18 April 2008
Coastal Ocean Coalition ignores accuracy and rationality in advancing its anti-fishing, anti-seafood consumer agenda
)Published on April 18th, 2008 @ 11:29:03 am, using 482 words, 1024 views
Trenton, NJ - In a recent opinion piece in the Asbury Park Press, Coastal Ocean Coalition Director Benson Chiles has once again demonstrated his organization’s willingness to stretch credulity far beyond normal bounds.
In an assault on the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council (Council), he first attacks it for supporting the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) horseshoe crab management plan allowing a severely restricted commercial harvest. He then attacks it for not supporting the Commission’s tautog management plan.
He goes on to list what he terms “overfished” New Jersey fisheries, including monkfish, lobster, summer flounder, scup, and tautog, as further justification for removing or revamping the Council. The Council does not manage any of those species. While it determines how New Jersey’s share of the final three species will be caught (i.e. closed seasons, trip limits, etc.), that’s as far as its authority extends. Of the remaining two, the Council is not involved in managing either, and neither the monkfish nor the lobster fishery is considered overfished. While we agree with Mr. Chiles’ conclusion that these fisheries are not being managed as they should be, his attempt to attribute the responsibility for that to the Council and the fishermen on it is sadly misinformed if not purposely misleading.
While New Jersey was found to be out of compliance with the Commission (not the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council, as Mr. Chiles called it) in tautog management, this wasn’t because the Council determined that effective management measures weren’t necessary, only that the measures proposed by New Jersey weren’t acceptable to the Commission. The issue wasn’t whether New Jersey was going to comply or not, it was how New Jersey proposed to do so.
As far as his claim of imminent peril for the red knot, a migratory shorebird that feeds, among other things, on horseshoe crab eggs, he failed to mention that the species is not on any “endangered” list, and in spite of his implication to the contrary, not all scientists feel that the species is in imminent threat of extinction. Regardless of the species’ status, measures have been taken to protect it, including the Commission’s recommendation for a limited male horseshoe crab harvest for New Jersey and Delaware. This prudent recommendation is what caused the commercial fishing members of the Council to vote against the moratorium, not a disregard for the red knot.
Mr. Chiles and his foundation-supported cronies want to replace the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council with their own bureaucratic creation heavily weighted with environmental activists who, we have no doubt, share his biases. Any evaluation of such a move should be based on realities, not misinformation.
Garden State Seafood Association represents New Jersey’s commercial fishing industry and associated businesses. For more information, please contact Greg DiDomenico (gregdi@voicenet.com) at 609 675 0202 or Scot Mackey at 609-392-3100.
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