We all came to the coast in different ways.
Some of us were born to fishing families, either sport or
commercial, and learned the ways of salt water from the same sort of immersive
experiences that taught us to speak, to walk and to run.
Others came to the ocean later in life, when learning was a
little harder. Some stumbled through
their first few years on the coast, learning on their own. Others were tutored by friends. But it’s a pretty good chance that, for many,
their first experience with salt water sport fishing was helped along by a
guide—and by “guide,” I mean anyone in the business of taking folks fishing, whether
in the surf, in the back bays, or on bigger waters aboard larger charter or
party boats.
Beginnings are always fraught times, and just as some of us had
our attitudes about fish and fishing shaped, in part, by family and friends,
others have had theirs shaped by those early expperiences with professional
guides. And thus, what guides think
about fish, about fishing, and about fisheries issues has an impact that
extends far beyond just themselves.
It’s something that I’ve thought about before, but I was
reminded about it again, not long ago, when I was reading a series on the MeatEater website.
If you’re not familiar with MeatEater, it’s a website (and a
TV show) that’s mostly dedicated to hunting, but touches on angling, too. But instead of the emphasis on trophies, “bro
bonding,” equipment and such that is probably too prevalent in today’s outdoor
media, MeatEater takes a more thoughtful look at hunting and fishing in the
context of heritage, food, and conservation.
MeatEater recently published a
five-part series written by guide April Vokey, titled “So You Want to Be a
Fishing Guide?” In the final
part of that series, Ms. Vokey provided her thoughts on a guide’s “Responsibility
to the Resource,” and what she wrote made a lot of sense.
“Choosing a resource-based vocation has drawbacks. A guide’s security relies on the presumption
that rivers and the fish within them will be healthy enough to withstand an
open fishing season. Mother Nature isn’t
for hire and she doesn’t care about a guide’s financial comfort…
“An ecological catastrophe, whether human-caused or naturally
occurring, or a shift in regulation has the potential to bankrupt businesses
that depend on fishery health and angler cooperation. Such uncertainties intensify the significance
of a guide’s relationship with the resource.
While its almost impossible to predict most acute events that can
depress or destroy a fishery, a guide can control much of their own impact by
staying informed on policy and current threats.”
Those are insightful statements, which are just as
applicable to our ocean, striped bass and bluefish as they are to Ms. Vokey’s
rivers, steelhead and salmon. Yet it’s
strange how many salt water guides have not gained the insight that Ms. Vokey
provides.
It seems impossible to deny that running
a successful fishing business requires fish, yet in salt water, such guides
still refuse to accept that reality. Despite
the fact that winter
flounder are at risk of complete extirpation in some waters of the State of New
York, for example, and have already
fallen to such low abundance levels that inbreeding is occurring, there are
guides who are still trying
to relax the state’s flounder regulations.
Such a “harvest at any cost” approach to fisheries can
infect the thinking of the guides’ customers, and make them unthinking abettors
to efforts that could harm fish stocks, when they should be trying to preserve populations
of the fish that they seek to catch.
As Ms. Vokey wrote,
“Guide Hilary Hutcheson takes it one step further. ‘I get to show my guests how to be the eyes,
ears, and voices that are so important in helping create policy that protects
the resource.’
“…A forward-thinking guide sees guests as potential teammates—future
investors in the fishery…
“Thoughtful and skilled guides can help these folks realize
the fragility of fisheries that bring them a day, or even a lifetime, of
pleasure. In turn, those clients might
carry that message to their own sphere of influence.”
That’s a more sensible outlook. By teaching clients to value, respect and
protect fishery resources, a guide is, in the end, only protecting his or her business
interests in the long run.
By whipping
up business with language like “sea bass beat down” and a
“SLAUGHTER FEST” of blues and striped bass, salt water guides might well
draw a boatload of customers seeking “a
full boat limit” and “more than enough meat,” but they also give customers
unrealistic expectations, that can’t be fulfilled when fish populations
decline.
We’re staring one of those declines in the face right
now.
The
2018 benchmark striped bass stock assessment has revealed that striped bass are
both overfished and subject to continued overfishing. It’s clear that action must be taken to
rebuild the stock; if no such action is taken, the stock could decline even
more.
So the question is, will the guides seek to protect the
resource, or will the “slaughter fest” mentality prevail?
When the issue arose in 2015, after the
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission called for a 25% reduction in
fishing mortality, a lot of the guides spoke out for slaughter. As
noted in the New York Marine Resources Advisory Council Bulletin for January
2015,
“Mr. Gilmore [the chief marine fisheries manager for the State
of New York] said that ASMFC had decided that a 1-fish possession limit and a
28” minimum size (“1 at 28”) would be the standard coastwide. However, because conservation equivalency is
allowed to be considered, after the meeting several states wanted to adopt
different measures, specifically for the for-hire sector. They wanted 2 at 32 for that sector. This started a snowball for different
measures…”
In the end, thanks to Mr.
Gilmore and some of his counterparts up in New England, the 1 at 28” minimum
remained the standard, for everyone, throughout the northeast, and for most of
the Mid-Atlantic.
Now, as the debate over striped bass conservation begins
anew, it’s impossible not to wonder where the guides will come out. Will most recognize the need to protect the
resource? Or will they prefer “beat
downs” and “slaughter fests” in the short term, in exchange for an uncertain
future?
If this were a fresh water fishery, not just for steelhead
or salmon, but for bass, muskellunge or perhaps even catfish, there’s little
doubt that, as far as the guides were concerned, conservation would
prevail. But in salt water, where guides
have traditionally hung dead fish from hooks to show off their skills and lure
in new clients, there is no such certainty.
History gives lots of reason to worry, but there are also
reasons for hope. Here on the striper
coast, there are guides speaking out for the fish.
Just this morning, I read a
blog written by a surf guide named Bernie Hoyt, who guides and lives here on
Long Island, but also takes anglers surfcasting throughout much of southern New
England. He understands the problem, and
wrote
“So given that there are many people—including me—who make a
living out of this business, and have customers who want to keep their fish,
what should we do?
“…I think changes have to come not only from legislation, but
also from individual behaviors. No
matter what laws are in place, ultimately when you bring in the fish, it is
your decision to legally keep the fish or release it. In that moment, you are the regulatory
authority. Each angler has the power to not
only release a breeding fish but to also educate fellow anglers to refine the
practice of catch and release. Releasing
the large breeders helps to sustain the fishery. It’s ok to keep a fish to eat but let’s focus
on releasing the large fish to preserve the future of this beautiful species.
“I think the challenge has to go out to the guides,
captains, and local tackle shops to assist in the education of anglers as to
the importance of catch and release and its relevance to our sport in
general and the striped bass in particular…
[emphasis added]”
That’s not a very different way of saying what Ms. Vokey
wrote, when she said that “Thoughtful and skilled guides can help these folks
realize the fragility of fisheries,” and lead them to become advocates for
conservation.
Other striped bass guides are saying similar things. Perhaps foremost among them is my friend John McMurray, of One More Cast
Charters, who wrote
“Take it from somebody who just spent 9 years on the
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and a little over two years as a proxy
on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. It is the we-need-to-kill-more folks on the
recreational side…who tend to dominate the discussion…
“Managers are left with the perception that anglers just want
to kill more. Same could be said for both
state and national legislators. Because
generally, that’s who they hear from.
And that sucks. Because it’s NOT
who or what the larger angling community is, and it certainly isn’t what we [light-tackle
guides] stand for.
“This kind of stuff has to stop. Guides need to organize, and we need to start
speaking up. Letting managers and
politicians know that we are here, and that we count. That conservation is important not only to
us, but to our clients and to most of the angling community.”
Capt. McMurray uses different words than did Ms. Vokey, but
they agree on the basic message. Through
my friendship with Capt. McMurray, I’ve met many other guides feel the same way.
Such sentiments aren’t the sole province of the light-tackle
crowd. When I first started fishing
offshore, back in the late 1970s, I was lucky enough to charter a captain out
of Pt. Judith, Rhode Island who taught me the basics of fishing for sharks and
tuna, while paying attention to the needs of the resource, too.
In recent years, I’ve also developed a friendship with a
Montauk charter captain, who runs a traditional “six-pack” boat. He frequently talks about the need for “product,”
how he describes an abundance of fish that his clients can catch, if his
business is to survive.
Still, more guides need to understand that basic truth. As Ms. Vokey noted,
“Smart guides know that their paycheques depend on fish.”
Even the most conservation-averse should be able to realize
that you can’t “beat down” or “slaughter” fish that aren’t there.
In his play The Tempest,
William Shakespeare wrote
“Full fathom five thy father lies.
Of his bones are coral made.
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.”
It is hard to imagine a sea-change richer or stranger, or more
needed, than for salt water guides of all stripes—whether on the beach, on light-tackle
skiffs, on six-packs or party boats—to realize that conservation is not a threat, and to finally understand that if they want to remain in business, conservation represents their only real shot at
salvation.
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