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Environmentalists replacing conservationists on Mid-Atlantic Regional Fishery Management Council
Feds make changes to Mid-Atlantic fishery council.. Kirk Moore • STAFF WRITER • June 25, 2009

Mid-Atlantic Regional Fishery Management Council - -(FishNLand.com)- Federal oceans administrator Jane Lubchenco is making changes on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Fishery Management Council, replacing fishermen who have represented three states with new members who have connections to environmental causes.

Christopher J. Zeman, a River Vale attorney who represented the environmental group Oceana on issues including sea turtles and their interactions with the scallop fleet, was named by the Department of Commerce to replace Edward Goldman, a recreational angler from Absecon whose term on the council expired this year. Each year about this time the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration led by Lubchenco names members to the eight regional fishery councils based on nominations submitted by state governors.

For a New York State seat, Laurie Nolan, a commercial tilefish boat owner from Montauk, is being replaced with Peter Schafer, director of retail operations at the Wild Edibles fish stores in New York City. Schafer has promoted selling sustainable fish in those high-end outlets, and worked with writer and activist Carl Safina’s Long Island-based Blue Ocean Institute to distribute shopping guides that tell consumers how their seafood choices affect the marine environment.

For a Virginia seat, Peter L. deFur, a professor at Virginia Commonmwealth University’s Center for Environmental Studies is replacing angler Jeff Deem. DeFur is a wildlife toxicologist who works on risk assessment and coastal restoration issues, and has served on the Board of the Science and Environmental Health Network and as president of the Association for Science in the Public Interest.

Environmental groups have long contended the federal system of eight regional councils is dominated by people with direct economic and personal stakes in fisheries issues, and have pressed NOAA to broaden the pool of nominees. In the 1990s, Safina became the first Mid-Atlantic council member from an environmental background to serve a three-year term.

Lubchenco, a professor and noted marine ecologist from Oregon State University, was tapped by President Obama this year to lead NOAA. She has had ties to the Pew Environmental Trusts, and the appointment aroused unease from fishing advocates who have tangled with their Pew counterparts over fishing limits and catch restrictions.

But on the New England front - scene of America’s most intractable fishing problems - Lubchenco is not making big changes at the regional council. Four incumbent members have been renamed to new terms, along with newcomer Glen A. Libby from the Port Clyde commercial fishermen’s cooperative in Maine.

Anthony P. Mauro, Sr
Chairman
New Jersey Outdoor Alliance: “We’ve got your back!”
www.njoutdooralliance.org

About:
NJOA – New Jersey Outdoor Alliance is the state’s first major political action committee devoted to the task of electing outdoor-minded candidates to public office.
NJOA has formed with the support of leaders of major pro-hunting, pro-angling, and pro-trapping organizations. We are not a hunting, fishing, or trapping “club” or “group,” and do not compete with the interests of such organizations. NJOA helps to ensure that strong wildlife and natural resource protection laws are produced by outdoor-minded elected officials. The best way to ensure a “conservation presence” in Trenton is to support the election campaigns of representatives who understand the relationship between a balanced ecology and hunting, fishing, and trapping.

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PETA Seeks To Use Public Lighthouses For Anti-Fishing Education

Bayonne, NJ - -(FishNLand.com)- The animal rights group PETA wants to use the Robbins Reef lighthouse off Bayonne and two others in Michigan to publicize what it says are the horrors of killing fish for food and sport.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it wants to use the Bayonne setting as the national headquarters for its “Fish Empathy Project.”

PETA sent a letter yesterday to the acting director of the National Park Service notifying him of its bid to take over the lighthouse under terms of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.

Norfolk, Va.-based PETA says its plan calls for educational displays and a cafe serving items such as fake fish sticks.

The two other lighthouses are located along Lake Michigan in Grand Haven, Mich.

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/bayonne/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1244183155151340.xml&coll=3

ACTION:

Call or write the Acting National Director of the NSP at the address or phone number below and tell him not to let our state parks become a tool for radical animal rights activists.

Director of the National Park Service
Dan Wenk (Acting)
National Park Service
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: (202) 208-6843

——————————————————————-
JOIN the NJOA!
http://www.njoutdooralliance.org/support/njoa.html

Best regards,

Anthony P. Mauro, Sr.
Chairman,
New Jersey Outdoor Alliance: “We’ve got your back!”
www.njoutdooralliance.org

About:
NJOA - New Jersey Outdoor Alliance is the state’s first major political action committee devoted to the task of electing outdoor-minded candidates to public office.
NJOA has formed with the support of leaders of major pro-hunting, pro-angling, and pro-trapping organizations. We are not a hunting, fishing, or trapping “club” or “group,” and do not compete with the interests of such organizations. NJOA helps to ensure that strong wildlife and natural resource protection laws are produced by outdoor-minded elected officials. The best way to ensure a “conservation presence” in Trenton is to support the election campaigns of representatives who understand the relationship between a balanced ecology and hunting, fishing, and trapping.

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NJ Conservation Officers Net Eight Anglers for Illegally Taking and Selling River Herring

Trenton, NJ - -(FishNLand.com)- Capping a lengthy undercover investigation, Conservation Officers with the Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Fish and Wildlife have cited eight people for illegally taking and selling river herring from South Jersey waters. Fishermen are allowed to take up to 35 herring per day, but are not allowed to possess more than 35 herring at one time, or sell herring, unless they hold certain commercial fishing licenses.

Herring are anadromous fish, meaning they live in saltwater, but return to fresh water to spawn in the spring. In recent years, herring migrations have precipitously declined, raising concern and prompting regulatory action by federal and state government. Since Colonial times, many populations of blueback herring and alewife, collectively known as river herring, have faced threats from commercial and recreational fishing, habitat loss from dam construction, silt and pollution – among others.

The National Marine Fisheries Service identified a 90 percent decline in commercial landings of herring between 1985 and 2004, and those numbers have continued to decrease. The closure of river herring fisheries by Atlantic coastal states — including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Virginia and North Carolina — and documented declines in river herring abundance have raised questions about the adequacy of current management of the species to promote healthy fish stocks.

Given the circumstances, the Delaware River Basin Fish & Wildlife Management Cooperative’s Fisheries Technical Committee in 2008 took regulatory steps to reduce the current daily limit of 35 river herring to 10. If approved in Pennsylvania, the regulation would take effect in 2010. A regulation to reduce the herring limit to 10 is also proposed for New Jersey’s fresh waters and would require anglers wishing to possess more than 10 fish to produce a receipt proving that they purchased the extra herring.

The seriousness of the decline is also reflected by a May 7 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approval of an amendment to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for river herring. The amendment prohibits commercial and recreational fisheries for herring in marine waters beginning Jan. 1, 2012, unless a state or jurisdiction develops and submits for approval a sustainable management plan by Jan. 1, 2010. The amendment defines a sustainable fishery as “a commercial and/or recreational fishery that will not diminish the potential future stock reproduction and recruitment.”

During the past several years in New Jersey, amateur harvesters have refined their gear and techniques to boost the size of their catch. However, as conscientious sportsmen witnessed anglers taking more than the 35 herring a day limit, they reported it to the DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife. Through information and surveillance, Conservation Officers learned that hundreds of thousands of herring likely have been illegally taken and sold out of the waters in Atlantic County. Anglers stockpiled many of these fish in holding pens, a violation of New Jersey’s possession limit.

Herring are prized as bait in the increasingly popular recreational striped bass fishery, and at a price tag of up to $5 a piece, the demand and profit incentives has fueled black market commercialization at the expense of the species.

In an effort to help protect this important wildlife resource, plainclothes Conservation Officers worked for more than 14 months alongside herring fishermen in Mays Landing in Atlantic County on the Great Egg Harbor River, and compiled evidence on at least 16 people for taking more than the legal daily limit of herring, having more than the possession limits and for illegally selling herring.

On May 3, Conservation Officers executed search warrants at three locations in Atlantic County, and wrapped up the undercover investigation, led by Lt. Greg Honachefsky by citing eight men with dozens of violations in connection with illegally catching and selling herring. Eight others were apprehended and charged last spring at the start of the investigation. All told, possible penalties for the violations exceed $33,000.

The eight men cited this week are:

* Peter May, 29, of Hutto, Texas, formerly of Mays Landing, was charged with possession of 350 river herring over the legal limit, unlawful use of a bait seine, and unlawfully screening a river.
* Thomas Valiante, 49, of Galloway, was charged with possession of 270 river herring over the legal limit, unlawful use of a bait seine, and unlawful screening of a river.
* Anthony Compton, 37, of Mays Landing, was charged with possession of 37 herring over the legal limit and conspiracy to sell wildlife illegally.
* Victor Stott, 69, of Barnegat Light, was charged with 25 river herring over the legal limit.
* Joseph Milza, 52, of Egg Harbor City, was charged with 31 river herring over the legal limit, unlawful sale of wildlife and conspiracy to unlawfully sell or purchase wildlife.
* Mark Constantino, 19, of Egg Harbor Township, was charged with illegal sale of wildlife.
* Thomas Vanzant, 24, of Brigantine, was charged with possession of 119 river herring over the legal limit, unlawful sale of wildlife, conspiracy to sell wildlife illegally, and failure to keep required records.
* John Hoagland, 27, of Egg Harbor Township, was charged with possession of 125 river herring over the legal limit, unlawful sale of wildlife, conspiracy to illegally sell wildlife and failure to keep required records.

To report violations of fish and game laws, call the DEP’s 24-hour hotline at 877-WARN DEP (877- 927-6337). Information can be reported anonymously and will be kept confidential.

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