According to him, Apalachicola Bay, where we were fishing, is the last estuary system in Florida with a chance of survival. The way it is being managed it won't last 20 years. There are rules but no enforcement.

The list of failed fishery management plans is nearly endless, here are just a few examples.

Currently, commercial Red Grouper fishing in Florida is decimating stocks because anglers figured how to make "legal" improvements to gear restrictions established from the last round of conservation management plans. The catch soared from 1.4 million pounds to over 4 million pounds!

Washington Fish & Wildlife bills an old underwater video streamed on their website, "Like a trip back in time to glimpse what Puget Sound looked like before settlement and heavy harvest...". The current sport limit for rockfish is 1 fish per day.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife held a forum to consider what to do if proposed restrictions on nearshore California Commercial live fishing take effect. Currently $125.00 buys an Oregon commercial license! ODFW fears an influx of California Commercial anglers.

Haddock catches off the Georges Banks in the North Atlantic fell to one fiftieth of what they were in 1960 in less than 15 years. From 1987 to 1991 the swordfish plummeted from 45 million pounds to 33 million pounds as the average fish dropped from 165 pounds to 110 pounds.

Due to provisions of the Magnuson Act, passed by Congress in 1976, the government was handing out Federally guaranteed loans for half a million dollar boats. The number of boats on the water, and the catch, increased so dramatically, the bottom fell out of the market forcing anglers to catch more fish just to pay their bills!

Ludwig's Ratchet

A 1993 article published in Science by Don Ludwig et al. dismissed natural science as having any significant influence on renewable resource conservation. Instead, a series of political and economic imperatives drives the system in a downward spiral.

Such imperatives, say the authors of the journal Coastal Management, "drive fisheries to overcapitalize and overexploit despite scientific evidence that stocks are declining. When the fishery is no longer economically viable, governments provide financial assistance to minimize economic hardship. When stocks increase there is another rush to invest, and the cycle repeats itself."

There are few examples in the history of this country where commercial fishermen have been able to maintain a "sustainable" fishery. When one fishery fails, they simply move on the next.

According to the new Department of Commerce year 2000 Report to Congress: Status of Fisheries of the United States. The number of fish stocks in need of stronger conservation in U.S. coastal waters has increased for the fourth year running despite laws requiring federal fisheries managers to stop overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks.

We have reached the point where the fisheries are in a dire condition and getting worse. The government, both State and Federal, have proven records of establishing management plans based on dubious science whose provisions they have no chance of enforcing.

Of the 860 stocks the National Marine Fisheries Service is responsible for, it lacks adequate information (by their own admission) on the status of 709 of them.

The way management plans are devised needs to be looked at. Currently NMFS relies heavily on its 8 regional management councils to develop management plans. The plans are then generally rubberstamped by NMFS. The problem is the over representation of council members involved with commercial fishing. It's like letting the fox run the hen house!

The Pacific Fisheries Management Council, NMFS West Coast regional council, has three commercial fishing members, no sportfishing members, and no environmental representation. The PFMC advisory panel for Ground fish has 10 members from the commercial anglers, 5 from the sportfishers, and no at large public or environmental representation.

The same procedures are used at the State level. The advisory committee for California's Marine Life Management Act groundfish subcommittee has 10 members from both the commercial and sportfishing groups. The lack of representation from environmental groups and the general public is alarming.

MLMA is mandated to establish a management plan for restoration of the State's depleted groundfish stocks. There is woefully inadequate information about the fishery and no methods for determining the quantity of the commercial harvest. At a recent hearing, MLMA staffers admitted they were "guessing" the catch figures. The management plan will be devised based upon anecdotal evidence and the advice of a council heavily weighted with commercial anglers.

Which seems more likely? The commercial fishing industry will control itself and actively participate in the restoration of the California nearshore fishery, or the extinction of sebastes.

PS: It's on the agenda for the DFG Commission meeting for May 10.

REQUEST OF ZEKE GRADER, THE PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF FISHERMEN'S ASSOCIATIONS, FOR AUTHORIZATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 8606 OF THE FISH AND GAME CODE FOR AN EXPERIMENTAL SALMON FISHERY IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY UTILIZING TROLL GEAR AND FISH TRAPS.