Southerland, Gulf Fishermen Cry ‘War’ over Fishing Regulations
June 2, 2012 at 2:22 am in Accountability, GAN, House, News, William Southerland II by Zayida Baker 4 Comments
By Zayida Baker
Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Fla., and many Florida fishermen oppose restrictive federal fishing regulations they say are patterned after Agenda 21, the UN’s all-encompassing plan for globally centralized wealth-redistribution and environmental regulations.
Southerland, who serves on the House Natural Resources Committee’s Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs Subcommittee, marina manager Pam Anderson, and Captain Bob Zales, who runs boats for recreational fishers out of Panama City, discussed difficulties with current regulations under the 2007 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and planned regulations under President Obama’s National Oceans Policy.
They seek to reverse a “cap and trade” system that is governed by “catch shares,” or assigned percentages of the total allowable catch. Recreational fishermen must pay commercial fishermen for the right to exceed these allotments. The individual quota for red snapper, the region’s most popular species, is just two per day. Strict fishing-limits and severely shortened seasons hurt tourism-related industries, such as restaurants, hotels, marinas, shipbuilding, and sporting goods.
Southerland, who fishes in the Gulf himself, told Tea Party Patriots in a video interview that “There’s a real war going on right now, . . . a very sinister effort out there to cut off the fisheries, to shrink our seasons, and to use bad data and bad research to create the fear that our fisheries are dwindling.”
Southerland, Zales, and Anderson also confirmed that many fishermen and boat captains will not speak out for fear of being targeted by environmentalists and enforcers at federal agencies that environmentalists have “infiltrated,” according to Zales. As he pointed out, Jane Lubchenco, current head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is former vice chair of the Environmental Defense Fund.
Anderson blamed environmental groups for the current restrictions: “Congress was under the impression [from environmentalist accounts] that these stocks were severely depleted, and they were not—not in 2006. They were rebuilding gradually but very well.”
Now, she said, the red snapper population is growing enough to prey on other species, such as triggerfish, gag grouper and vermilion snapper. NOAA has declared two of these victim species overfished.
NOAA and the Gulf Council, which manages Gulf fisheries and has over twice as many federally appointed members as state-appointed ones, are effectively subsidiaries of the Department of Commerce. The council controls not only federal, but state, waters. Boats with federal permits cannot fish in state waters when federal waters are closed, even if state waters are open. Anderson says the council also uses its leverage to shorten fishing seasons in state waters.
The red snapper season has shrunk since 2000 from six months to 40 days. Anderson cited a 50-percent decline in business during the time of year when fishing for red snapper was formerly permitted. “The law was not meant to eliminate jobs and businesses along the way; it was meant to gradually grow the fishery.”
Zales noted that now “It’s tough for people to make it. You do a host of things on the water [besides just fishing] to keep people coming to your boat.”
Charlene Ponce, the council’s public information officer, stated that the current pace of red-snapper regrowth is dictated by federal law: regrowth began in 1990 and should end in 2032, when reproduction will be able to sustain the stock.
Obama is adding his Oceans Policy, promulgated in a 2010 executive order, to the mix; however, it has not been approved by Congress, and the source of funding for its ongoing implementation remains unclear. The House voted May 9 to prevent certain funds from being diverted to the program, which would impose another layer of regulations and government-appointed councils.
Southerland, Zales and Anderson all partly blame Agenda 21’s controlling grasp at air, land and sea, the last of which Southerland called an attempt to “literally conquer 80 percent of the world’s mass.”
A number of fishermen sought out by Tea Party Patriots would not comment on this story.
Ponce maintained that “The Council encourages and appreciates public comment, including criticism. The very structure of the Fishery Management Council system is designed to include public input at all levels.”
Watch the Southerland and Zales interviews for further information.
You may wish to contact
Rep. Southerland: (202) 225-5235
The Gulf Council: (888) 833-1844
NOAA: (727) 551-5707
Zayida Baker covers Rep. Steve Southerland and Sen. Bill Nelson for Tea Party Patriots’ Government Accountability Network. She can be reached at zayida.baker@tppjournalism.org.
Comment: I know this: here in west Florida, near the Gulf coast, most restaurants have to purchase foreign fish in order to feed their customers. A case in point: a couple of months ago several of us, comprising the board of directors of an eight county tourism effort, had lunch in a Port St. Joe restaurant. We were all interested in seafood, and we asked the waiter if all of the fish listed were from U. S. waters. She brought the manager over, who told us that only the flounder was U. S., all of the rest came from overseas. We bought the flounder. This is not uncommon. In the midst of the fishing grounds, on Apalachicola Bay, a local restaurant must buy from overseas. And at the same time the commercial fishermen are subjected to limits that are unrealistic. THERE MUST BE A MIDDLE GROUND!
I oppose LOST. This is another example of our government’s penchant to Internationalize American interests by using pseudo science to “save” the globe. NOAA has a sorry record of altering and inventing data to promote socialism and restrict our freedom. We can not continue to allow government to botch things up.
I do not have any idea how or why our elected officials have been moving us to a “World Government” I used to call people who believed this nuts, but the facts are the facts, Carbon taxes will not reduce carbon. It funds the Elite organizers including the likes of Al Gore and George Soros. (sp)
We have now lost the 4th ammendment to the constitution. Habaes Corpus protection of US citizens was suspended by the patriot act. This has only happened 2 times in our history. Lincoln imprisoned journalists for writing about the civil war and then Roosevelt used it to put the Japaneese in detention camps in ww2. My question is why would we suspend it now? If it was about terrorists, we would guard our borders and ports. I don’t think terrorists in Iraq sould be protected by due prosess BUT…US citizens were given these rights by our creator. Don’t you think these smart lawyer officials could with the bill so it simply states that the suspension of Habaes Corpus would not apply to a US citizen?
Now there is a bill to limit our 1st ammendment. HR347 gives power to the secret service to tell protesters to SHUT UP or be put in jail for a year…and a felony…a felony? The saddest thing is that republicans that I thought were Tea Party Guys voted FOR it. Yes…Allan West and Marco Rubio voted in favor or limiting free speach to US citizens. The fact is that there were only 3 no votes…3
Another odd thing I read about…Homeland security just purchased 450 million rounds of hollow point bullets? WT_ They only operate inside the US right?
My point to this is to show that we are far from a constitutional limited government. We need to get busy and stop “looking past” the things that would tell anyone that is capable of critical thinking, that we are going in the opposite direction of were we need to be going.
I have just heard about Agenda 21, This is bigger than I thought and has been inacted 20 years ago. Go to DemocratesAgainstAgenda21.com to help figure out what to do. I am researching as fast as I can. Also asking everyone if they know what it is? Just bought the book; Behind the Green Mask. You can look it up on YouTube & you will see other Tea Party Groups showing how to get it out of your City, then work it up regional. My City has already done stage 1 & 2, stared in 2002 and last passed #2 in 2010. I am looking for like minded in Los Angeles area.