Video of Cold Stunned Speckled Trout in NC

Fishing for Speckled Trout was ended today due to the second "cold stun" event in NC coastal waters in the last 12 months. See the video at the following link....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcIYxtmH6cA&feature=email

NCDMF Director Louis Daniel Shuts Down Speckled Trout Harvest Due to Cold Stun Kill

By "proclamation" Dr. Louis Daniel, NCDMF Director, shut down all harvest of Spotted Sea Trout statewide in response to the extended bitter cold weather and subsequent killing and stunning of trout. The CFRG applauds Dr. Daniel and his staff for taking this proactive measure to protect remaining fish to spawn this summer. We hope the Marine Fisheries Commission, who will have the final say on this proclamation, will support Dr. Daniel's position, and leave the moratorium in place until the end of spawning season this fall. Please see the proclamation below:

N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources

Release: Immediate Contact: Patricia Smith

Date: Jan. 12, 2011 Phone: (252) 726-7021 or (252) 342-0642

State to Close Spotted Seatrout Harvest Due to Cold Stun Events

MOREHEAD CITY – North Carolina will close all coastal waters to commercial and recreational spotted seatrout harvest for an indefinite period beginning at noon Friday.

N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Director Louis Daniel issued a proclamation today implementing the closure, after consulting with N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Chairman Rob Bizzell.

The action is being taken in response to recent cold stun events in Rose Bay, Juniper Bay, Pungo River, Campbell Creek, Turnigan Bay, Spooners Creek and other waters. The intent of the closure is to prevent the harvest of vulnerable cold stunned fish, which may recover with warming temperatures.

“On the heels of two cold stun events, one in 2010 and now in 2011, and pretty large commercial and recreational catch rates in 2009, I believe this is the best thing for the fishery,” Daniel said.

In approving the Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan in November, the Marine Fisheries Commission authorized Daniel to temporarily close harvest in the event of a cold stun event. The commission will review the closure and consider extending it at is Feb. 11 meeting in Pine Knoll Shores.

For more information, contact division biologist Beth Burns at (252) 473-5734, extension 221, or Beth.Burns@ncdenr.gov.

CFRG Requests Immediate Statewide Closure to Speckled Trout Harvest

The following email was sent to Dr. Louis Daniel, Director of the NC Division of Marine Fisheries today:

Dear Dr. Daniel,

The Coastal Fisheries Reform Group is requesting an immediate statewide closure of fishing for Spotted Sea Trout. Substantiated reports of thousands of dead and dying trout are coming in from all areas of our coastal waters. DMF staff has documented many of these events. These current events coupled with the major event we experienced hardly twelve months ago magnifies the need to protect remaining fish from further harvest. Anything less than a statewide closure will create increased fishing pressure in areas that would remain open to harvest.

Your immediate attention to this matter will be greatly appreciated by all North Carolina saltwater anglers.

Sincerely,
Dean Phillips

Coastal Fisheries Reform Group
CFRG@northstate.net
www.cfrgnc.blogspot.com/

Money Driven NC Marine Fisheries Commission Assaults Depleted and Overfished Speckled Trout Stocks

In the most recent NCMFC meeting, the commission ignored the reports and recommendations of staff biologists, and voted to continue commercial harvest of Speckled Trout with little to no restrictions on commercial catch. Even though recreational fishermen were requesting their own daily limits be reduced to 2 fish based on DMF staff recommendations, the commission still kept recreational creels at 6 fish daily, with a size limit of 14 inches. Only 2 fish can exceed 24 inches.

The only reason the commission kept the recreational creel so high is because if they lowered it any more, then commercial harvest would need to be substantially curbed, and that was unacceptable to the commercially run commission. So, in an effort to placate a hand full of full time commercial gill net fishermen that target Speckled Trout in our coastal creeks in the winter months, our MFC has chosen to deplete a depleted fishery even further.

 Commissioner Mikey Daniels, wealthy fish dealer from Wanchese NC, openly criticized and railed on the DMF staff for bringing to light the sad condition of the Speckled Trout fishery. In a mindless rant, he said he didn't believe in "overfishing", and asked the lead biologist how she knew what fish were left in the water. Clearly he did not review the months of work that went into the stock status report, or he refused to acknowledge it, or both. Commissioner Daniels, do you see any need to have a biologist on staff? Do you believe in fisheries science at all?

Herein lies the problem with trusting sound fisheries management to folks who profit from the sale of fish. The health of their pocketbooks far outweighs the health of the fisheries!

Another stranger than fiction wrinkle is added to this debacle as well. In the last NC legislative session, a new law was passed that says any new fisheries management plans enacted would need to have at least a 50/50 chance of success. This means that the MFC would be breaking this law if they imposed any rules on a fishery plan that did not meet this requirement. The SST is depleted and overfished, and the MFC was faced with implementing rules to end the overfishing in 2 years. Since these fish dealers are addicted to the cash they make off the Speckled Trout in the winter months, they had to come up with a way to avoid breaking their own new law.

They came up with a way! They asked the Joint Legislative Commission on Seafood and Aquaculture to send a request to the NC Legislature EXEMPTING Speckled Trout from this law. Yes, you read that right! The number 1 targeted sportfish in our NC coastal waters is being exempted from protective measures because our corrupt, money hungry, commercial fishing MFC wants to keep selling this fish at all costs.

Just in case you didn't know this, they already did this to another trout in our coastal waters, the Gray Trout. Now all but eradicated, the Gray Trout can just barely breed enough stock to break even every year after the natural predators feed on them. Now our Speckled Trout must deal with an unnatural predator; our Governor appointed, commercially run, NC Marine Fisheries Commission!

NC Marine Fisheries Commission Calls Special Meeting to Undo Previous Action to Protect Speckled Trout

The NC Marine Fisheries Commission met in Morehead City Monday, November 22 and undid one of the most positive actions they had taken to date to address overfishing on Spotted  Sea Trout. With total disregard for the public input they received at their November 4 meeting calling upon MFC to abide by the current Fisheries Management Plan law that requires implementation of management measures sufficient to end overfishing within 2 years, the Commission caved in to commercial interests to allow continued netting throughout the winter months.

The MFC had closed the commercial harvest of SST at their November 4 meeting from December 15 through February 28 to reduce fishing mortality from commercial fishing by 28%, which would have provided one half the reduction needed to eliminate overfishing within 2 years. After a clamorous uproar of protest from commercial interests, MFC amended the proposal to close commercial fishing for SST only on the weekends year around. However, the weekend closure does not require commercial fishermen to remove their gear from the water. So the gear remains in the water over the weekend year around to catch speckled sea trout that cannot be sold legally.

Recreational fishermen saw their limits reduced from 10 fish per day to 6 without a murmur of objection. Recreational fishermen have accepted the premise that we have to protect our brood stock to restore the fishery to levels that are sustainable and can support higher limits. This is a basic principle of resource management wasted upon the MFC. Professional fishery managers of the DMF presented strong data to justify the seasonal closure. Commercial interests on the MFC were very critical of the science displaying a lack of knowledge about fishery biology and insensitivity toward the welfare of the resource. The MFC replaced the considered recommendations of fishery managers with their own opinions based only in the argument that commercial fishermen need to catch SST during the winter to supplement their income at this time of year. Too bad about the trout!

Now the MFC is preparing to undermine the newly enacted state law designed to improve fishery management plans by exempting the speckled sea trout from the new law so that fishing restrictions will not be fully required until the next cycle of plan reviews, which is years away. Let us prepare for this fight in the new General Assembly. Enactment of management measures sufficient to end overfishing within 2 years is a necessary and reasonable proposition. We can make a difference if we all stick together to end this crazy propensity of the MFC to continue overfishing for the benefit of commercial interests.

How long can we let our marine fishery resource be sacrificed on the altar of expediency and exploitation for the personal gain of so few? We must accept the restrictions imposed today to ensure the healthy future for the speckled sea trout. Prospects for success are greater today than they were yesterday. Lets seize this opportunity and move forward for change.

Bombing Ranges in Pamlico Sound: CFRG, Other Groups Request Complete Environmental Impact Statement

For years NC saltwater fishermen have shared the Pamlico Sound with our military. Now the military is making an effort to expand the bombing ranges while removing fishermen from areas that have been fished for years. Before we let this happen, we should at least understand the impact these bombing exercises are having on our wildlife populations, soils, and waters in these areas, in addition to the impacts on the fishermen themselves.

Please see the letter below from Todd Miller, Executive Director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation. This is important to all saltwater fishermen here in NC. Please take time and send an email requesting a full "Environmental Impact Statement" on these bombing sites before November 26 to: richard.k.spencer@usace.army.mil

Army Corps of Engineers
Attention: Richard Spencer
69 Darlington Ave.
Wilmington, NC 28403

Re: Closure of Traditional Use Areas and proposed intermittent expansion of BT-11 and BT-9

The North Carolina Coastal Federation has reviewed the proposals to expand activities in BT-11 and BT-9, and comments about these plans submitted to you by the NC Marine Fisheries Commission and the Alliance for Public Trust Waters, Inc. We have also examined the formal policies of the NC Coastal Resources Commission that are part of North Carolina’s federally approved Coastal Management Plan that relate to military activities in the coastal zone as well as the protection of public trust rights in coastal waters. Any activities undertaken by federal agencies should be consistent with the state’s federally approved plan.

Dating back to the mid 1980s, there have been issues raised by the State of North Carolina regarding its need to protect public trust rights around these ranges. In addition, state policy requires on going monitoring and reporting of potential environmental hazards associated with range activities. It appears that the public trust issues raised by the State over two decades ago have still not been resolved, and that routine reports to the Coastal Resources Commission of the results of monitoring activities have been episodic at best.

For these reasons, we agree with the comments submitted by both the Division of Marine Fisheries and the Alliance. There has been inadequate evaluation of the impacts of these proposed expansions to public trust rights, coastal habitat, and coastal water quality. We also request additional environmental review of these proposals. An Environmental Impact Statement should be prepared in accordance with requirements of NEPA. This will allow for full analysis of the impacts of these proposals in a way that fully includes the public.

Thank you for considering our comments.

Todd Miller, Executive Director
North Carolina Coastal Federation
3609 Highway 24 (Ocean)
Newport, North Carolina 28570