sea bass to be extended
BLACK SEA BASS SEASON TO DOUBLE IN LENGTH
ASMFC Votes to Increase Fishing Days - RFA Legal Defense Continues
In a vote supported by all member states of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission's (ASMFC) Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board
today, states will now have the option to liberalize the 2010 black sea bass season
in state waters by an additional 90 days. The proposed new season will run from
May 22 through October 11, with an additional open period of November 1 through
December 31. The proposal would keep the size and bag limit the same of 12-1/2
inches and 25 fish per angler.
"RFA representatives have worked tirelessly on the 2010 black sea bass season since
last summer, when drastic cuts to fishing days were first proposed," said Capt.
Adam Nowalsky, chairman of the Recreational Fishing Alliance's New Jersey chapter
(RFA-NJ). Nowalsky attended the ASMFC meetings this week in NorthCarolinalongside
fellow RFA-NJ board member and United Boatmen representative Capt. Tony Bogan, and
said perseverance has been the key to seeing the sea bass opportunities open up
again for recreational anglers along the Mid-Atlantic coast. "In December, we were
faced with a 60-day season for 2010, and now we are closing in on a near 200-day
season," Nowalsky added.
The increase in fishing days became possible after the recent release of 2009 black
sea bass landings. Projected 2009 landings had been mandating a 44% reduction in
landings for 2010, but the updated data showed that only a 21% reduction was needed,
allowing for the liberalization. For the new regulation to go into effect, individual
states will have to implement the new proposal, but given the unanimous support
of the states for the motion, implementation is expected.
RFA representatives have attended and advocated at every ASMFC and Mid-Atlantic
Fishery Management Council meeting impacting the recreational black sea bass fishery
since last August to ensure that the recreational sector is treated fairly by regulators
and has the best opportunity possible to enjoy this healthy fishery. "When our state
Marine Fisheries Council meets again back home at the Atlantic County Library in
Galloway on May 13th at 4 p.m., this sea bass season increase should be on the
agenda," said Nowalsky. "This is good news for all our coastal states from Massachusetts
down through North Carolina, everyone who enjoys this healthy and robust sea bass
fishery," he said.
NOAA Fisheries released a proposed rule last week that specified an opening date
of May 22 for the fishery in federal waters with no firm end date for 2010; NOAA
Fisheries did not oppose the ASMFC proposal today. When NOAA Fisheries abruptly
closed the recreational sea bass fishery last October without any opportunity for
public comment, the RFA immediately began working on a legal challenge to fight
the closure. The RFA, United Boatmen and a coalition of industry allies (the "Plaintiffs")
filed suit on November 4, 2009 in New Jersey Federal Court arguing that the sea
bass closure should be declared unlawful and set aside for being arbitrary, capricious,
an abuse of discretion, and otherwise not in accordance with law pursuant to the
Administrative Procedure Act.
The Plaintiffs also allege that NOAA Fisheries violated numerous provisions of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act for closing a recreational fishery in reliance upon the fatally
flawed Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS) and for failing to
adequately assess the impacts of the Emergency Rule on small business entities such
as party and charter boats and bait and tackle shops.
"The emergency closure of the recreational sea bass fishery was unprecedented for
a fishery that is not 'overfished' and where 'overfishing is not occurring'," said
Jim Donofrio, RFA Executive Director. "This case is about more than just sea bass;
it's about taking a stand against a federal agency abusing its power and hurting
individuals and small business owners. If NMFS gets away with using MRFSS data
to shut down the sea bass fishery this time it will be tough to stop them from doing
it in other fisheries." Donofrio said that a legal win with this case would help
set a precedent for anglers to ensure that NOAA couldn't make similar closures in
other regions in the future.
On January 22, NMFS filed the Administrative Record for the case, submitting all
the documents the Court will consider in making its decision. "We carefully reviewed
the Administrative Record to determine whether further documents existed that should
have been, but were not, submitted by the government," said Herb Moore, Jr., RFA
co-counsel on the case. "Surprisingly, we discovered that NMFS failed to submit
the minutes of the December 2008 meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management
Council, which is the meeting where the 2009 sea bass measures were debated and
voted on only to be preempted roughly ten months later by the emergency closure,"
Moore said.
According to the RFA's legal team, the government would not consent to adding these
materials to the Administrative Record so they filed a motion to supplement the
record on April 23 which they expect will be decided sometime after May 17. "Thirty
days after we have a decision on this motion to supplement, we will go ahead and
file a motion for summary judgment and expect NMFS to file a cross motion for summary
judgment after that," Moore said, adding "We expect this case will ultimately be
decided on these cross motions for summary judgment."
As of May 4, 2010, $26,470.27 has been deposited into the RFA Legal Defense Fund
for ongoing efforts to challenge NOAA Fisheries' decision to close the black sea
bass fishery. "Tackle shops, party and charter boat captains, fishing clubs and
captains organizations and hundreds of individual anglers have contributed to our
campaign to ensure that NOAA Fisheries never does this again," said RFA Managing
Director, Jim Hutchinson, Jr. "This battle to reopen our sea bass fishery and
the ongoing legal challenge to protect anglers against future arbitrary closures
has been all grassroots so far, but I'm hoping that some of our friends from the
national tackle industry who rely on a healthy sea bass fishery will contribute
to the angler efforts to keep our folks fishing," Hutchinson added.
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