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Environmental Action: Fish on the Menu
Bonaire Talk: Environmental Action: Fish on the Menu
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jerry C Ligon (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #105) on Sunday, April 4, 2010 - 8:09 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

From my friend Marlene Robinson:

the New York Times
March 30, 2010
In Florida, the Seafood Becomes Less Local By DAMIEN CAVE
ISLAMORADA, Fla. — The postcard Florida experience: sun, fun and plenty of local seafood. It was the latter that brought Gary and Vicki Haller from Kansas to Wahoo’s here last week, with its waterfront views, toucan colors and promise of fresh food “from our docks.”

“We live in cow country,” Mr. Haller said. “Here we eat fish.”

But the fish in his “belly buster” sandwich actually traveled farther than he did. It was Pangasius, a freshwater catfish from Vietnam. The grouper and tuna were also imports, according to Wahoo’s managers. And the “local” label on the menu? It still applied, they insisted, because their distributor was down the road.

Florida, from sea to plate, just is not the seafood buffet it once was. Reeling from a record, fish-killing cold snap and tougher federal limits on what can be caught, commercial fishermen and charter-boat captains are struggling. Distributors and restaurants are relying more and more on imported seafood — some of it clearly labeled, a lot of it not.

Federal fisheries managers say that a law reauthorized by Congress in 2006 now requires them to take more aggressive action against overfishing. They cut back the legal catch for some kinds of snapper last year, and 11 species of grouper are now off limits from January through April on the Atlantic coast. It is the longest ban on record for grouper and the first to include both commercial and recreational fleets.

In a state that bills itself as “the fishing capital of the world” — with a commercial industry worth $5.2 billion and a recreational one worth $4.4 billion — thousands of anglers are angry.

“For a fisherman that works 12 months a year, you’ve just taken a third of his livelihood,” said Tom Hill, whose family has owned Key Largo Fisheries since 1972. “You’ve also taken away the ability of someone who comes here to enjoy a local piece of fish.”

Last month, several thousand fishermen from all over the country held a “sea party” protest in Washington to demand that federal fishing limits be loosened.

They were especially concerned about a series of proposals that would continue a ban on catching red snapper in federal waters, as well as close off an area from North Carolina through the Florida Keys to bottom fishing for all 73 species of fish in the “snapper grouper complex.”

The proposed area for closing has since been shrunk by the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, but fishermen who depend on the 6,161-square-mile area of water from Savannah, Ga., to Melbourne, Fla., remain fearful of bankruptcy.

Robert Johnson, the owner of Jodie Lynn Charters in St. Augustine, Fla., estimated that if the closing plans are approved this spring, at least 600 boats and 1,800 fishing jobs would be lost — more if bait shops, marinas and dockside bars are included.

“They’re not just saying you can’t catch red snapper; if that was it, we might survive,” Mr. Johnson said. “But when you come in and say you can’t even fish where they live because you might catch one, we can’t.”

Fishermen also argue that the science driving the fisheries’ decisions comes from limited models that exaggerate declines in fish stocks and the role fishing plays.

Jerald S. Ault, a marine biologist at the University of Miami and an expert in statistical assessment of underwater populations, acknowledged that scientists were still struggling to assess the damage from coastal condominiums and houses, which have destroyed many of the mangroves where fish develop.

But he said that peer-reviewed statistical models showed clear reason for concern. Populations of most of the snapper and grouper species once so common in Florida waters are down 30 percent or more from their historic highs, according to recent estimates.

Keeping hooks and nets out of the water is simply the clearest path to improvement, Mr. Ault said. He noted that while the state’s commercial fleet had declined by 11 percent since the 1960s, to about 24,000 registered vessels, the number of recreational fishing vessels had soared to 944,000 in 2009, up from 128,000, in 1964.

“Unfortunately,” he said of today’s fishermen, “certain people have to pay a price for other people not paying attention to the resource.”

The result — and the disconnect between marketing materials and reality — is evident not just on restaurant menus, but at fish houses like Mr. Hill’s.

Sitting on the edge of a marina, it is an open warehouse with melting ice on concrete floors, brochures bragging about Florida fish and very little actual fish from Florida. Workers in white coats were busy on a recent morning cutting snapper flown in from Mexico, and on the blue sign for shoppers, nearly everything came from far away.

Mr. Hill, 59, a serious-sounding man in a flowered shirt, ran down the list. The salmon was from Norway. The yellowfin tuna? Frozen, from Ecuador. And the dolphin, or mahi mahi? Ecuador as well, Mr. Hill said, adding that in about a month, it could be caught locally.

It was a similar scene in the coolers at Independent Seafood in West Palm Beach, where the salmon came from Scotland and the largest crates stamped Florida held frogs’ legs and alligator meat. The food from Independent Seafood will end up on white tablecloths at some of the area’s fanciest restaurants, from South Beach to Palm Beach. But most of it will have come from abroad.

“We’re sourcing stuff all over the world,” said Mike Molina, a co-owner. “If you have product that’s not readily available all the time, the restaurants don’t put them on the menu.”

Does it matter? Some say no. “It’s still good fish,” said Luis Garcia, the owner of Garcia’s, a seafood restaurant on the Miami River that buys its grouper from Mexico.

But others, like Doug Gregory, a marine biologist with the University of Florida, say that overall quality has decreased because of looser regulations in other countries and longer shipping times — if you can even believe what the menu says.

Since 2006, grouper prices have climbed, and it has become one of the most commonly misrepresented food items on Florida menus, with 241 complaints investigated by state inspectors. Even the Eatz Capital Cafe a floor below the Florida Department of Agriculture was found in 2007 to have been selling a “catch of the day” that was supposedly grouper. In fact, it was catfish.

Mr. Gregory said he had almost stopped eating seafood because of the problems. Others, like the Hallers from Kansas, may feel differently. When told of his fish sandwich’s provenance, at first Mr. Haller was appalled.

“Well that’s not good,” he said. Then he took a bite.

“It’s pretty good fish,” he added. And at least he was still in Florida

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Grunt (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1056) on Sunday, April 4, 2010 - 4:56 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Left alone, eventually Florida will have as many local grouper as does Bonaire.
If there are no limits enough will be caught that the breeding stock is gone.
I sadly have no answers for the fishermen of Florida.
The problem is worldwide.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By bonaire ta den problema si abo no ta akt (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #138) on Tuesday, April 6, 2010 - 2:18 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post




quote:

Left alone, eventually Florida will have as many local grouper as does Bonaire.



I think Florida has more grouper than Bonaire right now.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Grunt (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1059) on Tuesday, April 6, 2010 - 4:15 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bonaire has few grouper left.
If left alone Florida will be the same and have few grouper too.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By iTimmmy (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #7369) on Saturday, April 10, 2010 - 12:43 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I live and fish in Florida -

It is unlawful to harvest, possess, land, purchase, sell, or exchange
Nassau Grouper, Goliath Grouper (Jewfish)

- They have made an unbelievable come back since being protected.



Black and Gag grouper must be 22" to keep ... Red grouper 20"

4 per person per day (Gulf) Grouper aggregate bag limit.

Gulf - zero daily bag and possession limit for captain and crew on for-hire vessels.

Grouper fishing is Closed in Gulf Feb 1 - March 31.

I don't eat or fish for grouper because of their Mercury content. I like Wahoo and Mahi .

Florida is doing just fine Thanks.



(Message edited by muddysoapfish on April 10, 2010)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Grunt (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1063) on Saturday, April 10, 2010 - 12:51 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post


quote:

- They have made an unbelievable come back since being protected.




That seems to be the key. Even though Bonaire is a "Marine Park" there seems to be little or no protection for grouper or lobster. How many of either do you see on a typical Bonaire dive?
I agree Florida is doing a great job.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By bonaire ta den problema si abo no ta akt (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #139) on Sunday, April 11, 2010 - 7:47 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Yes, Florida is doing a great job of protecting it's natural resources. Way to go Florida.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By MBZ aka JimmyChooWho aka R.A. (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #16137) on Sunday, April 11, 2010 - 8:42 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

He's BAAAAAAACK

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jerry (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #25779) on Sunday, April 11, 2010 - 8:48 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We missed you Eddie:)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By iTimmmy (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #7377) on Sunday, April 11, 2010 - 10:14 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I did see a really nice Tiger Grouper ( approximately 34" ) on Bonaire in Jan.

1

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Pauline Kayes (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #260) on Monday, April 12, 2010 - 5:18 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Grunt, You are so right! And, if you have ever seen snorkel fishers pick off one snapper, red hind, coral trout, etc. after another, you would know why Bonaire's reefs are getting more sparse in the fish department. Although Elsemarie of STINAPA says snorkel fishing is illegal, it continues unabated as there is little enforcement. So much for the Marine Park rules and regulations.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By michael gaynor (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4087) on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - 4:42 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Pauline...Please get your facts straight before making statements. Elsmarie NEVER said snorkle fishing is illegal!!! What she did say is that there is a proposed regulation that needs to be passed. So much for factual reporting and enforcing regulations...like building fires on our beaches which I am sure you know is illegal!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Pauline Kayes (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #261) on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - 10:01 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Michael, I beg to differ. In an e-mail Elsmarie wrote to me about six months ago, she said it was already illegal, which is why I have wondered why they aren't being stopped.

In any case, STINAPA should stop it now before the reefs are stripped bare. Perhaps in honor of Earth Day, which the TCB has used to trumpet Bonaire's environmental leadership internationally.

Let's see: sewage still seeping daily; Freewinds still coming and dumping sewage; Boca Onima being scraped flat of all its rocks; snorkel-fishers operating without restriction--does that sound like environmental leadership to you?

So glad, however, that they are enforcing the "no fires" on the beach regulation.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By michael gaynor (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4088) on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - 3:13 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Send me a copy of the email...

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Lloyd Haskell (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #531) on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - 4:35 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

On a positive note about protecting fish , Ling Cod and Rock Cod populations were almost wiped out 10 years ago here in the Geogia and Juan de Fuca Straits .
Strict fishing regulations were brought in and they are coming back .Faster than I would of imagined . I go to areas today that were void of fish ten years ago to see schools of fish today .

Bonaire needs to give it a break for a while .
At least protect the leeward side where it is pretty much like shooting fish in a barrel .
Venturing out on the east side , now that's sport fishing.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Lizard0924 (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #414) on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - 7:18 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Lloyd - the same thing is being noted in Hood Canal with the rockfish populations.

Interestingly, I came across the biggest ling cod I've ever seen in Hood Canal a few weeks ago. I didn't even know they grew that big.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Grunt (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1074) on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - 11:42 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Large grouper used to be not so uncommon in Bonaire.
Over the years they have almost disappeared.
Any local care to guess what has happened to them?
Same for lobster.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By bonaire ta den problema si abo no ta akt (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #140) on Thursday, April 15, 2010 - 2:44 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

This thread is full of awesome. No Grunt, I don't think the locals care to have a guess. I don't think the locals can even type. Isn't Bonaire too broke to afford typewriters for the schools or something like that?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Pietri Hausmann (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #399) on Thursday, April 15, 2010 - 6:14 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

what a horrible, insensitive thing to say about the the people of Bonaire .. it is insulting to the extreme and you owe the Bonarians an apology!!!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Pauline Kayes (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #262) on Thursday, April 15, 2010 - 6:25 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Michael, I did not save the e-mail, but if six months ago, it was either done or on the agenda to being done then--whatever the syntax, it should be done by now, don't you think? oh well, maybe it will take 20 years like the sewage plant. You should see these guys work in pairs just stripping the reef of all kinds of medium-sized fish; it is a crime, and should be halted immediately,

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By MadMan (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #227) on Thursday, April 15, 2010 - 11:35 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

---" don't think the locals can even type. Isn't Bonaire too broke to afford typewriters for the schools or something like that?"----

Hey eddie that may be the reason they never wrote tha ticket for the truck that tried to hit the Lionfish at Karpata

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jerry C Ligon (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #108) on Friday, April 16, 2010 - 6:16 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

This is from an article that I wrote in 2008.

If we use the data that we fish surveyors have been
contributing to REEF for the past fifteen years, and if we look at the survey results of the
Expert fish surveyor, you will notice that the sighting frequency of Tiger Grouper has
steadily gone down:
Expert Sighting Freq %
37 Tiger Grouper 63.8 1993 to 1998
58 Tiger Grouper 58.5 1998 to 2003
84 Tiger Grouper 40.7 2003 to 2008
I have chosen 3 time periods, the first in which the Tiger Grouper was listed as
the 37th most common fish on Bonaire surveys was from 1993 to 1998.
The second time period, when the Tiger Grouper slipped from 37th overall to
58th place was from 1998 to 2003, and the third time period , from 2003 to 2008, and
you see that Tiger Grouper has now dropped to 84th place. Also the Expert Sighting
Frequency for Tiger Grouper started out at 63.8 % and currently is only 40% as sighted
on surveys turned in by the Expert fish surveyors. Something is going on here. We are
losing our Tiger Groupers and illegal fishing by spear-gun, or the legal method (but not sustainable)
of snorkel-fishing may be one reason, and it may be driven by not being
choosy enough when ordering fish from our local restaurants.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By michael gaynor (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4089) on Friday, April 16, 2010 - 8:47 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Spoke with Elsmarie and she will look in her sent mail file...As for the insult to Bonaireans, would love to know who you are and let you confront the "illiterates" who you insult vis a vis.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mel Briscoe (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #700) on Friday, April 16, 2010 - 10:16 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I hope that "bonaire ta den problema si abo no ta akt" has been officially warned, and is in danger of being banned. His posts are often quite unacceptable, and far worse than those of others that have been warned and/or banned.

Does anyone agree with me, or am I all alone here?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By YucatanPat (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #442) on Friday, April 16, 2010 - 3:03 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Always lots of opinions, few facts, lots of Bonaire know-it-alls and trolls. I didn't even know what a troll was until I came to BT. I am glad people like Jerry even take the time to post anymore.

Sad.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Lloyd Haskell (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #535) on Friday, April 16, 2010 - 3:21 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Truth is most of the "know-it-all-trolls" probably have never stepped foot on the island . It shows all over their comments .

 


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