Lobster FMP report - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Saba Slayer · 08-18-2013, 09:24 AM

Sorry this took so long to get out...I had to do a little solo yak fishing to clear my head of all the BS (got a nice 30" butt on a Spanish Mack)...
It's a long one so please bear with it.

The following is my opinion and version and does not reflect the opinions of the DFW or the other LAC chairs on the Lobster FMP.

The FMP Lobster Advisory Committee met at the DFW Los Alamitos office on Thursday the 15th. The DFW made an opening presentation and announced that the “new” seasonal report cards were now available for purchase. They also said that they will be mailing out an informational flier about the seasonal card. The seasonal card will be due on April 30th. The next DFW announcement was about the final LAC FMP meeting, which will be on Sept. 11th.
If the FMP is finished, the Department will present the document and proposed regulation changes to the DFW Commission at the San Diego meeting on December 11th and 12th. They said the public was invited…Al and I were shocked that there was no planed public meeting to present the FMP to the public before it was presented to the commission. In response some members asked for a couple of public meetings similar to the ones held a couple of years ago to introduce the FMP process. The meetings will be held in October, with venues in both San Diego and Oxnard.

Next…

Dr. Matt Kay made a presentation on the “control rule tool box”. The “tool box” is made up of seven regulatory options available to decision makers if limit reference points are exceeded. We also discussed the limit reference points and how they are arrived at.
The limit reference points are CATCH, CPUE (catch per unit effort), and SPR (spawning potential ratio). These numbers are being factored based on the commercial catch. The recreational catch will be factored in once the report card returns are high enough and when there is enough historical data to trust the info. The recreational fishery has changed a lot in the last 10 years and the report cards have only been in use since 2008.

The “tools” in the tool box are…

1- Adjust the harvest rate by changing the commercial trap limit and the recreational bag limit.

2- Expand partial closures so that they provide full protection. (e.g. Santa Monica Bay, jetties, front side of Catalina, and San Diego Bay.

3- Maximum size limit

4- Increase minimum size limit

5- Change season length

6- Male only fishery

TAC (total allowable catch) sets limits and allocation on recreational and commercial catch.

Next…

The proposed Commercial trap limits were presented to the FMP and refined a bit then voted on. A consensus was achieved by the LAC. If the commission accepts the proposed limits they will probably go into effect in the 2016-2017 lobster season.
The trap limits will be 300 traps for each type of permit holder, transferable or non-transferable. They may buy an additional permit and stack two permits to allow them to work with 600 traps.
There was also proposed a “phase in” permit for the first three seasons that the commercial guys can buy for approximately $5,000 to $10,000 each season. The fee would go towards lobster research specified by the commercials.

Next…
We started the discussions on the proposed recreational regulation changes.

The first item up was the clipping of the middle tail fin on recreational caught lobsters. The idea behind this is to help enforcement identify recreational caught lobsters when they appear on the open market (fish market, restaurants, door to door sales, etc.). A consensus was achieved by the LAC.

The use of power pullers was discussed next. The DFW introduced a form that will be filled out then signed by your doctor. It’s a pretty loose disability medical type form…not quite as loose as a medical marijuana card, but close. The puller can also be used for crab during and off lobster season without a card if you do not have lobster in possession. Just for the record there was no convictions or citations presented by enforcement for the poaching of commercial traps with the use of a recreational type hauler. A consensus was achieved by the LAC.

Lastly we discussed the proposed seasonal limit.
DFW staff, enforcement, and about half the LAC supported the number set at 70.
The marine science, environmental, and commercial chairs, supported a number lower…somewhere around 40. In addition, the enviros and marine science were trying to push for a number that would change as the number of report card holders changed. A consensus could NOT be achieved by the LAC and it will be the first item on the agenda at the next meeting.

Now a little ranting and some DFW figures on the report cards…

They have no trouble putting a total catch cap on the recreational users while allowing the commercials to only have a trap limit with no cap on the number of lobster they can take. As hoopnetters we have always had a gear limit (5 nets solo and 10 nets with multiple people on a vessel) and daily bag limits (7 in possession). Commercials have no seasonal limit and no trap limit as things stand now and with the proposed “phase in” permits allowing an additional 300 traps for the first three seasons, there could possibly be as many as 116,400 traps in the water for the 3 years of the “phase in” permits. There are about 50,000 to 80,000 traps in the water now during the lobster season as estimated by a commercial chair at the last meeting.
If the 300 number goes into effect there could be as many as 58,200 traps in the water without any “phase in permits”.
What scares them the most is the vast number of report cards sold…about 37,000 last season. If you multiply that times 70, it’s pretty frightening to imagine that many lobsters could be taken…BUT…let’s look at REALITY.
Approximately 1.7% reported 71+ lobsters taken last season, that’s over 600 hoopers and divers. 0.7% reported 98+ lobsters, that’s just over 200 people.
The number of cards returned that did not fish was 2,834.
The number of returned cards that did fish was 9,305.

There are a lot of folks that buy a card and do not fish or get skunked and feel that the zeros on their card are not important for the bookkeeping so they don’t send them in. I have always contended that this number is higher than the DFW thinks it is.

The percent of returned cards that did not fish was 23.3%
The average number of lobsters per card is 9 and it has been going down from 11.8 as the report card returns get better since 2008.
The average number of lobsters per trip is 2.0.
The number of trips with zero lobsters kept was 16,269.
The number of trips that reported 0 to 7 lobsters kept is 40,232.

With the apparent trends on take since 2008, I feel it’s safe to say that all 37,000 report card holders will not be filling out a 70 seasonal limit and the number 70 is a safe and sane number to use both for a fair sharing of the resource and to help enforcement, combat the commercialization of recreational lobstering thru sales and barter.

The next meeting is on September 11th…Please Speak Up, or take your 40 Seasonal Limit and “Tool Box” and be happy with it.

Finally, be aware that... no matter what the Department and the LAC comes up with, the DFW commission has the final say and can change any proposed regulations!!!

Jim Salazar / Saba Slayer

08-18-2013, 09:24 AM	#1
Saba Slayer Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Palos Verdes Posts: 1,847	Lobster FMP report Sorry this took so long to get out...I had to do a little solo yak fishing to clear my head of all the BS (got a nice 30" butt on a Spanish Mack)... It's a long one so please bear with it. The following is my opinion and version and does not reflect the opinions of the DFW or the other LAC chairs on the Lobster FMP. The FMP Lobster Advisory Committee met at the DFW Los Alamitos office on Thursday the 15th. The DFW made an opening presentation and announced that the “new” seasonal report cards were now available for purchase. They also said that they will be mailing out an informational flier about the seasonal card. The seasonal card will be due on April 30th. The next DFW announcement was about the final LAC FMP meeting, which will be on Sept. 11th. If the FMP is finished, the Department will present the document and proposed regulation changes to the DFW Commission at the San Diego meeting on December 11th and 12th. They said the public was invited…Al and I were shocked that there was no planed public meeting to present the FMP to the public before it was presented to the commission. In response some members asked for a couple of public meetings similar to the ones held a couple of years ago to introduce the FMP process. The meetings will be held in October, with venues in both San Diego and Oxnard. Next… Dr. Matt Kay made a presentation on the “control rule tool box”. The “tool box” is made up of seven regulatory options available to decision makers if limit reference points are exceeded. We also discussed the limit reference points and how they are arrived at. The limit reference points are CATCH, CPUE (catch per unit effort), and SPR (spawning potential ratio). These numbers are being factored based on the commercial catch. The recreational catch will be factored in once the report card returns are high enough and when there is enough historical data to trust the info. The recreational fishery has changed a lot in the last 10 years and the report cards have only been in use since 2008. The “tools” in the tool box are… 1- Adjust the harvest rate by changing the commercial trap limit and the recreational bag limit. 2- Expand partial closures so that they provide full protection. (e.g. Santa Monica Bay, jetties, front side of Catalina, and San Diego Bay. 3- Maximum size limit 4- Increase minimum size limit 5- Change season length 6- Male only fishery TAC (total allowable catch) sets limits and allocation on recreational and commercial catch. Next… The proposed Commercial trap limits were presented to the FMP and refined a bit then voted on. A consensus was achieved by the LAC. If the commission accepts the proposed limits they will probably go into effect in the 2016-2017 lobster season. The trap limits will be 300 traps for each type of permit holder, transferable or non-transferable. They may buy an additional permit and stack two permits to allow them to work with 600 traps. There was also proposed a “phase in” permit for the first three seasons that the commercial guys can buy for approximately $5,000 to $10,000 each season. The fee would go towards lobster research specified by the commercials. Next… We started the discussions on the proposed recreational regulation changes. The first item up was the clipping of the middle tail fin on recreational caught lobsters. The idea behind this is to help enforcement identify recreational caught lobsters when they appear on the open market (fish market, restaurants, door to door sales, etc.). A consensus was achieved by the LAC. The use of power pullers was discussed next. The DFW introduced a form that will be filled out then signed by your doctor. It’s a pretty loose disability medical type form…not quite as loose as a medical marijuana card, but close. The puller can also be used for crab during and off lobster season without a card if you do not have lobster in possession. Just for the record there was no convictions or citations presented by enforcement for the poaching of commercial traps with the use of a recreational type hauler. A consensus was achieved by the LAC. Lastly we discussed the proposed seasonal limit. DFW staff, enforcement, and about half the LAC supported the number set at 70. The marine science, environmental, and commercial chairs, supported a number lower…somewhere around 40. In addition, the enviros and marine science were trying to push for a number that would change as the number of report card holders changed. A consensus could NOT be achieved by the LAC and it will be the first item on the agenda at the next meeting. Now a little ranting and some DFW figures on the report cards… They have no trouble putting a total catch cap on the recreational users while allowing the commercials to only have a trap limit with no cap on the number of lobster they can take. As hoopnetters we have always had a gear limit (5 nets solo and 10 nets with multiple people on a vessel) and daily bag limits (7 in possession). Commercials have no seasonal limit and no trap limit as things stand now and with the proposed “phase in” permits allowing an additional 300 traps for the first three seasons, there could possibly be as many as 116,400 traps in the water for the 3 years of the “phase in” permits. There are about 50,000 to 80,000 traps in the water now during the lobster season as estimated by a commercial chair at the last meeting. If the 300 number goes into effect there could be as many as 58,200 traps in the water without any “phase in permits”. What scares them the most is the vast number of report cards sold…about 37,000 last season. If you multiply that times 70, it’s pretty frightening to imagine that many lobsters could be taken…BUT…let’s look at REALITY. Approximately 1.7% reported 71+ lobsters taken last season, that’s over 600 hoopers and divers. 0.7% reported 98+ lobsters, that’s just over 200 people. The number of cards returned that did not fish was 2,834. The number of returned cards that did fish was 9,305. There are a lot of folks that buy a card and do not fish or get skunked and feel that the zeros on their card are not important for the bookkeeping so they don’t send them in. I have always contended that this number is higher than the DFW thinks it is. The percent of returned cards that did not fish was 23.3% The average number of lobsters per card is 9 and it has been going down from 11.8 as the report card returns get better since 2008. The average number of lobsters per trip is 2.0. The number of trips with zero lobsters kept was 16,269. The number of trips that reported 0 to 7 lobsters kept is 40,232. With the apparent trends on take since 2008, I feel it’s safe to say that all 37,000 report card holders will not be filling out a 70 seasonal limit and the number 70 is a safe and sane number to use both for a fair sharing of the resource and to help enforcement, combat the commercialization of recreational lobstering thru sales and barter. The next meeting is on September 11th…Please Speak Up, or take your 40 Seasonal Limit and “Tool Box” and be happy with it. Finally, be aware that... no matter what the Department and the LAC comes up with, the DFW commission has the final say and can change any proposed regulations!!! Jim Salazar / Saba Slayer Last edited by Saba Slayer; 08-19-2013 at 10:15 AM.