According to the council the draft comprehensive allocation amendment is the question of how society can reap the maximum benefit from distribution of a limited resource. The council said that the allocation plan will furnish the detail to the federal fisheries managers in deciding how to divide the total catch limit for species like snowy grouper and king mackerel between commercial and recreational fishing sectors.
The new allocation plan will determine the number of fish that can be pulled from the sea without jeopardizing the health of a stock. The plan will put the fisheries managers into the role of social engineers as they will decide how to split the harvest limit between the two fishing sectors. But commercial and recreational fishermen disagree with the plan over the standards that might be used to calculate distribution shares.
The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), a nationwide organization representing recreational fishermen, explained that the new allocation plan must be fair and equitable to all fishermen – not the public at large or the national interest. On the other hand the commercial fishermen turn to that same law, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. They said that optimum yield from a sustainable fishery should “provide the greatest overall benefit to the Nation” in respect to food production as well as recreation.
According to CCA the allocation should be based on a comparison of the economic value of recreational fishing and that of commercial fishing. Ernie Foster, captain of the Albatross Fleet charter-boats in Hatteras and president of the advocacy group North Carolina Watermen United, says that a comparison of economic values doesn’t answer the question of whether society is better off under one allocation system or another.
However, the council will discuss the allocation of marine resources at a committee meeting in April.
