The fishermen are calling the new rules as ‘draconian’ and say they would cripple the longline fishing industry. These fishermen have attended a meeting with Gul of Mexico Fishery Management Council officials and said that the newly proposed fishing rules could end long-line fishing altogether. The new rule was proposed after a consortium of environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.
The council comes under strict law suit after 21 loggerhead sea turtles were observed “affected” by long-line fishing equipment over an 18-month period beginning in July 2007 by the Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Acting upon that GMFMC officials told a handful of local fisherman at the Hilton Garden Inn last week the GMFMC has only a small window of time to create new regulations, which are being considered in a proposal titled, Amendment 31.
It is said that the fisherman were not happy with the options being considered in the Amendment, particularly proposals that would restrict long-line fishing in waters less than 50 fathoms from the coast or reduce the number of permits by requiring fisherman to have 40,000 pounds of catch to receive a permit. Fishermen told that the former proposal would crush the industry, while the latter, which is a stated preferred measure by GMFMC, would eliminate permits for 75 percent of long-line fisherman, by their own estimates.
FWC officials said enforcing these measures would be difficult and were not the preferred options of law enforcement agencies. Some of the fisherman expressed frustration over the “slow creep” of government regulation that has forced them out of other types of commercial fishing, such as trapping and vertical-line fishing. It is confirmed that the Amendment process is moving “very fast” and Amendment 31 will likely be concluded at the GMFMC meetings this month, which will take place in mid-June in Tampa Bay.
