A Buddy of Mine had something to say.

That is the truth.

another issue that may be pointed out and is very important in understanding the conversion from days-at-sea (DAS) to Sectors/Catch Shares---A BIG problem is that we Heavily Invested real dollars in DAS. We had no choice if we wanted to survive 'until the better day'! One needs to understand that in order to invest in DAS that one's boat had 3 requirements to purchase a fishing permit that works for that vessel (you couldn't just go buy a permit with DAS and expect that it would be useable on your boat unless it met the 3 requirements): 1. horsepower within 20% of the boat's horsepower 2. Length within 10% of the boat's length 3. tonnage within 10% of the boat's tonnage. These 3 requirements had to be met in order to buy the permit or lease DAS from another boat to be effectively/legally utilized on the person seeking the permit/DAS lease. Alot of money was spent reagrdless of the permit's 'fishing history'. Many fishermen sold various permits that they had used many years (hence a great fishing history) for different permits to acquire more DAS. Many of the permits that were 'swaped' out for the then present regulations became near worthless under the conversion to Catch Shares! I know one guy for instance that had a magnificent permit--fished it for near 20 years---but sold it and bought a different one for more DAS. Seemed fine at the time. Then a couple years later---Sectors/Catch Shares--he ended up with near nothing! Many who purchased permits under DAS ended up in this situation where their permits became almost completely de-valued with the onset of Catch Shares. Their boats/homes are tied to the debt that still lingers from DAS! This is where a huge problem lies with the conversion. It is not fair due to the complete de-valuation of the hugely expensive DAS permits (they ranged from $100,000 up to over $500,000 and in some cases--larger HP and Length vessels were up toward a million). I think a better conversion would have taken into account the vast amount of money spent on DAS coupled with history (which was taken from 1996-2006) in the allocation process. This would have better dealt with the investment in the DAS management in the conversion to CS.

Another thing to keep in mind. While the govt or regulators wanted folks to 'stay away from groundfish'--what were certain groundfishermen to do? Lobster? Couldn't lobster--its very limited entry in Maine (can't even consider it),. Scallop? You could hit those in the general category, but again they were on a rebuild--limited entry. Urchin? Limited entry and you need to be a diver. The point is it is easier for say--a lobsterman who did some part time fishing to say that they are punishing us for staying away from groundfish like they wanted--but the guy never 'relied' on it for a living. Then lobster @!$%#s the bed and now he wants re-entry into fishing. That would be fine if I could enter lobster as well--but then you're looked at like a psychotic released on society! Ideally, it would be great if we all had access to all the fisheries, but thats not how NOAA/NMFS made us play. Its not productive to attack each other--it is NMFS/NOAA that are the enemies. They designed this setup and it sucks!

No problem BH. I'm not sure about other fishermen, but in 2007 (as far as I can remember) when we baought a boat and its permit (DAS) we Knew then that the History (fishing activity) had to be strong. I don't think we Knew exactly Why, but we did know that it had to have good history prior to purchase. I know many other fishermen that had this knowledge as well. But I think it was too late. One of my permits has no real value for Catch Shares. Those who invested in multi-permits seem to have at least one in their batch. In my case of the poopy permit--I was able to sell the boat itself and recover most of my investment, so I didn't get burned like many others. That was sheer luck! Staying on top of the ever-changing regs was helpful. Not an easy task by far. Its important to be a part of a group in order to stay on top of the rules. I don't necessarily 'like' being in the 'group', but the reason is to stay on top of the rules! Of course it cost money to be part of a group---but it costs so much more to not be informed!

BTW--if you feel outrage--think about the poor fella stuck holding 'real debt' over something worthless! I feel just horrible for that guy. Its enough to consume anyone who has a heart. The ripple effect is nasty. Home/Boat/Business---all tied to the now bogus permit!!!

Hi bore-head! I posted similarly on JJ's article that I needed him to dummy down what we, as consumers and everyday non-fisherman, can do to show our support and help make a difference.

bh is that 'dadad' one of those 'trolls'?

Are those little arrows the vote up? I've just been posting comments and hit post/vote--is that wrong?

okie dokie--went back thru and hit some!

Thanks BH, Anyone who's familiar with the mystery author has probably already figured out who it is. The Big question that we, as fishermen, have to deal with, is how to combat the extravagantly funded media smear campaign being waged by EDF in their unscrupulous war against fishing families and their dependent communities?   It is to the credit and credibility of the fishing industry at large, that we don't hire consultants to manipulate tentative, unsubstantiated, preliminary numbers in such a manner as to support a pre-ordained philosophical position. What we are looking for is"Truth on a starvation budget" that's a mighty task. Any sort of input will be gratefully accepted. Thanks to those of you who care.

Roger that Sasquatch! glad to sort of see ya!!!

Great job, BH!! Thanks!!

First of all this catch share/sector scam is NOT about conservation. It is simply a redistribution of wealth. Public resources should be everyone's but no one should own them. EDF is a corporate front. The mega-corporations are funneling millions & millions of dollars into this fishery management plan to steal the resources. Wall St. will not be better stewards. The investors & bankers will own the fish & lease to fishermen. We become sharecroppers. The ITQ/catch share or sectors, whatever you call it means people are gifted with future shares of fish which you can lease or sell. This system is so unsound, that you need to have 100% observers & dock monitors. The cost of paying big brother will be added to the cost of fish.

The severe consolidation will leave us with a few big guys & no jobs, boats, homes & coastal traditions for the majority. So in essence, we reward the bigger, greedier boats. No more charming fishing ports, hello, huge factory fishing fleet. Now anyone who is not getting $$$ from EDF/ Pew (sun Oil), Hewlet Packard, Moore, Ford, WalMart etc. can honestly admit-the huge factory ships caused the overfishing in this country, which created the Magnuson-Stevens Act & NMFS.

What was the next problem after we kicked out the foreign factory fleet? Our US government subsidized our guys. This caused over fishing because Dr's, lawyers, etc, got money to invest in fishing boats. Too many boats.

So we had to dwindle the fleet-this has happened. Just go down the docks & see, there are few of us left.

The good news, the fish are back. We're seeing more than in 30 yrs. The bad news, EDF/Pew, NOAA/NMFS wants to bring back the boats that can over fish. The small guys practice sustainable fishing & when stocks run low, we target other species. NMFS is destroying our coastal communities by making fishermen pay to fish. This catch & trade is just like cap and trade.

What can you do? Buy local seafood & always demand US. We import 83% of our seafood

Hound your politicians. This November-Dump Them All!!!

http://www.truth-out.org/collateralized-fish-obligations59079

Got carried away. Here's a little background. EDF, as we know from head of NOAA, Lubchenco, is well versed in PR spin. In this article, the EDF guy tries to make catch shares sound so great The truth is the mega-corporations will get ownership/control of our food. Wall St will care about nothing but profit. In the Gulf, many fishermen will not fish because they know it's tainted with dispersants & oil. Now, think about it if was up to BP. We know they would lie & cover up & sell poisoned fish Corporations have no heart or soul.

I'll bet ya that BP dudes are NOT consuming Gulf fish! I'd like to see the Heads of BP sit at a long table--televised and have a Shrimp & Fish eating contest! Wouldn't that be awesome. If the fish and shrimp are poison free--then see who can eat the most. Have big pots of bbq shrimp (they do it very well in Louisianna) and pile of grouper and snapper. Now that would be freakin great to see before my bedtime! It could wipe out some of my nightmares of the 'strangelts'!!!!

The fishermen will have to be in charge of the eats! We can let the shrimpers and the fishermen go get enough fo the feast--cook it (with safety wear of course) and serve it up! The We all watch their faces prior to the first bite and how engaged they are. The we make sure they don't hurl. Then we take notes over their health conditions for the next whatever period of time by a doctor that industry appoints!

Me too! I want to be a judge, but that position has to go to a Gulf fisherman! They could draw raffles for it maybe.

Keep it coming, borehead.

We NEED this important information.

Thank you!

Great article BH and thanks for keeping us informed. I didn't know the first thing about NOAA before I discovered your column. You are making a difference.

Thanks for a great article, bore-head. I am going to e-mail this to my brother-in-law.

OMG--thats whats wrong with me--I'm angry! :) BH thanks for getting the material posted--you're the cat's whiskers!

If this were something other than fishing--with all this blatant NOAA BS--the public would have had it hand delivered via their TV sets--pisses me off.

Thank you mtherof3 for asking for the dummy down. I appreciate that. This entire issue makes me sick! I don't care if you are a Fisherman, General Motors retiree, a farmer or a nurse if you are the average joe working your rear off your entire life the Government finds a way to screw you to put more money in the rich man's pocket! Think about it, most people get up put on their pants and go to work day after day after day making enough to barely pay their bills. My husband worked at Gm for over 30 years probably missed 2 or 3 days the entire time. They offered him the buy out great we'll take it. After the Government took their share to line their pockets there wasn't enough left to make the monthly bills. You get a bonus, after Uncle sam lines his pocket why bother. The government is a crock of crap and will never let the average joe get a head or break even for that matter. Most people I know go to their grave owing for their own funeral. It's no different with fishermen. If the government can find a way to line their pockets and make the rich man richer they will run the hard working fisherman right out of business. I don't care what you do or say if their minds are made up it's made up. They can't hear you they don't care! It's about the all mighty $. If making a buck means fishing every last fish out of the ocean do you really think anyone in government cares? NOPE! They'll just move on to the next big money maker until that is depleted. I have NO use for our government what so ever. It's like a fixed horse race. I quit voting this last election and refuse to ever vote again. It's worthless. I have two homes in which I am losing. My husband retired from GM to go work at another plant. He had medical issues and was off work for 6 weeks. GM took most of our health care away so got tons of medical bill. Then he went back to work to get laid off for almost a year in which I went back to work to help pay the bills. I went from 30$ an hour the last time I had worked down to 8$ hour now days. So what I bring in bought food basically. In the mean time we got farther and farther behind. We did everything we were told to do,talked to our bankers and places we owed money to. Know what they told us? Sorry we can't help you you make too much money. WHAT MONEY? We tired to go bankrupt in hopes of saving the houses not something we wanted to do. Nope we make too much money. But they are standing there waiting to take our homes we worked so hard for one of which both my folks died in and I had planned to pass on to my daughter. I feel for you fisherman I really do. You have a tough battle on your hands.

Oh Moll's Mum---I am so very sorry for you and your husband. I really cannot express my utter sadness well enough for your plight! You are not at all alone in feeling the way you do about govt. and our curent economical situation. I for the life of me cannot understand why some in your position couldn't be helped to retain your homes--makes me so sick. Help is there some and not others. It appears that thaings will get worse for the country before it gets better. Don't worry about us fishermen--we are a tough breed!

Do you believe science should support policy?

Actually No.... Policy should support science... Without 'Science' humans would still be dying at a ripe old age in their 40's and 50's... It is due to science .. health science for one.. that has enabled 'humans' to live longer.. without Science what is happening in Haiti and other places around our globe would be happening here.

Policy should not dictate to Science nor should Policy lead Science.. Policy should be lead by Science.