buckethead
04-01-2011, 12:40 PM
from today's APP --
Fisheries caught in budget's tight net
Herring catch on hold, others may follow
1:07 AM, Apr. 1, 2011 |
8Comments (http://www.app.com/comments/article/20110331/NJNEWS/110401003/Fisheries-caught-budget-s-tight-net)
http://cmsimg.app.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/persbilde?Avis=B3&ID=moore&maxH=55&masW=55 Written by
KIRK MOORE (kmoore@njpressmedia.com)
STAFF WRITER
UPPER FREEHOLD — Beset by a crushing workload, decimated staff and years of inadequate funding, the state Bureau of Marine Fisheries is preparing a draft plan to identify what can be jettisoned from a program that serves a $2 billion industry in New Jersey … yet gets less than 1 percent of that from the state budget.
The state's saltwater fishing program is the most at-risk sector in the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, which was chronically underfunded even before the recession hit and has lost 25 percent of its staff to retirements and hiring freezes since 2005.
"You're talking about a $20 million need, with a $4 million funding level,'' said David Chanda, director of the fish and wildlife division. Almost half of that money now comes from federal grants.
During the recent debate over the new saltwater fishing registry, state officials and some recreational advocates contended New Jersey would be better off with a saltwater fishing license to raise revenue for the program. But supporters of a free registry carried the day, and now fisheries workers are drawing up a menu of
options for "tough choices,'' Chanda said at an outdoor writers conference Thursday at Assunpink Wildlife Management Area.
Wildlife workers admit it's almost useless to ask for more money in this political climate … although Chanda credited state Environmental Commissioner Bob Martin for getting a hiring exemption for new workers at the Hackettstown and Pequest freshwater fish hatcheries.
Martin is also looking for ways to fund the registry without further impacts on the fisheries budget, and get at least one or two people to permanently maintain what will be a Web-based system ready for testing soon, he said.
It would take an act of the Legislature to impose a license and the registry vote clearly showed "the message those legislators got was fishing in the ocean should be free,'' he said.
Already there's a plan to suspend fishing for river herring in 2012 because state biologists won't be able to fulfill legal requirements under the coastwide herring management plan, said marine bureau chief Brandon Muffley. It's just one of 22 plans for various species that must be kept updated under interstate and federal rules.
(Page 2 of 3)
"By default, if you can't prove your fishery is sustainable, you're out of compliance,'' Muffley said. River herring are the first to be set aside because biologists "need to do one for each individual river system,'' he said.
The spring run of herring is a popular fishing pastime at Trenton on the Delaware River and the little streams of the Shore and Pine Barrens. But it has significance beyond that, as an important live bait fish used for the much larger striped bass fishery on the coast, said Edward Markowski of the New Jersey Outdoors Alliance.
"Fishermen don't realize this is the first domino to fall,'' Markowski said. "Then, are shad next? What species follow?''
Bureau administrator Thomas McCloy said there's already been "erosion'' of some fisheries because the state cannot collect enough data. The current two-fish daily limit on winter flounder … which bait and tackle shop owners blame for destroying the traditional late winter/early spring season … "is a direct result of not having the data to defend our fishery,'' McCloy said.
He was referring to a Darwinian struggle among coastal states whenever their representatives meet at Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, or its quasi-federal counterpart, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Both groups set the annual catch limits for fish and allocate shares among the states, a process that blends biology, tag-team negotiation and byzantine politics.
Poor data has been blamed for some states losing dramatic percentages of their shares. Perhaps the most famous example is New York's situation with summer flounder, where the allocation spiraled lower and lower. Long Island anglers can only take home doormat-sized 21-inch fish and commercial crews are limited to 70-pound catches most of the year.
Usually states with the better teams win, said Peter Grimbilas of the Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association.
"North Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts and New Jersey are all comparable'' in their numbers of fishermen and revenue … but not in state spending, Grimbilas said.
(Page 3 of 3)
"North Carolina, $24 million; Massachusetts, $23 million; New Jersey, less than $2 million (in state appropriations)?'' he added.
North Carolina employs about 300 people in its fisheries division and has teams working on single species, while New Jersey's biologists each have multiple management plans that must keep updated, Chanda said.
Gil Ewing Jr., who chairs the state Marine Fisheries Council, says New Jersey holds around third place on the Atlantic Coast for what fishing brings to its economy, yet is 17th in its funding for marine resources.
"We're actually dead last in what we spend per angler … $6.85 each,'' Chanda said. "New Hampshire spends more than us, but they have fewer anglers.''
The five new hatchery hires relieved a serious staffing situation, when just three employees … one over 70 years old and staying on well past retirement to keep pulling nets … were running the Hackettstown facility, Chanda said.
"The hatchery superintendent is donating to the state well over 1,000 hours a year,'' said Chanda, who recalled sparring with higher-ups who suggested stopgap measures: "I'm not willing to turn a multimillion dollar facility over to interns, volunteers and college students.''
http://www.app.com/article/20110331/NJNEWS/110401003/Fisheries-caught-budget-s-tight-net?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage
Fisheries caught in budget's tight net
Herring catch on hold, others may follow
1:07 AM, Apr. 1, 2011 |
8Comments (http://www.app.com/comments/article/20110331/NJNEWS/110401003/Fisheries-caught-budget-s-tight-net)
http://cmsimg.app.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/persbilde?Avis=B3&ID=moore&maxH=55&masW=55 Written by
KIRK MOORE (kmoore@njpressmedia.com)
STAFF WRITER
UPPER FREEHOLD — Beset by a crushing workload, decimated staff and years of inadequate funding, the state Bureau of Marine Fisheries is preparing a draft plan to identify what can be jettisoned from a program that serves a $2 billion industry in New Jersey … yet gets less than 1 percent of that from the state budget.
The state's saltwater fishing program is the most at-risk sector in the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, which was chronically underfunded even before the recession hit and has lost 25 percent of its staff to retirements and hiring freezes since 2005.
"You're talking about a $20 million need, with a $4 million funding level,'' said David Chanda, director of the fish and wildlife division. Almost half of that money now comes from federal grants.
During the recent debate over the new saltwater fishing registry, state officials and some recreational advocates contended New Jersey would be better off with a saltwater fishing license to raise revenue for the program. But supporters of a free registry carried the day, and now fisheries workers are drawing up a menu of
options for "tough choices,'' Chanda said at an outdoor writers conference Thursday at Assunpink Wildlife Management Area.
Wildlife workers admit it's almost useless to ask for more money in this political climate … although Chanda credited state Environmental Commissioner Bob Martin for getting a hiring exemption for new workers at the Hackettstown and Pequest freshwater fish hatcheries.
Martin is also looking for ways to fund the registry without further impacts on the fisheries budget, and get at least one or two people to permanently maintain what will be a Web-based system ready for testing soon, he said.
It would take an act of the Legislature to impose a license and the registry vote clearly showed "the message those legislators got was fishing in the ocean should be free,'' he said.
Already there's a plan to suspend fishing for river herring in 2012 because state biologists won't be able to fulfill legal requirements under the coastwide herring management plan, said marine bureau chief Brandon Muffley. It's just one of 22 plans for various species that must be kept updated under interstate and federal rules.
(Page 2 of 3)
"By default, if you can't prove your fishery is sustainable, you're out of compliance,'' Muffley said. River herring are the first to be set aside because biologists "need to do one for each individual river system,'' he said.
The spring run of herring is a popular fishing pastime at Trenton on the Delaware River and the little streams of the Shore and Pine Barrens. But it has significance beyond that, as an important live bait fish used for the much larger striped bass fishery on the coast, said Edward Markowski of the New Jersey Outdoors Alliance.
"Fishermen don't realize this is the first domino to fall,'' Markowski said. "Then, are shad next? What species follow?''
Bureau administrator Thomas McCloy said there's already been "erosion'' of some fisheries because the state cannot collect enough data. The current two-fish daily limit on winter flounder … which bait and tackle shop owners blame for destroying the traditional late winter/early spring season … "is a direct result of not having the data to defend our fishery,'' McCloy said.
He was referring to a Darwinian struggle among coastal states whenever their representatives meet at Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, or its quasi-federal counterpart, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Both groups set the annual catch limits for fish and allocate shares among the states, a process that blends biology, tag-team negotiation and byzantine politics.
Poor data has been blamed for some states losing dramatic percentages of their shares. Perhaps the most famous example is New York's situation with summer flounder, where the allocation spiraled lower and lower. Long Island anglers can only take home doormat-sized 21-inch fish and commercial crews are limited to 70-pound catches most of the year.
Usually states with the better teams win, said Peter Grimbilas of the Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association.
"North Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts and New Jersey are all comparable'' in their numbers of fishermen and revenue … but not in state spending, Grimbilas said.
(Page 3 of 3)
"North Carolina, $24 million; Massachusetts, $23 million; New Jersey, less than $2 million (in state appropriations)?'' he added.
North Carolina employs about 300 people in its fisheries division and has teams working on single species, while New Jersey's biologists each have multiple management plans that must keep updated, Chanda said.
Gil Ewing Jr., who chairs the state Marine Fisheries Council, says New Jersey holds around third place on the Atlantic Coast for what fishing brings to its economy, yet is 17th in its funding for marine resources.
"We're actually dead last in what we spend per angler … $6.85 each,'' Chanda said. "New Hampshire spends more than us, but they have fewer anglers.''
The five new hatchery hires relieved a serious staffing situation, when just three employees … one over 70 years old and staying on well past retirement to keep pulling nets … were running the Hackettstown facility, Chanda said.
"The hatchery superintendent is donating to the state well over 1,000 hours a year,'' said Chanda, who recalled sparring with higher-ups who suggested stopgap measures: "I'm not willing to turn a multimillion dollar facility over to interns, volunteers and college students.''
http://www.app.com/article/20110331/NJNEWS/110401003/Fisheries-caught-budget-s-tight-net?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage