TBF’s Official Comments in NMFS Amendment 15
The Billfish Foundation (TBF) made official comments to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on Draft Amendment 15 to the Consolidated Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan. We are extremely disappointed in the overly complex, technical, and lengthy presentation of the amendment, feeling as though the reader would need a Ph.D. in modeling fish […]
Domestic Updates – June 2022
Closed Zones Currently in Government Crosshairs The 20-year plus Closed Zones off the East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico that greatly improved recreational fishing in the regions, now face immediate NMFS threats as the agency, once again, ponders authorizing “pelagic longline research”. The research will collect data based on commercially hooked, landed and sold fish to assess the 20 years of accrued conservation benefits. TBF believes that authorizing pelagic longline gear to wipe out the conservation gains for billfish, sea turtles, marine mammals and a plethora of additional marine species in these areas is a poor management
NMFS Science for Closed Zones is Questionable
In September 2021, an article published in Marine Biology, Journal of Life in Oceans and Coastal Waters, was distributed by the NMFS as a paper and computer model that might be used as a possible decision-making tool for determining whether to open Closed Zones off East and Gulf of Mexico coasts. This model called the “Highly Migratory Species Predictive Spatial Modeling (PRiSM) would be an analytical framework for assessing the performance of spatial fisheries management.” A review of the paper identified flaws that should preclude the application of this PRISM model to any Closed Zone Decisions. The paper presented
