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Thu, Oct 15, 2009
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Closed black sea bass season opens can of worms
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Action unnecessary, fishermen say
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The short-notice closure of the black sea bass recreational fishing season isn’t settling well with local charter and head boat operators.
“It sucks,” said Capt. John Nedelka, who runs his charter vessel, Karen Sue, year-round out of the Indian River Inlet Marina.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued an emergency 180-day closure of recreational fishing Oct. 5, for black sea bass in all federal waters from north of Cape Hatteras, N.C., to Maine.
Federal officials said the closure is necessary because black sea bass landing data and scientific analysis indicated recreational fisherman had already reached their annual quota.
The closure does not affect commercial fishing operations.
Nedelka and other fishermen whose livelihood in part depends on fall through winter black sea bass charter trips, said the federal action would place undue pressure on other fish species such as tog.
“I’ve had many cancellations and no new phone calls for bookings,” said Nedelka, who has been in the charter boat fishing business for 30 years.
He said black sea bass are prolific procreators. “They lay a lot of eggs, and they grow fast – traits tog doesn’t have,” he said.
“I don’t think tog can handle a lot more pressure. They’re a very slow-growing fish,” Nedelka said. He said the nation’s fish czars ignored a Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council recommendation to leave the sea bass recreational fishing quota as is.
“The fish czars chose to override everybody – the National Marine Fisheries and the Mid-Atlantic council,” Nedelka said. He said Mid-Atlantic black sea bass counts indicated an increase in the species population.
Fishermen think federal officials use an inaccurate counting method that involves random phone calls and dockside fish counts conducted by a contract service.
Nedelka said the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), a national grassroots organization that seeks to safeguard the rights of saltwater anglers and ensure long-term sustainability of the nation’s fisheries, is seeking an injunction to overturn the federal action.
“They’re working on it right now. Our best hope is the RFA,” he said.
But while the alliance attempts to angle for legal relief, Nedelka, like Capt. Ted Mouliner, is counting the dollars they probably won’t be able to hook.
“It’s hard to say how much will be lost. Last year, because of weather, I never got out. But it could be a loss of $2,500 to $4,000 per trip, depending on weather and the number of people,” Mouliner said.
Mouliner runs his 54-foot charter boat Pirate King II year-round out of Lewes’ Angler’s Fishing Center.
“I don’t think they took the economic impact into account at all,” he said of the closure.
Mouliner and Nedelka agree – the federal action would also have a trickle-down effect on the bottom line for hotels, motels, restaurants, bait and tackle shops, grocery and liquor stores, gasoline filling stations and any other tourism-related business in the area.
“This is the worst year I’ve ever seen due to the economy and regulations,” Nedelka said.
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