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RE:Comments on Non-Agenda Items Barry Cohen PFMC 06/19/2019 03:12 PM PDT RE:Comments on Non-Agenda Items Barry Cohen 05/23/2019 02:20 PM PDT RE:Comments on Non-Agenda Items Re: Trawl IQ Program and Blackcod Christopher Lish 05/28/2019 11:51 AM PDT RE:Comments on Non-Agenda Items Dear Members of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, I’m writing to ask that at the June Council meeting, you initiate changes to the federal plan for managing northern anchovy and other important West Coast forage fish species. These changes should allow catch limits for all these species to be updated annually based on the best available science, while removing the unnecessary distinction between the plan’s active and monitored management categories. "Our duty to the whole, including to the unborn generations, bids us to restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wildlife and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose and method." -- Theodore Roosevelt Anchovy populations are known to rise and fall sharply over short periods of time, yet they are managed using fixed catch limits that can remain the same for years, potentially harming dependent predators and running a risk of overfishing when populations are low. Forage fish like anchovy are simply too important to be managed this way. By amending the fishery management plan (FMP) for anchovy and other coastal pelagic species, the Council can begin to actively manage this crucial forage fish by using readily available, up-to-date estimates of anchovy numbers and setting catch limits accordingly. These limits should be reviewed annually and updated as needed in response to significant population changes. "Every man who appreciates the majesty and beauty of the wilderness and of wild life, should strike hands with the farsighted men who wish to preserve our material resources, in the effort to keep our forests and our game beasts, game-birds, and game-fish--indeed, all the living creatures of prairie and woodland and seashore--from wanton destruction. Above all, we should realize that the effort toward this end is essentially a democratic movement." -- Theodore Roosevelt Please eliminate the distinction between the active and monitored stock categories in the FMP and shift anchovy to annual management so that catch limits are updated regularly using the best available science. By ensuring that management of this essential forage fish is active, science-based, and considers the broader marine ecosystem, the Council can help maintain both a healthy Pacific Ocean and productive, sustainable fisheries. "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." -- Aldo Leopold Thank you for your consideration of my comments. Please do NOT add my name to your mailing list. I will learn about future developments on this issue from other sources. Sincerely, Christopher Lish San Rafael, CA Corbin Hanson 06/10/2019 03:01 PM PDT RE:Comments on Non-Agenda Items Chair Anderson and Council members, Please consider this appeal for help to resolve the critical problem outlined in my letter. Thank you. Corbin Hanson Agenda Item B.1.b Public Comment June 2019 CORBIN HANSON 1440 N. Harding Street Orange CA ,92867 Mr. Phil Anderson, Chair And Members of the Pacific Fishery Management Council 7700 NE Ambassador Place #200 Portland OR 97220-1384 RE: Agenda Item B.1 ~ ReQuest for relief Dear Mr. Anderson and Council Members, My name is Corbin Hanson and I am a commercial fisherman struggling to survive and make a living fishing in southern California’s waters. I have been fishing in California for nearly 20 years. During that time, I have seen fish stocks rise and fall due to ocean cycles, and I have experienced booms and busts within California’s fisheries. I would like to make a very clear statement. The sardine stock in southern California is rebounded and plentiful. I understand that the current stock assessment does not support the statement. However, this is absolutely true and I know this because I operate in these waters for a living and see it with my own eyes first hand! We, as commercial fisherman in Southern California, rely on targeting multiple species of fish to sustain our existence. Sardines are a huge component of our income that we are no longer allowed to benefit from. I would like to deconstruct the overwhelming list of the discrepancies with the science/methodology that dictates the sardine stock assessment. However, I understand that cannot be changed at this time, and I only hope this message resonates loudly in the broader conversation of sardine management. Sardine fishing is closed and has been closed for four years now. It has affected myself and my colleagues with overwhelming stress. I have seen friends sell their boats and get out of the business. I have seen markets close their doors and cease from doing business. The socio- economic impact of the sardine closure is overwhelming, and frankly, crippling this industry! We are all struggling to survive and I don’t know how long we can sustain without access to this resource! That is not the end of our problems. Let me try to explain. If there are no sardines in the water then we can conduct all of our other fisheries without concern of by- catch. On the contrary, if there is an abundance of sardines in our waters, you will see substantial by- catch in all of our fisheries, and this gives us grave concern. A reduction of the by-catch rate from 40% to 20% will effectively close down mackerel fishing to us!!!! Almost half of the mackerel landed has high numbers of sardines mixed in because they swim and school together. Sardines also mix with anchovy and squid. This is not a theory, it is a fact. A reduction of the allowable sardine by-catch from 40% to 20% will effectively be the proverbial “nail in the coffin” for those of us trying to hang on and survive in this historic California wetfish industry. Please allow me to present a pragmatic path of common sense to resolve this problem. There is a large volume of sardines in our water, and we will certainly catch them while conducting our other fisheries. If we can leave the by-catch rate at 40% for the first 1,000 mt, this allows us mobility in our other fisheries and is still within the 4,000 mt Annual Catch Target approved by the Council in April. This is still a responsible management approach and does not change the amount of sardine allowed for harvest. The Department of Fish and Wildlife submitted an analysis of sardine caught with other fisheries for the Council’s April meeting. It showed that the incidental catch of sardines in other CPS fisheries was relatively low (well below 1,000 tons), but the sardine bycatch was above the 20 percent rate in close to Mr. Phil Anderson and Council Members Agenda Item B.1, June 2019 - 2 half of the landings of other CPS. That means nearly 50% of our other CPS landings that contain sardine will be eliminated if the bycatch rate is cut to 20%. In reality, this reduction will mean that fishermen will need to avoid targeting any CPS schools if they are mixed with sardines to avoid being in violation. Right now, when I try to go fishing for pure schools of mackerel, the only schools I see are full of sardines. If we catch sardines at a rate of 40% instead of 20%, what is the difference to anyone but us? There is still oversight with precautionary measures written in to refrain from overachieving the TAC. Please provide relief from the restrictive 20% until the full stock assessment scheduled for 2020 can resolve discrepancies with the science/methodology that dictates the sardine stock assessment. We are the only players that are affected by this reduction, and that burden is just unnecessary. Please, I implore anyone, to stop the madness and misrepresentation of our sardine abundance and look at this issue from our, “The Fisherman’s,” perspective. We can achieve the same goal without saddling the burden of a poorly assessed stock to our backs. Thank you for your attention. Diane Pleschner-Steele California Wetfish Producers Association 06/08/2019 12:13 PM PDT RE:Comments on Non-Agenda Items Dear Chairman Anderson and Council members, I am submitting this letter on behalf of CWPA and California's wetfish industry, asking for your help. Thank you for your consideration. Diane Pleschner-Steele, Executive Director June 6, 2019 Mr. Phil Anderson, Chair And Members of the Pacific Fishery Management Council 7700 NE Ambassador Place #200 Portland OR 97220-1384 RE: Agenda Item B.1 ~ Socio-Economic Point of Concern for the sardine fishery Dear Mr. Anderson and Council members, On behalf of California’s historic sardine industry, I’m writing to appeal to the Council and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for relief on a Socio-Economic Point of Concern, after receiving dozens more reports recently of the sheer abundance of sardines in California waters, eXtending from San Diego as far as Monterey and beyond. This evidence sharply contradicts the 2019 sardine stock assessment, projected to be only 27,547 mt in U.S. waters from Canada to MeXico, in July, 2019. This estimate drops the sardine biomass below the 50,000 mt MSST “overfished” level, which will automatically cut incidental catch rates from 40 to 20 percent by weight in all other CPS fisheries, according to the prescriptive framework embedded in the CPS Fishery Management Plan.
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