It was clear at the protest rally, United We Fish, that on federal rule makers there is another protest. Catch shares, a system of allocating each fishing operation a specific slice of a fishery’s allowable harvest. Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association, said that it’s safe to say there is overwhelming opposition to catch shares among commercial fishermen nationwide.
According to Kelly the basis thrust of catch shares is reduction of the number of boats in the fishing fleet. It is clearly mentioned that the two primary fisheries of concern to Keys fishermen are spiny lobster and kingfish. Kelly added that the lobster trap-reduction program has already cut almost 50 percent of the traps from the fishery.
Federal law mandating reductions in some fish harvests cannot be avoided. Till date catch shares are used in 19 fisheries nationwide, with another 11 fisheries expected to adopt them before 2012. The South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico fishery councils have yet to formally decide on whether to adopt catch shares for waters near Florida.
