IN FISHERIES ADVOCACY, KNOWLEDGE IS POWER: HERE ARE TWO WAYS TO INCREASE YOURS

I’ve been involved with fisheries advocacy since the striped bass stock began its crash in the mid-1970s.  I’m not sure how many meetings and hearings I’ve attended over the intervening years, but when I look back, one of the things that strikes me is how often fishermen are completely unprepared to present and support their position to the management community.

Such lack of preparation all comes from a common source:  Ignorance. 

The management process can be a little arcane, and it is difficult to be an effective advocate without understanding how that process works.  It’s also just about impossible to provide a convincing presentation without being able to understand the relevant science and incorporate it into one’s comments.

Having said that, fisheries science is a complex discipline that typically takes years of formal study, followed by years of practical experience, to master.  While scientists can be, and often are, fishermen, fishermen are rarely scientists, and shouldn’t pretend to be. 

There are few things more painful than to see a fisherman begin to speak at a meeting, and demand management action that is either unsupported by, or contrary to, the best available scientific information.  Still, few such meetings conclude without someone declaring that “the science is wrong,” without explaining why (perhaps the starkest example of that came at an Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission hearing on Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Tautog, held in New York back in 2017, when a Montauk party boat captain interrupted the proceedings to announce, “We don't care about your science; your science is bullcrap”), or standing to explain that no management actions are needed because “it’s just the cycle; the fish go away and then they come back,” or “there’s plenty of striped bass (or bluefish), but they’ve just moved offshore.”

Such demonstrations of ignorance don’t help the speakers’ credibility.  Fortunately, the one good thing about ignorance is that it can be cured; all it takes is some education and an open mind.

In November, anglers will have two opportunities to learn more about fisheries and the management process.

American Fisheries Society:  Stakeholder Engagement Day

On November 8, the American Fisheries Society will be holding what a “Stakeholder Engagement Day” as part of the organization’s annual meeting.

The idea is to provide anglers, commercial fishermen, and aquaculture operators the chance to learn about new developments in fisheries science, participate in panel discussions and, in the evening, attend a networking event, which will provide them with the chance to have informal conversations with both scientists and fishery managers, and learn more about the management process.

The meeting will be held in Baltimore, Maryland, although according to information that I received from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, provisions for remote attendance will be made.  

The American Fisheries Society’s Stakeholder Engagement Subcommittee, which includes representatives from the National Marine Fisheries Service, American Saltwater Guides Association, Rutgers University, and the Coastal Conservation Association, has made a serious effort to include presentations focusing on matters important to commercial and recreational fishermen on the day’s agenda.  Included among a host of others will be symposia addressing striped bass, offshore wind development, and cooperative research programs.

Anyone interested in attending the meeting must apply by Friday, October 29 (yes, that’s tomorrow).  The American Fisheries Society has set a registration fee of $50 for a limited number of stakeholders, to be determined by the Society based on the registrations received; all others will be required to pay the standard one-day registration fee of $380.

$380 may seem to be a steep price for an individual to pay in order to attend some lectures and have the opportunity to network with members of the scientific community and, realistically, it will probably prove to be too high a price for the average angler’s budget.  However, for those who plan to take an active role in the fishery management process, perhaps representing a club or an industry segment before state or federal regulators or an ASMFC management board, it is likely to be money well spent.

National Academy of Sciences:  Data and Management Strategies for Recreational Fisheries

If you don’t want to travel, or if the American Fisheries Society meeting costs too much for you to attend, the National Academy of Sciences will be holding a free public webinar on a topic that probably incites more debates than any other:  Recreational fishing data, and how to best collect and utilize it.

The webinar, which will be held from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 17, represents the public briefing on a newly-released National Academy of Sciences report, Data and Management Strategies for Recreational Fisheries with Annual Catch Limits, which can be downloaded, in pdf form, or purchased as a bound volume, from the website of the National Academies Press.

The report covers a broad range of topics, including a survey of the current fishery data and management system, the various surveys that inform the current management process, suggestions for adapting the current system to better accommodate in-season management programs, and possible alternative means of managing recreational fisheries.  Clear conclusions are drawn from the facts relating to each topic, and in most cases, recommendations based on such conclusions are provided.

Given the vast amount of information contained in the nearly-200-page document, it will be impossible for the 90 minute briefing to do much more than provide the most basic overview of the report.  However, even such a necessarily cursory briefing will provide interested anglers with more than enough information to understand the issues involved with recreational data collection, and to fact-check—and subsequently debunk—some of the more egregious misrepresentations of how such process does or does not work, such as the distortions currently coming out of the Coastal Conservation Association with respect to the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery.

Even if the briefing doesn’t provide all of the answers that everyone needs, it will hopefully inspire stakeholders to download a pdf of the report and so learn additional details.

Anyone interested in sitting in on the webinar is asked to register in advance; the webpage allowing folks to do so can be reached by clicking on this link.

The need for knowledge is real

I have always enjoyed learning about fisheries science and the management process, but I’ll be the first to admit that most people don’t get too excited about poring over stock assessments, learning about scientific findings, or reading about the fine details of the fishery management process.  But without that sort of knowledge, it’s difficult to convince policymakers to push management in the right direction.

Just this morning, reading an Internet post, I noted someone who has, for many years, held himself out as a striped bass management guru declare that he didn’t think that catch and release had much of an impact on the health of the bass stock, and that a harvest moratorium was needed to rebuild the striped bass population, even though the former statement is completely contrary to the findings of the last benchmark stock assessment, and the latter is unsupported by any existing data or scientific advice.

That sort of thing is embarrassing, not only to the person who made the comment, but to more informed folks who need to deal with the fallout from such comments, both within the stakeholder community and when speaking to fishery managers.

Worse, such misstatements do no good for the fish.

When fisheries issues arise, it’s important for stakeholders to get involved in the management process.  But for that involvement to make a difference, stakeholders also need to make informed comments, that directly address the problems confronting a particular fish stock.

Either of the programs described above will help bring such informed advocacy within reach.