many vessels are 200% observed) so the bycatch mortality estimate is likely relatively accurate in that area. That leaves the Gulf of Alaska, which has a sizable fleet of vessels less than 125 feet (the minimum length at which 100% observer coverage is required). Of the 4.6 million pounds of bycatch mortality, about 3.3 million pounds is attributed to the groundfish trawl fishery. That figure would have to be underestimated by over 500% to produce a 4 year cumulative bycatch mortality estimate of 84 million pounds (the difference between 400 and 316 million pounds)."
They're calling you a liar? 500% sounds pretty conservative for me considering the volume of arrowtooth being landed.
While undoubtably underestimated, we use NMFS bycatch figures taken directly from their weekly reports. Where your 84 million came from I am not sure, Medred? This is our high figure: "Considering the stress the halibut stock is showing and the fact that draggers have been killing up to 2000 metric tons of halibut every year since 1986(that's 110 million pounds of halibut wasted), isn't it about time? Most of us suspect there has been a lot more halibut taken than that, since official observations are hard to believe and we know subject to manipulation and games." A ten year estimation based on 2000 MT ton a year.
Guess I should have included a link with that quote:
http://groundswellalaska.com/2010/03/04/iphc-hares-correcting-statement-concerning-missing-halibut-due-to-trawl-bycatch/
It's an explanation from the IPHC explaining the rumor that there's a large amount of Halibut missing from the biomass assessment. They've acknowledged that worst case scenario (from their assessment) bycatch is really 500% of what is actually reported. Either that or in only 4 years fish started growing at a slower rate. Very unlikely that over such a short period of time growth rates fluctuated enough to throw their assessment by 84 million pounds. It's all about those observer trips. A real flatfish/arrowtooth trip will consist of at least 6 tows and many flatfish trips consist of 15 or more. The fact that 90% of observed trips are less than 6 tows, which is a good estimate for the *minimum* amount of tows you would need to catch 300,000 pounds of arrowtooth , implicates that the observations are far worse than you're even portraying on here. One boat is catching what is being reported for the whole fleet in a week when they all make successful observer tows.
An uninformed bystander (local kodiak fleet support) might consider your portrayal of the bycatch and observations as one-sided and slanderous. I consider your portrayal of the situation as not grasping the fundamental concept you are trying to explain. Do the guys in the pictures look like they really give a fuck?
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