Wednesday, February 20, 2008

What is your take on this?

Check out the revised halibut motion at the address below or click on the heading in the "related sites" list at right and let me know how we can survive in this business.


http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/current_issues/halibut_issues/Halibutmotion1207_rev.pdf

13 comments:

Flatfish said...

This motion has the makings of a derby fishing tournament where the guy with the biggest boat wins. Who can afford to lease fish on top of the costs of doing business and the cost of regulation and so on and so on. In my case, my boat is certified for 22 passengers but I limit it to 14 for halibut fishing. My only option is to under cut the six pack price and load the boat to the max. That will shorten the season and requiure the established operators to lease fish. Its a lose-lose situation for the established operators especially the 6 packs. The only way to have a future in this business is to have a GAF quota based on catch history.
How can we introduce that into the equation before it is too late?
Tell me there is a way out of this thing!

Anonymous said...

I can't for the life of me understand how all this bull-shit keeps flowing...please tell me this new deal was not a stake holders idea! A question remains? In the title of the "action" is the statement of "implementation after a "Limited Entry Program" for charters". What program is this ... Or just the moratorium by another name. Now you see how far i can get in these policies! way to much reading and interpretation...
ambiguous to say the least!!!!
electronic reporting arggg! someone stop the madness.....

Anonymous said...

Clearly the only way to survive this motion is to give as much input into the highest allocation possible. This combined with the moritorium and some of the less harmful measures stated in the northern economics report will give us a few years to flesh out a decent long term solution for the moritorium qualified fleet.

Anonymous said...

I think the problem is that there is not going to be an end to this constriction of our industry. Catch reductions, electronic reporting, etc. etc...our industry is weak and cannot agree on anything and the commercail sector is all set to put the screws to us. There is not going to be a GAf or IFQ plan. The thought that this is going to happen has only served the interest of the commercail sector to keep out industry at odds.

Anonymous said...

test

Anonymous said...

After the Stakeholder rejected the Rex Murphy plan it has been inserted into regulation.

What is up with you guys in Homer?

Is there something in the water or what......

Anonymous said...

The GHL is a farce!!!
The numbers came from a mail-in survey that had a 10% reply rate. Perhaps your business can live with that kind of information but mine can't. The NPFMC set a ghl with guesswork then changed to a more reliable accounting system (logbooks) to enforce it. The whole thing stinks!

CaptBob said...

No charter business has been hurt yet, we still take all the customers we can. Once we get our heads beat in maybe some good ideas will spill out. Consider the pre IFQ commercial fishery, some went out to make a buck (just like us) and didn't come back at all. We haven't even come close to having a need to get behind any plan. Once 25 to 35 percent of the charters go out of business only then will we get off our hobby horses and grow up. Most of the charters operators can't read the information and understand it, much less realize the fish we play with ARE WORTH $20.00 a pound. I don't want to think it is worth that much to me but that is the world we are living in and we need to understand it. Not until someone breaks into your home and rips you off do you realize your stuff is worth more to them that it may be worth to you to protect it. This is the real world and some lessons cost many people more than they ever thought it would.

mark said...

"Breaks into our home and rips us off", Bob? I thot we wud reach across the aisle (ala McCain) and not bash Sutter and the ACA! (sorry, still bitter, here - check back in 30 years.)

Captain Sourdough said...

Thursday, February 21, 2008
what a frickin mess

1. Thanks to ? (you know who you are) for putting our industry in this mess!
2. The GHL is an interim motion with no long term solution.
3. The moratorium has not been signed by Sec. of Commerce. Same as "ol IFQ" plan.
4. Is NPFMC interim motion going to be long term ghl/moratorium solution?
5. How can a moratorium that will allow growth keep us from ghl overages & facing major
repercussions. The GHL is Fixed! Why should there be growth allowed under
moratorium? As is you can do more trips, take more people, do more doubles
-all you need is a permit. What a joke! What about the GHL! knock knock! anybody home?
6. New charters want it all at long term charters expense. Will i need to lease fish to fish
the same number of clients as i have in the past 20 years?
7. Is there still a Stakeholders Committe? Why & When do they meet again?
8. 20 years as a charter, 15 years attending Council meetings, No Solututions, at who' expense?
Why?

mark said...

Really, Sourdough. You are generous in not pointing out those who "know who they are". One need look no further than the list of members on the ACA website to know when to watch your wallet. Everyone beats around the bush about this and lets me be the bad guy. I am universally despised by these guys, have had threats, vandalism, and internet crimes committed against me because, IMO, I say it like it is - the ACA stole from us. It stole from our community. The shifty eyed bastards therein avert contact when we pass at the Gear Shed. The ACA is Al Qaida on the local level - Not able to watch someone else succeed and would rather bring down the West than get educated and find their own niche. It would be nice if I weren't alone on this - In '06 I got about twenty gallons of seawater in my fuel one September night - a roadside bomb that could have been catastrophic had I not caught it.
Yes, we should have been better organized in '05. But am I the only one who can hold a grudge and truly define the word "spite"? Don't let 'em off the hook!

Captain Sourdough said...

Mark,
i m on the same side as u. I agree with and respect your view, as it is reality in my world. These guys were so down & dirty that in order to spread there greed & lack of knowledge they came to our community mis-representing themselves as being representatives of our local fleet and taking advantage of our community Seniors & their dwelling. How low can u get? Our fleet is organized, strong & with direction & has been responsible for putting over $50,000 in our Senior Center Account in the last 10 years, we are proud of this effort. As a result of ACA's actions here we are still facing discontent from their efforts at no gain to ACA & a loss to our local Seniors. Not only have they
mislead our local Seniors they have miss represented our industry at the highest government entities being representative for the majority. As long as they continue to be organized we all will suffer. I thought that to "Live to Fish" "Fish to Live" was what we were all about, how time has changed, it is now "Support ACA or Die", sorry for your misfortune's & vandalism!
However, we are taught to be forgiving & not hold grudges,a practice we must apply to survive. The stakes are high, there are no winners, it is beyond that. We need to be strong & organized so that the repercussions the Southeast fleet are facing never enter our fishery here. We can do this. There is a moratorium that
most likely will be signed by the SOC in April. We will be over the GHL when the moratorium is implemented if we can't hold our fleet to its historical effort with no gain. Here lies the problem, the interim motion from the Council does nothing to stop this from happening. Not one element or option is a reasonal solution. We can correct this, it is not to late! Or we can just sit back, do nothing & take what we get!"Recovery will be Great" or would be.

mark said...

Captain Sourdough, who are you? respond to my email if you prefer - aurorasportfishing@acsalaska.net I'd like to share with you the method to my madness...