“We have created an organization that has brought together groups that care about conservation to speak as a common voice on issues too big for any one group,” explained Whit Fosburgh, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership’s president and CEO. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
Editors Note:
The opinions and facts expressed by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership have not been verified and not necessarily those supported by the Gulf Seafood Institute, they are presented as expressed during interviews conducted in Washington, D.C..
by Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News Editor
From Alaska to Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, saltwater recreational fishermen and commercial have struggled in finding common ground on what should be a sustainable resource of unlimited supply.
Located less than a mile from the White House, the goal of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP), which is involved in lobbying and advocacy for 37 partners including saltwater sportfishing groups, is to “guarantee all Americans quality places to hunt and fish by uniting and amplifying our partners’ voices to strengthen federal policy and funding.”
“We have created an organization that has brought together groups that care about conservation to speak as a common voice on issues too big for any one group. a common voice on issues that are too big for any one group. Things like conservation funding, agriculture policy, energy policy and fisheries,” explained Whit Fosburgh, the organization’s president and CEO.
Conservation in the U.S. has been primarily shaped by three men, John Muir, Gifford Pinchot and his close friend Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. Muir, an environmentalist who established the Sierra Club, preached nature was sacred and humans were intruders who should look, but not develop. Roosevelt and Pinchot led the conservation movement believing in maximizing the long-term economic benefits of natural resources.
As president, Roosevelt worked to put conservation issues for natural resources high on the national agenda. His conservation belief was simple; “to produce the largest amount of whatever crop or service will be most useful, and keep on producing it for generation after generation.”
Two organizations having direct connection to the late president were founded in the early part of the 20th century. A third bearing his name was founded in 2002 by Jim Range, a former chief of staff to the late majority leader Senator Howard Baker (R-Tenn), as well as a senior legislative policy advisor to the senator’s law firm specializing in conservation advocacy and environmental, regulatory, and legislative policy.
The list of Theodore Roosevelt conservation partners, which bears no direct connection to Theodore Roosevelt or his conservation beliefs, is indeed impressive, if not powerful: from the AFL-CIO to the Nature Conservancy to Ducks Unlimited.
According to the organization, citing a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study, there are approximately 11 million saltwater fishermen in the U.S. –roughly the population of New York and Los Angeles combined. Approximately 400,000 of the 11 million saltwater fishermen are members of organizations directly represented by the partnership; the American Sportfishing Association, Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), the International Game Fish Association, and the Snook and Gamefish Foundation.
Involvement in the Gulf
According to Fosburgh, who came in 2010 to the organization from Trout Unlimited after running the fishery program at National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the organization has become very involved in the Gulf of Mexico since the BP oil spill.
“We wanted to make sure recreational angler got their voices organized and heard during the Gulf oil spill and the restoration process,” he said. “There are a lot of recreational anglers in the Gulf, and we wanted to make sure the money is going back into restoration projects, and not casinos or convention centers or other economic activities having nothing to do with conservation.”
To give the organization more of a Gulf focus, a year ago he hired Chris Macaluso as marine fisheries director.
Macaluso had been working on coastal and habitat restoration for the Louisiana Wildlife Federation. His previous jobs included communications director for the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, as well as for the Coastal Conservation Association Louisiana, a Gulf sportfishing organization.
According to Fosburgh, the organization has become very involved in the Gulf of Mexico since the BP oil spill. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
In one of the first jobs as the new marine fisheries director, Macaluso organized meetings of Gulf recreational fisherman to determine conservation priorities for the Gulf. The report listing those priorities was recently published by the organization.
“Our top priority is a number of habitat initiatives,” said Macaluso from his base in Baton Rouge. “We want to make sure we are bringing our partners perspective, and the other sport fishing organizations in the Gulf of Mexico, to the states and federal agencies involved in the process. I think that has been reflected in some of the projects that have been announced the early restoration period, and in projects that the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation are funding.”
Water quality, especially in the Mississippi River Basin and the Mobile Delta, as well as along the Florida coast is an issue given priority. Another is the comprehensive restoration of the Mississippi River Delta and the reestablishment of wetland, ridges and barrier islands in the area.
“While compiling the report, researchers and scientists throughout the Gulf agreed the Mississippi River Delta is the lynchpin to healthy fisheries throughout the Gulf of Mexico,” explained Macaluso.
Common Ground With Commercial Fisherman
Finding common ground with commercial fishermen has been difficult. The organization believes “current fisheries management is biased toward the commercial sector, and that Magnuson-Steven Act was written with the commercial sector in mind, leaving the recreational guys as an afterthought.”
According to Chris Macaluso, “Real time accurate data collection is where we are at. I think it is absolutely possible in the Gulf of Mexico to get a more accurate representation of what is being harvested than what we are accomplishing.” Photo: TRCP
“Enriching Gulf habitat is one obvious way that the recreational sector can partner closer with its commercial cousin,” said Fosburgh, whose organization provides no direct funding for conservation projects. “I think it is in everyone’s interest to grow more fish. Be it something like Rigs-to-Reef, fixing up estuaries or repluming the Mississippi river to recreate the delta.”
He sees the new rule coming from the Administration’s Clean Water Act as common ground. “I think that is one area sportfishing and commercial interests are exactly the same. We want clean water flowing into the Gulf and its estuaries. I think it behooves us to make sure those type of regulations are in place.”
The organization supports programs such as Rigs-to-Reef, where idle iron is used to form new artificial reefs. It is open to both the “towing” and “cut-and-drop” options.
“The benefit of the cut and drop option is that you have a platform that is already established and with which anglers and fish are already familiar,” said Macaluso. “In areas that are too shallow, or not ecologically feasible, oil and gas companies can move idle iron in a cost efficient manner to create a healthy habitat in a more suitable spot for reef fish in the Gulf.”
Another common ground project is the reestablishment of Gulf oyster reefs that are not only commercially viable, but provide shoreline protection and habitat.
Data and Allocation
The elephant in the room for both recreational and commercial saltwater fisherman has been data collection and allocation.
“There is a culture in the hunting and fishing community that people get data, and are used to doing it,” said Fosburgh, about his organizations support of data collections. “Every time you shoot a deer you fill out a tag, you send the information to the state and you are used to stopping at a check station. You are used to the Fish and Wildlife service seeing how many ducks you shot. I think it is fairly common across our communities. I don’t think there is any real pushback to data.”
“I think recreational fisherman are more than willing to share what they are catching with a manager, but it is not necessary for it to be a requirement for us to have a healthy fishery in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Chris Macaluso. Photo: TRCP
According to Macaluso, “Real time accurate data collection is where we are at. I think it is absolutely possible in the Gulf of Mexico to get a more accurate representation of what is being harvested than what we are accomplishing.”
Even though supportive of real time data collection, implementation of a mandatory program for recreational fisherman similar to that used by the commercial industry is unacceptable for the organization.
“I think recreational fisherman are more than willing to share what they are catching with a manager, but it is not necessary for it to be a requirement for us to have a healthy fishery in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said. “I think that recreational fishermen are open to voluntary observer programs, and for allowing for their catch data to be recorded, but it is not absolutely necessary.”
Macaluso cites a number of programs developed by sport fishing organizations in the Gulf of Mexico without the use of the electronic catch monitoring system.
“The International Game Fish Association, the Harte Research Institute and the State of Louisiana have developed systems by which fishermen can register into a data base, can record their catches and record what is being released,” he explained.
When it comes to the topic of allocation, especially the divisive Gulf Red Snapper, “This is one of the issues we tend to defer to our partner organizations, the CCA and other because they have been involved with it so long and we don’t want to step on them on this one,” said Fosburgh.
“No one is losing out on fish, they voted to allow more access to the fishery by recreational fishermen,” said Macaluso about the recent Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council’s recent vote on the Red Snapper Amendment.
“There are going to be areas we disagree, such as allocation, but I also think there are a lot of places, like habitat quality, where we can agree and work together.” said the CEO of the organization as he rocked back on his conference room chair. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
“The council did not reduce the commercial quota,” he went on to explain, “both sectors got an increase in quota and an increase in the number of poundage harvested. There has been no reduction, the preferred amendment they voted on allowed the recreational sector get more of the increase.”
The organization believes there is a wide gap in recreational harvest data. “It is not that the recreational system is not being monitored. It is being monitored. It’s that the errors in the data collection are so wide it is hard to get an accurate number,” said the organization’s Marine Fisheries Director.
The organization feels that recreational fisherman have been responsible for successfully managing a number of fisheries over the years by finding a ways to set stability in the season base, setting a hard creel, size and slot limits, as well as by making necessary adjustments when needed.
“Trying to shoehorn in recreational fishermen into regulations designed for commercial fishing doesn’t really work for the sector,” he said. “There are wide data errors on how much is being harvested by the recreational sector. Despite claims the overage of harvesting by the recreational side is hampering or slowing stock recovery, the recovery of the stock has not been delayed, and it is healthier than it has ever been.”
“There are going to be areas we disagree, such as allocation, but I also think there are a lot of places, like habitat quality, where we can agree and work together. Shellfish aquaculture, like oyster reefs, is good for water quality and that is good for both commercial oyster and recreational fishermen,” said the CEO of the organization as he rocked back on his conference room chair.
A very interesting article about the new “gorilla” in the Gulf of Mexico, but way off base when it comes to believing there is no need for a mandatory reporting obligation for recreational fishing. As a newcomer to the trenches of fisheries warfare, he makes no note of who is getting the fish in the Gulf of Mexico now. Does he know anglers get 100% of red drum and have done so for almost 30 years? Does he know anglers get 70% of king mackerel, 76% of amberjack and most of the fish in state waters. He does not seem to recognize that the commercial fishing industry supplies fish to the largest stakeholders in the nation, the non-boating consumers. The recreational fishing industry must become accountable before his argument about “who gets the fish” has any validity. Many recreational fishermen support being accountable.
you have the facts wrong the reallocation document lists 7 alternatives 6 of them take fish from the consumers as much as a million pounds tell the truth
The REAL issue behind reallocation for the commercial red snapper IFQ shareholders, is that their IFQs have converted our wild fish stocks into the their private Fish Stock Portfolios, much like stock portfolios on Wall Street. The value of the Fish Stock Portfolios today is close to $200 million, with about 18 shareholders controlling about 1/2 of that. If Option 5 is selected for Amendment 28, the net result is a net loss of about $17,000,000 of value of their IFQs. They are able to lease these Shares of Fish Stocks for about $3.50/pound – that means that the largest shareholders can quit fishing altogether and charge Resource Rent for our Public Trust Resource to other Americans, pocketing over $1,000,000/year! Did I mention that these shareholders paid $0 for the these shares? Did I mention that the nation nor the fisheries benefit one red dime from this massive theft of what we all own? If they want IFQs, fine – the shareholders should lease their quota directly from the federal government annually, for say, $1/pound. New entrants would benefit by paying a much less lease rate, the nation would make a return on its investmen, and the RS-IFQ Program could actually pay for its own management/enforcement instead of saddling the American Taxpayer for these millions of dollars in expense.
The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholder’s Alliance, The Environmental Defense Fund, The Charter Fisherman’s Association all supposedly endorse a concept called ShareTheGulf.org. That’s all well and good, that is, until the time comes to actually “SHARE” the Gulf’s bounty, as illustrated by their opposition to reallocating more fish to the recreational sector.
Very misleading…there was no quota, taken form the commercial sector, in fact there is an increase in both recreational and commercial. All the preferred alternative did was to re-allocate future increases over 9.21 million pounds differently….
Please try to use some facts…
I would have to agree 100% with Tom Hilton and with Bob Jones as well, to some extent.Those recreational fishermen that do bother to go to Gulf council meetings and F-WC meetings are few , very few ; so they do not get represented except by groups like the RFA and CCA. The point is , spokes people for the recreational fishermen have asked NOAA and the NMFS for years for accountability and better data and science- to no avail.
The commercial fishermen who were given our fish,as Tom Hilton explained, have plenty of money to go to all meetings since they were gifted half our our natural resource-Red Snapper-. Millions and millions of dollars worth.
It seems a real shame that people that wish to go out and catch their own fish to eat and feed their family are not allowed to but yet you let these few commercial fishermen take our fish and sell them.
Our priorities are way out of whack. Those that wish to fish for their own food should have first entitlement. If their are plenty of fish to go around let others buy an allotment from the government ,go out and catch them and sell them.
You can see the states taking over recreational data collection individually because the Federal government has not done their job. They have even been mandated by the Magnuson Stevens act to do so and yet they fall woefully short on the task given them.
These fish belong to the public-period.
You are correct, I didn’t correctly express that two of the seven have become the centerpieces of the debate. Thank you.