Letters
Kudos all around
To the editor:
I’ve already passed along my comments to Kevin on his on-the-mark analysis of the “no longer your Community Arts Radio” WHIL – they certainly didn’t solicit my opinion….
You guys were just slamming everything out of the park this time around – Rob’s column on the net ban, Ashley’s critique of the poorly produced city movie-tones and the cover story on Prichard’s progress (which was echoed by the P-R editorial board later in the week).
Asia’s film comments, Sharman’s bio on Max and John and Jeff’s philosophy discourse were also all well done. Of course, I know you’re also jazzed that you scooped everyone with your Web site posting of the WPMI purge….
Damn – when you guys put down your beer and type with two hands, you do some good work. Congrats again!
David Calametti
Mobile
Gill nets pull in quite a haul
Mr. Holbert:
Thank you for your recent commentary on the proposed gill net ban in Alabama. I think you have summarized what so many of your colleagues in the media have purposely turned a blind eye to – there is no data to substantiate banning an entire industry.
I grew up in a commercial seafood family and I am proud to represent many of these hard working netters and so many similar seafood families in the Alabama legislature.
The CCA thinks they have already won this battle, but I can assure that I will represent my people and fight this class warfare proposal. I will fight it in committee and I will fight it on the floor.
I know you have probably been bombarded by CCA members and the misinformed on this issue, but I want to thank you for your courage to tell the truth.
Spencer Collier
State Rep. 105th District
Mr. Holbert:
I believe you are right on point! I am a proud granddaughter of a commercial fisherman. My grandfather’s brother is a commercial fisherman as is his nephew. I have several cousins who work in fish houses in Baldwin County.
We are very much involved in the Alabama Seafood Association, and we are trying to do everything we can do to stop this ban. Unfortunately, its a little bit like David fighting Goliath, and Goliath has had a huge head start.
Melissa Franks
To the editor:
Good article Rob concerning the gill net fishermen. My thoughts are shared with yours.
I wanted to see data, and the folks supporting the gill netters supplied it and it appears to be along the lines of what you published. The more I hear about this fight, the more I’m sure that I’ll be siding with Spencer Collier, and the gill netters.
Keep shining the light, telling both sides, we need non-biased news in our county.
People need to get off their backsides and speak up otherwise, the simple-man, such as I and the people I represent will be taken advantage of.
James Gordon
State Representative
To the editor:
Kudos to you for standing up to the big money sporties that are hell bent on taking all the fish in the Gulf for themselves. Your comment about the Vietnamese catfish was right on. You’re obviously aware of the recent story by one of your TV stations that found 9 out of 10 restaurants were duping their customers when menuing grouper.
I live in Florida and have watched our fishing heritage be destroyed by the CCA and their developer friends. I hope Alabama stands up for the majority of folks who just want to eat good Gulf seafood that they cannot catch themselves. If the net ban passes, just get up at 4 a.m. and go to any seafood restaurant, park out of the way, and watch the back door, unrecorded, and unregulated selling going on while no one is watching.
Go get ‘em!
Mark R. Jones
Retail Marketing Representative
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute
Tallahassee, FL
Mr. Holbert:
I appreciated very much your even-handed approach to the gill net issue. I am sure you have received plenty of hate mail from the other side, so I want you to know that we in the industry appreciate it when a journalist spends the time to get our side of the story.
Chris Nelson
Vice President
Bon Secour Fisheries, Inc.
Bon Secour, AL
To the editor:
Hooay! Thank you for the article about the gill net ban! I am a concerned citizen; not a politician, not a sports fisherman, and not a commercial fisherman. I don’t want to see the extinction of any species, I don’t want local fishermen put out of business, and I don’t want to prevent local sports fishing. Your article expressed my concerns about the fact that the gill net ban will put local fishermen out of business without evidence that their practices are causing problems.
A fishing family explained that they caught pogies in gill nets to use for crab bait. Without the capability of catching fish for bait, no crabs can be caught. Therefore, no local crabs for us to eat in local restaurants. This is an example of how the ban will affect us (the seafood-loving citizens of Mobile and our guests).
Jamie Ison talks about the amount of money sports fishing brings to Mobile. I would like to know the amount of money commercial fishing brings to Mobile in providing jobs and providing seafood. I agree that not only commercial fishermen will be affected. Mobile’s reputation as a place for locals and tourist to eat good, fresh seafood will be affected.
People who make their livings supplying boats, nets, and other equipment, those who clean and cook seafood, those who own seafood shops and restaurants, and those people (like me) who like to eat fresh seafood, and many more people will all be affected.
I have talked with Jamie Ison about the situation. I intend to go to the public meeting about the issue. Jamie is going to inform me about when the meeting will take place. I hope local fishermen can provide evidence that shows they are not depleting the Spanish mackerel population, evidence that they contribute to the community, and evidence showing how the gill net ban will affect the area. Local fishing families and local seafood are a part of Mobile’s identity and heritage.
Thank you for giving voice.
Laura Rogers
To the editor:
Believe it or not I enjoyed the article. You have a few statements I would disagree with, but that’s OK. I’m sure you used what you thought was appropriate.
I’m not going to go point by point, because much of what you say is neutral and true. But there are a few very important corrections that need to be pointed out.
As for me being the only scientist involved and committed to banning the nets and concerned with Spanish mackerel depletion not so. Dr. John Dindo, associate director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, is adamantly opposed to gill nets and is on the record. In addition to his concern on Spanish, he also did his Master’s thesis on mullet, and his concern is the depletion of mullet stocks as well, and he contends it’s the healthy stocks in adjacent states where nets are banned that are propping up our Alabama stocks. Even so, most residents of Alabama have observed continual declines of mullet in our state.
As for the localized depletion of Spanish mackerel off Alabama, this is based on observations by professional biologists as well as full time charter fishermen. The Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo dropped the jackpot category for Spanish this year due to lack of interest. Localized depletion is an accepted phenomenon in many fisheries, including the dolphin (mahi-mahi) fishery off the Carolinas a few years ago.
It’s unfortunate that the 2 million pound landing error versus the one million pounds has gotten into play, and I don’t know where that came from, but it doesn’t negate the fact that there’s been a ten fold increase in commercial Spanish landings in the last few years. As far as your implication that it may be a natural cycle for Spanish, not true. This is basically an annual species (like shrimp and blue crabs) whose stocks are not affected by strong or weak year classes as is the case for long lived species.
And to term Spanish as migratory is misleading as it implies the Gulf stocks can continue to replenish our local population. That’s true on an annual basis. But once they arrive in our waters, they stay here throughout the summer and fall, creating the potential for localized depletion. The good thing is that it won’t take long, maybe just a year, for the stocks to be at full strength the following year.
And a comment on the science. Finally it has been promulgated that there’s little science to support or deny the banning of nets. Until now, it was: “there’s no science to support the ban period.” But actually there is more than that. The scientific method has four steps: observe, gather data, develop a hypothesis, test the hypothesis. For Spanish we’re almost there.
Observe: professional scientists have, the localized stocks are declining; gather data: the Conservation Department has, there’s a ten fold increase in commercial (gill net) landings; develop a hypothesis: there’s a localized over harvest of Spanish by gill netters; test the hypothesis: that will happen when gill nets are banned and we see what happens to the stocks. In science, you can rarely prove a hypothesis, except in math, and sometimes physics (they’re called laws when proven), but you continue to test, and these tests can suggest the validity of the hypothesis.
It’s easy for people to say there’s no science, but they generally are unaware of how science works. The science involved with mullet (Dr. Dindo) and Spanish is far stronger than the science used to manage most marine fish species.
Finally as for my involvement with CCA, yes I’m a consultant, but that’s not a “hired gun.” I advise them on issues to make sure they’re on solid ground when they take a stand, and have used them as a vehicle to get some beneficial results for the resource. Basically they don’t tell me what to do, I advise them on what to do. In the past I’ve advised against many positions which I felt were unsupportable. As for the “paid,” it’s trivial, and as I’ve told them from day one, I’d do what I do now for the resource, with or without pay.
Robert L. Shipp, Chair
Department of Marine Sciences
University of South Alabama
Mobile
Mr. Holbert:
While trying to find entertainment for the weekend in your magazine I was entertained by your confusion over the gill net ban.
Your version of entertainment obviously does not involve using Alabama’s beautiful coastal fishing resource with your family as hundreds of thousands of others do.
Most fishermen and women do not have $75,000 boats but buy what we can afford to take our children out for fun and entertainment available off our coast fishing. This family bonding event even results in providing a delicious meal if we are lucky.
Stop by one of the many fishing tournaments along Alabama’s coast throughout the season and see the thousands of children enjoying the challenge and fun of fishing on the coast.
Unfortunately, the fish we like to catch and eat are killed as a byproduct of gill net fishing to send mullet roe to Japan and mackerel to the cat food plant.
It is comical that you think grouper or any fish typically served in restaurants and sold in fish markets in Alabama come from gill netters. Many of their fish are cut open and the eggs are shipped to Japan. Others are sold to cat food producers. I will mention that a large number of speckled trout illegally gill netted in Alabama are sold daily in fish markets in Mississippi, maybe that’s were your talking about buying these fish.
You are right about the science; there is none, just common sense.
Gill nets kill ALL fish they touch. It’s like throwing a stick of dynamite in the water and gathering only the mullet and mackerel. Actually I am surprised this is not legal in Alabama. What is the difference other than noise?
Sam St. John
Mr. Holbert:
After reading your piece in the March 14 edition, one would infer that the Spanish mackerel harvest was the pivotal point of contention between the state’s 112 gill netters and the C.C.A. The issue in reality is much larger than 1 million pounds of Spanish.
Out of curiosity, when was the last time you went to a fish market and bought a couple of mackerel fillets? Let’s see, they’re oily, bony, should be skinned prior to consumption, and do not freeze well. You claim to have heard the same stories before. So have I, and I guess all the fresh fish complainers have moved to Alabama, because it’s heard nowhere else on the Gulf or Florida Coasts.
What I hear are rave reviews of the resource after the nets are gone. Do you miss not being able to eat black bass, Canada Goose, venison, grizzly bear, elephant steak or any other protected species? I hope not.
Apparently you’ve forgotten about the 2 million pounds of roe mullet taken annually (please concentrate on the implications of the term “roe mullet”) from our waters. Unless you live in Japan, you’ve not ordered any fresh mullet roe either. There is no recreational hook and line number to quote (their diet excludes hook and line capture). They are however, a basic finfish diet for all of our bay predators.
Are you anxious to save the jobs of the 112? According to published State statistics, 40 percent of all netters make less than $5,000 a year. This is not a job, it’s income enhancement. 70 percent claim less than $25,000 ( I know they wouldn’t keep two logs, that would be illegal). What of the economic repercussions of losing a $500 million industry (recreational fishing) just in our State?
The world, whether you like it or not HAS to turn to mariculture and aquaculture to feed growing populations. The U.S. is far behind the rest of the world because we are content to pillage our waters with indiscriminate killers (mono gill nets and shrimp nets). Gill nets’ mortality is all the proof a logical mind need consider. Bycatch is all one needs to know about the shrimping industry. These non-selective killing methods WILL in short order reduce many of our local species to unsustainable levels.
You have attacked C.C.A. That’s your prerogative. It is not the Sierra Club, Save the Snail Darter or the Beach Mouse. It is people like me who wish to see future generations enjoy a resource that belongs to all, not just those who harvest without replenishment or kill indiscriminately. We are sportsmen, with all that that entails. Go fishing while you still can. Call me, I’m in the book, and we’ll use my boat (not a Robalo).
Jeff Vadakin
B.S. Fisheries Management Auburn University
Hi Rob:
Yes I did read your editorial “Damn the Torpedoes.” We appreciate it, even though you called us “toothless and skulking.” Some fishermen still have all of their teeth (maybe even a baby tooth). I think there may be one or two that have fangs.
I, too, had been looking at the NMFS site. I just don’t see the argument that fish stocks are being depleted, when there are more fish being caught. This would mean that the stocks are doing well. Besides, if mackerel spawn offshore, who’s to say just how many fish are left. There is no way to count what is not caught. If the numbers are down, the reason could be bad weather preventing fishermen from working or prices down causing a lack of incentive. Where’s the common sense and reasoning?
The seafood industry is certainly being oppressed these days. Where are folks going to get “wild caught” fish, shrimp, crab, etc. if we are put out of business? Is there some kind of conspiracy going on here? Who’s really behind it? Could it be that the CCA is just a pawn in this game of “Destroy the Commercial Fishing Industry”?
Patricia Zirlot
Bayou La Batre
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