No one knows sportfishing in the Gulf of Mexico better than the anglers, captains, mates, owners and employers in sportfishing and boating businesses, fishing clubs, tournament directors, service and sales © U.S. Coast Guard-Marine Photobankproviders and the sportfishing conservation organizations with a solid Gulf history. The Gulf Mx Thunder Campaign was established by The Billfish Foundation (TBF), Gulf sportfishermen, boaters, and a wide array of related business interests following the oil rig explosion in defense of the fish, fishing, boating, oceans and its resources and all the related jobs on the coast put in peril. The “thunder” is rising from the strong and united voices of this community and:

• against outdated government fishery management strategies;

• against government biases in favor of commercial fishing gear and practices that overfish;               

• against the failure of the government to require comprehensive and legitimate environmental risks analysis by all offshore projects before permitting; and                                                         

• against the lack of government coordination and oversight of all interests permitted to use and interact with Gulf resources at significant levels.

All of these have left Gulf coastal resources, fishing opportunities, swimming, diving, boating and related jobs highly vulnerable.

The coastal Gulf of Mexico region is one of the most beautiful and ecologically valuable places on the planet. Its residents and guests are attracted not only to its beauty and bounty, but to the gracious and inviting charm of its residents and their hospitality, the quality of service and sales delivered, the life style, its academic, professional and corporate contributions and to the generosity given by the region.

FACTS

I. Overfishing Left Fish More Vulnerable to Oil

Atlantic blue marlin, white marlin and yellowfin tuna are prized by big game anglers in the Gulf, while bluefin tuna, which spawns in the Gulf, is most prized for commercial markets. All four species are overfished with© Jim Franks USM/GCRL/USFWSLarval fish such as these rely on the nursery grounds of the Gulf. bluefin the worst followed by white marlin, blue marlin and then yellowfin tuna. These large pelagic fish serve as indicators of overall ocean health, just as canaries in mine shafts once gave early warning of unsafe conditions. Excessive decreases in the stocks of billfish and tuna should not go unheeded. Their depressed status came not by anglers, but by commercial longline gear, purse seine gear and fish aggregating devices (FADs) fishing the species throughout their range.

Yellowfin tuna is the second largest consumer seafood product in the U.S. and bluefin is the highest priced and most desired fish in sushi markets around the world. It is the incessant quest for bluefin and yellowfin tuna for consumer markets that has driven down the stocks of marlin. Bluefin cannot be commercially targeted in the Gulf, but some can be retained as bycatch in the yellowfin tuna fishery, the fishery in which most marlin are killed as bycatch. The overfished status of bluefin, white marlin, blue marlin and yellowfin is the result of outdated government management strategies that manage primarily based on “pounds of dead fish on the dock.” A smarter approach would take steps to conserve fish and manage to promote fishing practices that support responsible uses compatible with conservation and strong economic returns.

Had Atlantic marlin, yellowfin tuna and bluefin tuna been managed better, the oil spill in the Gulf would not pose the ominous threat it does today to their recovery.

II. Oil Has A Strangle Hold on Gulf Sportfishing Economics & Opportunities

On April 20, 2010, life for the sportfishing community and all the other beach and Gulf-loving activities upon which the regional economy rests came under direct attack from the explosion and continuous flow of oil until the well was capped. Sportfishing, boating and the related “beach going” activities often viewed narrowly as leisure activities are multi-billion dollar industries in the Gulf.

The sportfishing and boating industry employs approximately 300,000 individuals and generates an economic stimulus of $41 billion on average each year. The sportfishing industry is very diverse and firmly integrated into the fabric of life along the Gulf Coast. Those whose livelihoods depend upon sportfishing include more than the obvious captains, mates, boat owners and anglers, but also fishing clubs, tournaments, benefitting charitable organizations, event sponsors and vendors (artists to yacht sales), food, fuel, lodging, marinas, tackle stores, apparel, boating sales and service providers, and many more.

With oil-induced fishing closures, then beach closures, events cancelled, rentals collapsed, sales and service stopped, fishing charters could not be booked, tournaments cancelled and other eco-tourism and conservation-supporting activities could not take place. Anglers understand the oil industry is not responsible for overfishing in the Gulf. But the oil disaster does provide a “wake up call” that painfully reminds us how important fishing access, stock abundance and fishing tourism are to the Gulf Coast.

© Dino ChouestFor years, offshore anglers enjoyed a positive symbiotic relationship with the oil industry; fishing around the rigs will return one day if fish stocks are healthy.Over the years positive symbiotic relationships existed between offshore sportfishing and the oil industry – rigs attract fish, fish attract anglers. The dynamics are now different for flowing oil has further harmed overfished species. The necessitated oil closures are strangling sportfishing and boating, and all related beach businesses in the Gulf. Anglers know that we will continue to co-exist with the offshore energy industry in the Gulf, but their assistance and that of governments is needed now more than ever.

Prior to the oil spill, TBF was soliciting funds for a socio-economic study to document the economic strength of the Gulf’s billfishing community. The purpose was, and remains, to provide decision makers on Capitol Hill, governers and regulators with economic documentation on a major segment of the Gulf’s sportfishing industry. Economic documentation alongside our predominant catch and release format makes clear that sportfishing practices are compatible with conservation, demonstrates responsible use and together that generates strong economies. The study is now needed more than ever for once Gulf waters reopen fishery managers need to err on the side of caution and change the outdated “pounds on deck” paradigm.

Socio-economic research on the billfishing and boating industry is needed to document the strength of this conservation compatible industry, as an example of what responsible use of the natural resources can yield to the region.

III. Oil Killing Fish & Habitat –Research Needed

Surface, subsurface oil and chemical dispersants have mixed throughout the beautiful Gulf waters, the crucially important sargassum (a type of seaweed) habitat, and the wetlands, bays and estuaries that populate the shoreline of the Gulf Coast. Satellite tagging research indicates that both marlin and bluefin tuna are found throughout the water column, exposing them to oil and dispersant chemicals at sea surface and at depth. At this point no one knows the long term impacts to the species’ physiology and morphology. Juvenile marlin, tuna and many other species also depend on sargassum for their early development, much of which has been saturated with oil. The oil could wipe out the recently documented improvements in the Atlantic blue marlin and white marlin stocks, and bluefin tuna stocks could collapse if most of their 2010 young are killed by oil.

Research is needed to address questions about oil impacts on sargassum habitat, the 139 species of larval and juvenile fishes known to depend on sargassum in the Gulf during some stage of their life cycle; research to develop propagation, rearing and re-establishment into the Gulf of fish species that might Many important income-generating tournaments were canceled in the Gulf this year as a result of the oil spill.prove to be adaptable to such techniques; tagging research, both traditional and satellite, is needed to assess movements and other life history characteristics of large pelagics; and research to assess oil impacts on water quality and the benthic zone, both essential in the life stages of all Gulf species.

Within weeks of the Deep Horizon explosion, scientists from The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory completed a 12-day research expedition to collect samples of the larval forms of the Atlantic bluefin tuna, one of the ocean’s most threatened fish. Bluefin tuna spawn in only two places in the western hemisphere — the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The research scientists noted that this places them in a precarious situation in the waters affected by the oil spill in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Working with the captains and crew of the R/V Tommy Munro, GCRL researchers Dr. Bruce Comyns, Jim Franks and Dick Waller made numerous transects of the Loop Current towing a neuston net to collect specimens near the surface. The project collected samples as far as 350 miles south of the Mississippi Coast. This research is crucial and funding should be continued.

TBF’s next international science symposium will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana. This forum will provide an excellent platform for an array of research results. It will also include sportfishing and marine education panels.

IV. Preservation or Conservation – Responsible Use is Key

Sportfishing is a long valued American activity that generates green jobs, supports tax bases and municipal infrastructures and attracts tourists from across the nation and around the globe. In terms of marine conservation, there exists no activity as fundamentally valuable as sportfishing. Responsible use of the marine resources generates investments that provide social and economic benefits to the Gulf communities. If current management strategies generate uncertainty for access and abundance of fish, that uncertainty will inhibit sportfishing investment and drive participation, jobs, tourism and associated economic benefits elsewhere. We cannot allow that to happen.

© J and M TackleTackle stores, such as J and M Tackle pictured here, are suffering major downturns and boat sales have all but collapsed.In addition, at this time one environmental group’s petition to list the North Atlantic bluefin tuna under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) could tie all boats to the dock - sportfishing and commercial - if there is a chance they might hook a bluefin. This would stop some overfishing, but it could, depending on the ESA category of listing, destroy offshore sportfishing and all related businesses. The fishery management system is highly structured. The ESA is not needed - it would be an unnecessary, draconian reaction. Delayed reaction is not what’s needed either. Rather, it is time for government entities to manage responsibly, giving priority to conservation-compatible uses and practices that reward communities and generate good economic returns.

Some environmental groups favor:

       • closing anglers out and rewarding commercial industry rather than conserving fish stocks;

       • implementing “no take” strategies to close all fishing - a preservationist stance, not conservation; and

       • presenting mixed messages to the sportfishing community. (ask anglers in Australia for a current example)

Anglers and the entire range of related sportfishing and boating businesses favor:

       • conservation for healthy fish stocks compatible with responsible use;

       • research that provides credible foundations for decision making;

       • regulation that allows access to fish and fishing grounds; and

       • a change in government paradigms that recognizes the economically significant sportfishing industry as an alternative to overfishing and related economic downturns.

TIME for ACTION !

Fishery management and ocean conservation need strengthening. Management measures should insure healthy stocks of fish by prioritizing use of gear types and fishing practices that are compatible with recovering and maintaining healthy levels of fish abundance, which in turn supports healthy economies. Some measures needed include:

• pelagic longline closed zones when bluefin and marlin densities are high;

• buyout of some of the longline permits and boats to reduce fishing effort and pressure on vulnerable species;

• required use of the government’s new “weak hook” by longline boats at all times outside the time and area closed zones; 

• additional research advanced to identify other commercial fishing gear, such as green sticks, and or fishing practices that might reduce mortality of overfished species;

• socio-economic studies and research on billfish and other species, their habitat to assess harm from oil and chemical dispersants; and

• education for youth and students that better informs of  potential risks and solutions to minimize injury to our oceans, marine species, wildlife, beaches, communities, health and jobs.

The GULF WILL RISE AGAIN

Gulf Coast residents, including the sportfishing and boating community, are proud and resilient. In spite of the oil disaster, the Gulf of Mexico’s diverse sportfishing and boating community, like the Gulf Coast itself, will rise again! Now that the oil well is capped, hope is beginning to return.

Working together in this time of need, we can emerge with greater resolve than ever before and will restore the Gulf of Mexico.

What You Can Do to Help

Keep sportfishing in the Gulf because sportfishing and fishing access to abundant stocks of fish are critical to fish and ocean conservation.

Responsible sportfishing provides the link between fish alive in the water and sustained economic enterprise. In this way, the sportfishing industry in the Gulf provides decision makers with an alternative to overfishing.

Support TBF's Gulf Thunder campaign by purchasing this t-shirt by Gulf artist Larry Rackley, featuring the slogan "The Gulf Will Rise Again."This is fundamentally important to conservation - this is what non-anglers do not understand!

We hope you and your business will join TBF and lend your support to this campaign so that we can demonstrate to the government and others the diversity and solid interest within our community to get through this disaster and rebuild sportfishing in the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf will Rise Again! Please go to www.billfish.org and sign up on our “Constant Contact” email list so that you can stay informed and be counted.TBF greatly appreciates the support we have enjoyed over the years from our Gulf partners and hopes through this campaign we can help restore the sportfishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

To donate to TBF's Gulf Thunder campaign, please click here.

To purchase TBF's Gulf Thunder campaign t-shirt, please click here.