Morning Star Fish Report

Fish Report 4/27/10

More Fishing

Thoughts On Tautog

On Sea Bass Too

Ocean City Reef Foundation Dinner - Hall's 60th Street Bayside - May 5th - 5 to 8 PM - Raffles - Chinese Auction - Live Auction.. A Good Time.

Hi All,

Been some decent fish the last few trips; Found a terrific bite Sunday with a light crowd much closer to home. It is exactly the nature of fishing that we can claw our way to a catch of some good fish on 2 trips lasting almost 11 hours apiece; Then get in an hour early on a regular trip with 40 tags/57 releases plus a boat limit..

Will fish some more: The reservation book is now open for tog trips from Thursday, April 29th to Friday, May 7th. The May 1st trip will be a unique 14 hour trip from 5am to 7pm for $180.00 a person. I have to have 2 crews aboard for that one. All the other tog trips are $100.00, our regular 7am to 3 pm days. I also have the book open for sea bass trips from May 22cnd to the end of June and will open more days in early May with the next email.

If You Want To Go See Trip Particulars Below Signature.....

Tautog, our target fishery at present, use--by official definition--the non-habitat forming corals off our shores for feeding and shelter as they grow to maturity & also spawning once they've matured. They prefer the most robust reefs of which the man-made accidental shipwrecks and artificial reefs are often best. While a real numerical value could be developed, I would estimate that --in the present day-- there are approximately 2,000 tog on man-made habitats for every one on natural reef along MD's coast. This number would shift higher for natural reef as you approached DE Bay owing to their larger remnant natural reef area. Still, despite their large footprint of riverine and glacial-drop rocky substrates, Given Delaware's excellent artificial reef development there must be far more tog calling the man-made structures home.

It's a species that responds incredibly well to increased habitat as their diet is entirely sourced from reef. It's also a species for which, in almost 6,000 tags south of Delaware Bay, I have seen no evidence of even short migration.

Its a species where one must ponder, "How can there be fish restoration without habitat restoration? Has there, in fact, been any restoration at all of tog if nearly all the fish use man-made habitat? Is the population we now target due to Restoration or Manufacture?"

Where the most scenic & complex reef habitat in the world will not produce reef-fish without management, Neither will management alone produce reef-fish without reef.. no matter how long they keep trying.

The real puzzle, the mystery, is how our corals---sea whip and star coral---got classed as non-habitat forming.. We put coral aggregating devices, these artificial reefs, on the seafloor and the derned fish just start spawning there. I sure wish NOAA would step-up and investigate the phenomena: Perhaps with an investigation so deep that they attempt to discern where tog & sea bass nourished themselves to maturity & reproduced before the era of robust man-made reef.....

I have had a large percentage of my clients come from up north this winter and spring. It is flattering beyond belief to have someone drive 5 hours to come fishing for a species they have in their front yard.

I believe it is the expectation of quality that brings them here. An old salt sitting atop his cooler in the parking lot at day's end tells me, "You know Cap, I just didn't believe you could drive from Brooklyn to Maryland and catch 8 to 10 pound tog.. But you can."

It spoke volumes.

This guy had done a lot of fishing, I'm sure he knew you could drive down and get skunked too.

Last Sunday I had two clients from Manhattan, a father and son from Philly and 4 anglers from just the other side of the Bay Bridge. They all had a very good time fishing in Maryland on reef that was not there in early 2004. The Ocean City Reef Foundation built it by tying a barge up to a precise buoy/anchor set my crew had made and shoving concrete off a barge.

It's as if you could create an oasis any-where in any-desert simply by drilling a well.

With very few exceptions, Reefing always works.

NOAA is proud to tell us in their pretty websites and smooth-glossy brochures that 1/10 of 1% of the sea bed is made of reef, yet it is where 25% of the life occurs..

Except for the non-habitat forming corals in the Mid-Atlantic.

There's a lot of people that see plainly what I'm getting at.. and there's a few that roadblock, that prefer fisheries restoration solely by the numbers that cross their screen - the catch and population estimates that are the source of so much rancor even amongst those rec-fishers who have a lifetime of restoration effort.

When sea bass are closed it costs me dearly--every single day is a blow to my business model.. all for a savings to the fishery likely less than a winter's dead discards.

Soon the sea bass regs will have to be announced---we're tagging fish over 15 inches on every trip. I do not envy those who must wrestle with the system we have and the moral dilemma it must create to regulate by rote from error-squared science: I do not believe, having carefully reviewed the MRFSS recreational catch estimates, that rec fishers actually over-caught their quota up north. In fact, I believe this entire episode, starting with the sea bass closure last fall, is an exercise based upon fiction.

Moreover, I am certain that black sea bass have a nearly unwavering habitat fidelity---that each individual fish will return to the same specific reef-like environment each spring; Certain in that if rec-fishers had killed every single sea bass from Rhode Island north it would have no impact on populations of sea bass off the coast of Delaware, Maryland & Virginia.

And, I am certain that a system that might allow an entire 'coastwide' quota to be legally caught from a small regional sub-stock is extremely flawed; That these sea bass set aside for catch --the quota-- from Cape Hatteras to Cape Cod must never be over-pressured in smaller regional areas because it would fully disrupt that area's fishery. These disruptions have factually occurred several times due to over-pressuring in the industrial winter fishery but have remained unnoticed in 'coastwide' management assessments.

I am also certain that a system that fails to recognize our corals as habitat-forming--as Essential Fish Habitat--is disingenuous in the extreme.

And, most regretfully, I am certain that, should our fisheries system fail to go around policy road-blocks, these failings within the system will cause further and perhaps irreparable harm to many recreational for-hire business.

To what policy should we adhere which fails to recognize & correct internal flaws while destroying that which it was designed to protect...

Sea bass regulations should return to status quo while a functional management plan is developed that factors in: Habitat, habitat fidelity, better than "Data-Poor" stock assessments, and far better catch estimates via MRIP.

We know the fish did somewhat better with management than without -- And that's all we actually know.

So Far.

Sea bass are a fishery that can be engineered far beyond management's present expectations.

Looks to me as though that vision might take a while.

Endless paperwork crossing a desk camouflages truth; dispenses injustice.

My sea bass trips in May used to sell-out almost everyday.

What will pay the bills instead...

Have to try.

Trip info below.

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

Boat sells out at 14 for tog trips - Green crabs provided - Leave as scheduled or earlier if all are aboard - PLEASE be a little early so we can leave early - Return as scheduled or a little later - Reservation a must, that phone number in signature - Email does not work for reservations - Call - Leave a good phone number--Cell--in case of cancellation.

Tog Limit is 4 fish @ 14 inches - We encourage the release of all females under 16 (and some way bigger too!!) Fish Pool is decided by length so tagged and released fish count too.

Yes, we have caught some big tog this year and in years past. No, I can not pick what size, if any, are going to bite on any given day -- We are going fishing. Inexperienced tog fishers frequently find this an exasperating sport.. So do the sharpies some days. It's more about presentation than in our other fisheries.

posted by Monty # Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Fish Report 4/21/10

A Tale of Three Days

More Toggin

Aggregating Devices

They Don't Use The Low Numbers

OCRF Dinner May 5th

Hi All,

Slipped on offshore Sunday morning with some regulars and a few new folks. A bit of wind, fair current, anchors came tight with precision. George had 2 keepers in the boat before I could get out of the wheelhouse. Could have easily limited all anglers but are treading lightly so we might diminish the unavoidable pressure on tog created by the sea bass closure. Been lots of tagging, though I can't fund that as much as I'd like...

In Monday's falling winds I set up for my 4th try this year on a reef not too far offshore.

Pow!

Piranha Attack. Hungry girls all. Eh, nearly all; a few males. They are soon coming into spawn---Early. Two clients limited and put 47 back on the prettiest day thinkable.

Calmer still, Tuesday we were ready for more of that hot bite.

Yeah, um.. No.

How in the Billy Blue Blazes do you figure a fish..

Nicked a few. Sporty crowd, some great tags.

Did witness the most painful dropped fish of the year - The one that got away. A member of our coast's "Grand Masters Club" of toggin bowed very deeply on what I know was a jumbo fish. No line was gained nor was the fish hung in the wreck -- just the rod tip's antics reflecting a fish attempting escape.

And did.

Would've preferred tagging it.
I was thinking in the very high teens.. Possibly better. Big fish.

Ouch.

We'll go some more.

The reservation book is now open for tog trips from April 23rd to May 6th. The May 1st trip will be a unique 14 hour trip from 5am to 7pm for $180.00 a person. I have to have 2 crews aboard for that one. All the other tog trips, save this coming Friday & Saturday, are $100.00 regular 7am to 3 pm days. I also have the book open for sea bass trips from May 22cnd to the end of June and will open more days in early May with the next email.

If You Want To Go See Trip Particulars Below Signature.....

Very Importantly: The Ocean City Reef Foundation's annual Italian dinner is May 5th at Hall's Restaurant. Ideas for donations? The auction always has some of my trips and some great tackle from local shops.. Hall's has donated this dinner for many years. Awesome....

Often times it seems that the hallways and dinner tables are where much of fisheries is hashed out. While hardly a negotiation, one of the old-hands at NOAA and I were having a frank discussion on seafloor habitat at the Recreational Saltwater Fishing Summit last weekend. Sure enough, he tells me that artificial reefs are aggregating devices - with the whole implied argument that building reef causes fish to become more susceptible to fishing pressure..

Looked carefully at 10 years of my VTRs --The Vessel Trip Reports that we have to fill out daily. When abundance/catch is up on shipwrecks --one could call them accidental reefs-- it's up on artificial reef.

And, when these human-made reefs have greater abundance so do natural reefs; If they haven't been scraped bare lately.

Were the assertion that "Artificial reef only serves to aggregate fish for easier slaughter" true, then abundance must continually have diminished---always & constantly declined---over areas of natural reef. Surely by now, after centuries of accelerating creation of accidental and then artificial reef, any natural reef would be devoid of fish entirely.

But that's not what the ten year review of my landings data showed. The three types of reef train-track on a graph; When abundance is up - it's up across natural, accidental and artificial reef. When it's down, it's all down.

..I await, I wish, just once, someday --a wonderful day-- that a manager making the aggregation argument would have some real concept of nearshore reef habitat in the mid-Atlantic.

You see, Aggregation Theory - this, "It's bad because it causes unnatural congregations of fish" theory can't just be a little bit true.

..well, yes it can--a very little bit.

When you first site an artificial reef the original colonization must be had from somewhere. Perhaps this is the aggregating moment. So too -in incredibly faster time scale- are the earliest moments of an atomic explosion only mildly hot; What follows would not be similarly described.

Of course, this explosion of life I'm writing of is in the ocean.

It's reasonable to conclude that the more natural reef has been diminished in an area --say 99% lost-- the faster fish will respond to it.

Rather than submit to a permanent reef loss in, say, a really big estuary, managers should rapidly expand a restoration footprint of artificial hard substrate in order to avoid fish aggregation problems.

..or keep using whatever techniques have consistently failed for over a century. And why not, the funding keeps coming. Just not success...

There is no unnatural fish aggregation on artificial reef, but there can be a wholly unnatural depletion of habitat in which fish respond extremely favorably to some slight improvement: The mussels, corals, oysters, crab, shrimp and fish of a mature artificial are no more artificial than cicada, ants, birds, raccoon, opossum and deer in a large farm tract left untilled for a decade.

Where animals are able to feed and shelter from predators they will spawn.

My experience in these 30 years at sea tells me habitat is crucial in fisheries production; Tells me habitat more than waist deep is easily lost in the shuffle; And tells me habitat already lost for several generations may be permanently lost.. unless we look for what likely existed as evidenced by anecdotal catch in the early and mid-1900s, even as far back as the mid-1800s.

And then restore it.

Our Bays; Our Ocean: It used to be out there.

I suspect that if NOAA will but grasp the importance of sea floor habitat, in conjunction with the incredible tool that is habitat fidelity, we can take some fisheries far beyond our restoration targets.

And, because this focus on production has not yet occurred we stumble along with oscillating stocks, poor utilization, and the poorest of governance.

Reef restoration is, I realize, not a stand alone project -- No panacea. This evidenced by large expanses of Caribbean reef and small local sites: The most scenic & complex habitat in the world will not produce fish without management if there is unregulated fishing or simply too much pressure on a given area.

Conversely: The most complex fishery management in the world will not produce fish without habitat.

And isn't.

Except by luck.

Or shipwreck.

It is my opinion that real fishery restoration of our reef-dwelling species has not begun. Not until what remains of our natural reef is discovered and some idea developed of what is permanently lost or restorable can we rebuild the reef species: Not until the wheat field has lain fallow and trees been sown can it be said that we have restored squirrels.

Discovery will, I believe, be the exact-point that fishery restoration began in the Mid-Atlantic's habitat dependant fisheries. Management has been coat-tailing on the horrors of war & weather too long. Riding the shipwrecks to stable fisheries, they have now claimed too the fish production from artificial reef for their fisheries restoration.

Denied access to the fruits of our labors, industry founders.

We'd really like our sea bass back. Applying Bayesian statistical stops high & low would work the kinks out of MRFSS.. We had an 11 month season - Lost our innocence via emergency closure - Were then told we would have a 2 month season - which, in bold celebration, was raised by quota to 3+ months of season..

Eleven months - We had eleven months.

Now we might have 3 and a piece.

Rebuilt the whole sea bass fishery with only a month closed some years.

It is the MRFSS data that is causing industry's demise; Catch estimate data so putrid that no manager supports it; Catch estimate data so poor the Government ordered a replacement program.

If catch data came in as low as our official MRFSS MD for-hire industry estimate of less than a dozen tautog for last year, all year -- Would we lift all restriction, throw the fishery wide open? Or would managers snicker and say, "Yeah, we know that number's not right."

They don't use the low numbers to lower size limits and raise bag limits crazily; Dern sure they do use the high numbers to restrict..

An industry dies because no one double-checked the data. An industry dies because catch estimates low are of no consequence nor concern while catch data high is held aloft in false worship, "Here is our best science available."

"Here is science we find expedient and have adopted our conscience to its failings" might be more truthful.

From the very highest reaches of government should come this directive: Average three years' regulations and leave it at that until MRIP is fully developed.. We know fish of many different species rebuilt nicely without the crazy antics we have now.

Some states have been so positively pummeled by MRFSS data that no fairness remains. New York's fluke, for instance, should have a special review.

Stabilize the industry & find avenues for management to increase production.

That would be some good fishery management.

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

Boat sells out at 14 - Green crabs provided - Leave as scheduled or earlier if all are aboard - PLEASE be a little early so we can leave early - Return as scheduled or a little later - Reservation a must, that phone number in signature - Email does not work for reservations - Call - Leave a good phone number--Cell--in case of cancellation.

Tog Limit is 4 fish @ 14 inches - We encourage the release of all females under 16 (and some way bigger too!!) Fish Pool is decided by length so tagged and released fish count too.

posted by Monty # Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Fish Report 4/17/10

Toggin - See Below

Recreational Saltwater Fishing Summit

IF YOU WANT TO GO FISHING SEE TRIP DETAILS BELOW SIGNATURE.

Hi All,

Just spent two days in beautiful downtown Alexandria, Virginia. Shame--Never saw any of it - nor even a glimmer of sunlight. It's more clear why folks appreciate the services we fishers offer..

I gave up two days of fishing to go to the Recreational Saltwater Fishing Summit; the fellow to my left, a magazine publisher, had traveled from Saipan. He showed me pictures of where they had loaded the Enola Gay on her infamous run -- And pictures, mouth-watering pictures, of their reefs and fish.. To my right was a salmon advocate from Oregon; Across was a Californian who'd had a bitter taste of a No Take MPA closure, banning even from fishing from his kayak; Next to him a fellow from Florida spoke critically of the impending red snapper insanity; A lady representing manufacturers..

We were small cogs. Lots of big tackle industry and big rec group representation, a who's who I promise.

The panels and discussions, Q&A sessions; Rank this and give an opinion on that.. It was more down-to-business--less warm & fuzzy---than some I've been to. I suspect that it wasn't just me, many of the fishermen there were glad of that --- No Kumbaya thanks.

Ten hour meeting done; enjoying Crown Royal on the rocks --for just $18 for a double-- while old hands spoke of management battles going back decades was priceless.

Next day, Saturday, RFA & CCA sat next to each other on a discussion panel. The world is still here.

Both organizations dished out many ideas for moving recreational fishing forward.

A lot of people were talking about closures. None of it was nice-talk.

NOAA & NMFS were there - all around - listening.

NMFS new chief, Eric Schwaab, was there always. His boss, NOAA's newly appointed chief, Dr. Lubchenco, was there--some; Made remarks--answered questions--listened.

Really new position was Russ Dunn, NMFS's new recreational fishing guy..

Good stuff.

I know they heard.

We'll see. Actions are everything with government: Words, pretty brochures, smooth glossy booklets, nice pictures---all the coral/fish habitat stuff: meaningless.

I told Jon Carson, head of the Whitehouse's Council on Environmental Quality, that NOAA's marine habitat work has so far reminded me of an old refrigerator -- Made a lot of noise, didn't work.

Felt different though.. Dr. Lubchenco is a fisheries habitat ecologist. I'm positive she knew she was 110 miles from coral reef. I'm positive she understands that just as oxygen, fuel and heat are all required for fire; So to are management, habitat and spawning populations necessary to make succesful fisheries..

I'm positive I spoke with a lady who had vision far beyond catch-restriction, a lady who wouldn't try to build a fire without fuel..

We'll see.

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

The reservation book is open from April 18th to the 25th for tog trips. I also have the book open for sea bass trips from May 22cnd to the end of June. I will open more days with the next email.

On April 23rd & 24th I am sailing 6 am to 4(ish) 10 hour trips for $125.00 -- All the other tog trips are $100.00 regular 7am to 3 pm days.

We are catching - occasionally a dandy - skill helps a lot - luck too.

Boat sells out at 14 - Green crabs provided - Cabin heated if need be - Leave as scheduled or earlier if all are aboard - PLEASE be a little early so we can leave early - Return as scheduled or a little later - Reservation a must, that phone number in signature - Email does not work for reservations - Call - Leave a good phone number--Cell--in case of cancellation.

Tog Limit is 4 fish @ 14 inches - We encourage the release of all females under 16 (and some way bigger too!!) Fish Pool is decided by length so tagged and released fish count too.

posted by Monty # Saturday, April 17, 2010

Fish Report 4/8/10

Going Toggin

The Inspection

Sea Bass Closure Continued By NMFS

.."It's the best science available" is disingenuous. Using a MRFSS centerpoint is management's policy -- not at all the best science: Perhaps not science at all...

I'm opening up the reservation book from April 11th to the 15th & from the 18th to the 25th for tog trips. I also have the book open for sea bass trips from May 22cnd to the end of June.

On April 11th, 23rd & 24th I am sailing 6 am to 4(ish) 10 hour trips for $125.00 -- All the other tog trips are $100.00 regular 7am to 3 pm days.

Boat sells out at 14 - Green crabs provided - Cabin heated if need be - Leave as scheduled or earlier if all are aboard - PLEASE be a little early so we can leave early - Return as scheduled or a little later - Reservation a must, that phone number in signature - Email does not work for reservations - Call - Leave a good phone number--Cell--in case of cancellation.
Tog Limit is 4 fish @ 14 inches - We encourage the release of all females under 16 (and some way bigger too!!) Fish Pool is decided by length so tagged and released fish count too.

Yes, we have caught some big tog this year and in years past. No, I can not pick what size, if any, are going to bite on any given day -- We are going fishing. Inexperienced tog fishers frequently find this an exasperating sport.. So do the sharpies some days. It's more about presentation than in our other fisheries.

Hi All,

An interesting inspection. I think for the first time in my career none of my 4 Coast Guard surveyors were alive when I started fishing -- none were alive when I got my captain's license -- perhaps two of this Team were alive when I had my first vessel under command inspection..

The high-water bilge alarms they checked & found working were very likely a direct result of my pleadings before they were born.

Friends with a few years on me say I must get used to it.

It really was a good inspection--careful, methodical, thorough and professional. They appreciated our efforts of same. It did exactly what the law intends; forced me to go all through my boat in pre-inspection repair and maintenance so that the passengers I carry this season will be as safe as possible under current regulation.

At its conclusion the lead inspector felt a need to write-up something, the dreaded 8-35 deficiency form... Back in 1983 or so everyone had their "Emergency Instruction Placard" posted in the wheelhouse. Then the regulatory clause 'available to read' was interpreted to mean passengers as well. So we all, all around the country, had to move these framed papers out of the wheelhouse to the passenger salon. Now, as of this 2010 inspection, I have to have the placard both up in the wheelhouse and down below.. (pity if you're on a boat where the captain has to quickly read the instructions on how to operate in heavy weather..)

OK, OK, No worries; That's the inspector's interpretation of the rule and I will comply.

But also appeal.

It's a very small thing. Super-small. So small I wouldn't normally bring it up.. except it wonderfully illustrates how we came to be where we are with this year's sea bass regulations........

I was both heartened & disappointed at the recent announcement of the continued closure of sea bass by the Regional Administrator, Dr. Kurkel, through May 21st.

For many years our sea bass season began in late April or the first few days of May--A few weeks after Mackerel. The fishing was so reliable that even in our darkest days of unregulated overfishing people would drive to the coast to fish.. so reliable that decades later I set my boat payments up around it.

Our spring run now appears mostly confiscated by regulation.

All is not lost, however, as in the press release Dr. Kurkel did not set an end to the season. I harbor more than a flicker of hope that some in the corner offices are engaged in debate over the fate cast upon men by these poorest of catch-estimates..

Who will claim statistical support of good governance when MRFSS (marine recreational fishing statistics survey) has all of MD --everyone-- catching 1,355 sea bass last year: All Year. I caught more than that in one day with scientists aboard in 2002, we tagged 1,150 of 'em. Still, the 1,355 catch-estimate snuck through and became "The Best Science Available."

MRFSS also has MD party/charter boats catching 11 (yes, eleven) tautog in all of 2009. We're allowed 4 per person.. This estimate is so poor I can not approximate what percentage it is wrong by..

With absolute certainty these estimates are provably wrong. There are many more. Even following out the PSEs --the "plus or minus such & so percent" that is the hallmark of statistics-- does not put these estimates in the ballpark.

They're just Bad Statistics.

So too is MRFSS' 2009 Massachusetts private boat catch-estimate: Where a steady +-13,000 sea bass in July/August for years jumped to 167,000 in July/August of last year.

..there our troubles began.

It is part of the reason why we have replaced MRFSS with MRIP - That MA 2 month wave estimate and others will become textbook classics.

I can not prove that MA did not catch insane numbers of sea bass last year, nor can I push with a string.

No one can disprove too high an estimate.

But many can disprove when they're too low.

Continued governance with centerpoints of outrageously invalid statistical catch estimates is destroying many businesses.

I plead Mercy..

This "Best Science Available" is a statistical spread -- No statistician asserts that the centerpoint has any special validity other than being a single point: The true and correct number of fish caught, were it discoverable, is often somewhere in the statistical spread, though sometimes far outside it.

Management Must be Allowed, Must be Trusted, Must be Encouraged to find truer estimates by the many means available. To sentence us to bankruptcy because "It's the best science available" is disingenuous. Using these statistical centerpoints is management's policy. It's not at all the best science: Perhaps it's not science at all to take a full and complete statistical answer to the query "How many were caught?" and only use a single point amidst many.

We rebuilt the sea bass fishery, sans management's use of habitat fidelity nor even discovery of EFH in shallow water, with never more than a month's closure.

The various regional stocks could be taken to great heights, far above rebuilding targets, should we discover our region's nearshore coral reefs and manage within the facts of how these fish behave in response to habitat.

This system's subordinates only use the data because they will get fired if they don't. There are but a few mahogany desks with large widowed offices where this data and its use are defended, where regulators rely utterly on previous policy interpretations, where those charged with watching over fish and fishers may yet allow these data sets to bankrupt industry without the greatest of benefit in emergency circumstance to the fish: It may be the poorest fisheries governance I've yet seen.

Bad data must lead to bad decisions.

There is no law that the centerpoint of catch estimates must be used. It is science of convenience, not the 'best available.' It is not even the interpretation of a regulation that has brought so many in the recreationally associated trades to a precipice from which we may not escape..

It's just policy; "That's how we do it."

"Used your home to secure a boat loan?" Too bad. Nevermind the quality of the data. It's policy.

Fishers need an appeal, a review of the centerpoint with a stop-work order on the process while regulations return to what always worked in previous years.

Many in top management positions are new and may very well be interested in doing this policy review among others already underway.

Fishers didn't mess this one up; We didn't overfish.

The policy of using a single point of data --no matter how putrid-- did.

It's creating havoc and needs to be stopped.

Sliding the catch estimate along these huge PSEs would restore faith in governance.

Very soon the new program, MRIP, will be in place.

They tell me MRIP stands for Marine Recreational Information Program.. I say MRIP means MRFSS Rest In Peace.

Tears of joy at that funeral I'll promise..

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

posted by Monty # Thursday, April 08, 2010

Fish Report 4/1/10

Toggin Along

April Fools

Opening the book for April 5th & 6th Regular Tog Trips - Boat sells out at 14 - Green crabs provided - Cabin heated (?) - Leave at 7:00 for these trips (or earlier if all are aboard--PLEASE be early so we can leave early--6:40 is great!) - Return no later than 3 - 3:30 (usually) - $100.00 buys a spot - Reservation a must, that phone number in signature - Email does not work for reservations - Call - Leave a good phone number--Cell--in case of cancellation.

Tog Limit is 4 fish @ 14 inches - We encourage the release of all females under 16 (and some way bigger too!!) Fish Pool is decided by length so tagged and released fish can count too.

Hi All,

An interesting day on the rip. Some guys limited, one skunked, put a male back 14 pounds..

Set a pair of anchors into an ENE current first thing this morning. Not liking that; We haven't been bit in a northerly current since November.

But they did bite.

Sure sign of spring that; A very welcome, if ultra-fussy, bite.

Finally the current slacked and, predictably, was getting ready to roll all the way around to the SSW.

I don't know who arranged it - I couldn't guess: I re-set anchors favoring the current to be: Derned if that current didn't slow to a crawl and then turn right back up to the north.

All the big-weather above us this week I suppose. I've only seen the current do it a few times.

Different sort of April Fools.. shows what I know.

The weather forecast is very nice for Monday & Tuesday after Easter--the 5th and 6th.. We're plenty ready for our inspection; Go catch some tog.

Enjoy this wonderful weekend & Happy Easter.

Regards,

Monty

PS - In case you haven't heard, the Fed closed sea bass last fall using some of the worst data sets to have ever come from MRFSS. Great Scott... I've been pounding away on that all winter ---- when the largest artificial reef on the east coast is going to be sunk this summer not 30 miles from Ocean City's inlet - The Radford Project.

Mercy...

History is being written all around us. What befalls my industry will either be history created with a courageous step forward; where key federal managers say, "Enough!"

Or, in their accepting of the same tired arguments that brought us to this disaster, history will show how my industry sank in an economic maelstrom of management's creation; an evisceration of a traditional fishery brought about by overfishing that never happened with data that should have never seen light of day.

History..

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

Fish Report 3/29/10

A Tease

A Taste

Data Broadly

Hi All,

Snuck out Thursday and were not warmly received by schools of tautog swirling under the boat like a Tarzan movie's piranha awaiting the next tasty crab leg to fall.

No, it was a slow bite. Still chilly. I had a demon on briefly; personally lost every fish that bit. A few clients goose egged with me. One guy limited and tagged but was way off his game in-so-far as the bites he had: Don't like to use names here but his initials were Dennis.

It was just an odd bite - a tease. Tagged two short cod as well.

Sunday was another matter altogether. Best bite since late February. Four guys limited, most caught dinner, there were a pair of skunks: Pat T. took the pool when he tagged & released a 25 inch female.

It's getting ready to happen.

But first we'll take a couple more days for maintenance & CG readiness on account of weather: Resume toggin Wednesday 3/31.

We have CG inspection next week. After that I'll open a lot more days.

Very late now, this fishing has to bust loose.......

Data-data-data!
Here I want to give some simple examples of what our recreational catch estimating system was designed to do and some glaring examples of what it could never do. Entertaining with statistics is challenging at best so stick with me; I'll try to mix a few fish stories in. Our official catch-estimates are a lot of what's wrong with the fishing we have, not the fish.. The conflicts constantly resulting from poor data and its ill-advised use distract us from the fish we really have lost, fish that could use our fully focused attention; where we really do need to get to work.

Some readers will remember our Boston mackerel fishery. Triple headers, quads; Heck with a cooler, many guys would bring a trash can for the wear-you-out crazy-good fishing. It was always a big deal when local TV personality, Scorchy Tawes, would arrive at the docks come spring and interview the old timers, "When will the mackerel arrive?"

In an age before internet we had 2 or 3 days from when we first caught a load of mackerel to selling out 7 days a week.. The run usually peaked around Easter. Once we started chasing the fish north passenger numbers would fall off.

And then it would be over.

Sanding and painting 'till sea bass got thick.

Almost 20 years now, they could come back of their own accord. May yet.

The mackerel fishing that everyone had known since boats were launched from the surf, since before there was an inlet, died when a Joint Foreign Fishing Venture circa '91 & '92 was allowed. Huge factory processors bought American caught mackerel--All They Could Get.

Although it was happening all around us and to many species, we had no notion that there could ever be an end to what always was. At that time striped bass & weakfish were the only recreational species I can remember under management. Flounder may have had a 12 inch limit; The surf-clam industry was under intense regulation.

It was then, when these last "underutilized species" were being sought, that the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) arranged for these foreign processor ships to buy American commercially caught macks..

I think we still do not understand that just because biologists have created a coastwide stock assessment that the fish will behave to suit. We had not learned, and still have not learned, that we should never manage fish as if there were no regional separation in spawning stocks..

With disappointingly inadequate scientific deliberation the US allowed the southern stock of atlantic (or Boston) mackerel to be overpressured with an incredible surge of fishing effort.

It has yet to come back..

Recreational clients have long-since ceased coming.

MD's Pete Jensen would forever make the argument that recreational fishing is never about catch, just camaraderie.

Yeah UhHu.

Nowadays the more northern stocks, which survived just fine apparently, are taking more pressure than ever.

Ah, Wandering.. I want to use Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS, say Murfs) catch estimate data on mackerel to illustrate what MRFSS was designed for: Catch Estimates That Show A Trend.

See if you can spot it.

**Species: ATLANTIC MACKEREL Maryland Rec. Landings**
Year	HARVEST (TYPE A + B1)	PSE
1983	655,859	42
1984	263,320	57.9
1986	167,094	44.8
1987	285,035	52.2
1988	195,732	41.5
1989	264,121	40.4
1990	537,301	52.8
1991	176,571	50
1992	53,464	59.5
1994	16,373	46.2
1995	6,594	50.4
1996	109,822	58
1997	48,923	53.7
1998	11,279	64
1999	30,444	34.5
2000	4,172	73.2
2001	39,222	63.3
2002	3,616	68.2
2003	7,026	67.4

Note - 1993 is missing as are 2004 thru '09 -- I presume those are zero catches.

Point here is you can easily see a shift in catch starting in '92.

Did we really catch exactly 109,822 in 1996? Heck No.

Did we really catch exactly 537,301 in 1990? Heck No.

Did we really catch exactly zero in in 2009? Well, probably.

Trends in catch, however, are evident. That is all MRFSS was ever designed to do. Never a two month or wave by wave real time analysis: "Warning! Warning! Recreational Fishers In Sector Nine Are Approaching Fifth Week Quota!"

Um, No.

More like..

"Seems like the recreational catch on mackerel dropped off pretty fast after the factory processors were let in; Do you think we screwed up?"

That was its design.

But we are using MRFSS for real time analysis.

No manager I know has ever pondered the lost mackerel fishing..

For this report I tried to access our historical landings of red hake too; called them ling or lingcod. Used to be up on the recreational statistics site. Fishery's gone & now the data's gone as well; I think both are restorable, the data far more simply...

Very importantly, the PSE or percentage standard error that you see to the right of each catch-estimate in the chart above represents the real statistical answer. Political polls would be scrapped if they exceed 4% PSE. To them 4% represents a very high margin of error.

Yet throughout MRFSS there are numerous examples where the PSE is above 50%.. Even 100% PSEs occur.

Still & importantly, a statistician will say that is the answer, that the centerpoint is only a number that represents a large field where a true number might be found.

Statistically perfect or nearly so: I'm sure the internal policy of using the statistical centerpoint as if it were hard-data is where recreational fishing's troubles source; That when the centerpoint wanders far above the correct number, beyond and inexplicably higher than any other catch-estimate, the system fails.

Now, just for something out of left field, how could we fairly allocate these Atlantic mackerel with recreational Catch Shares?

Popular right now; lot of folks think Catch Shares are the new answer to fisheries restoration. I might too without a sense of how fouled-up the data is, how lacking some management plans are in basic understanding of the managed species' behavior; In a world without waves the paper & flat-screen calculations all look so good.

If we use MRFSS to permanently divvy-up recreational catch, some are going to hit the jackpot, others will get robbed. The chances that mackerel will be divided up using a 5 year average from the 80s is miniscule.. I wouldn't possibly have enough landings to qualify for a catch-share of mackerel in the last decade, despite that I fully participated before the collapse; And didn't create it.

Ok-Ok. Catch shares another day. Fast forward a piece. You have seen in many of my past reports examples of summer flounder and black sea bass data that are accepted and used by management; Yet those data sets are thought laughable---in most anguished fashion---by fishermen.

This catch estimating program, MRFSS, that was supposed to show by general trend how recreational fishing was doing now needs be as a predator drone with real time transmitted aerial surveillance to satisfy the needs of modern managers.. It's not about where the enemy was an hour ago, it's where they are now: Not rec-fishers catch-trend of the last 72 months, managers now want the last 72 hours.

MRFSS, however, is still equipped with black & white film that has to be delivered, developed & analyzed.. Apparently the enemy has infiltrated the system too, is frequently creating diversionary decoy data sets that send staff off to create trouble within our ranks--Closures.

We know MRFSS is over-tasked, that's why the new federal registry system was developed to take over -- MRIP.

Folks I know on the inside do not think MRIP will necessarily deliver speedier data; Its enhancement of our present system will come as a much better estimate, almost a hard number, of participants.

Because field interviewers give a broad spectrum of pure catch data--what really got caught by an individual angler in a face to face interview. MRFSS must then take fantastic guesses of how many people participated: Here is where the system occasionally flies apart. MRIP, with its Angler Registry, will have a much better idea of how many people went fishing; can call them...

Simply smoothing the data, removing the flyers, should be enough for all but the most high-pressure fisheries. Adding truth to catch estimates will preclude the most contentious management: Where bad data leads to poor governance, better data must lead to improved governance.....

Now I'll present some for-hire tautog numbers that I think would certainly interest anyone who has read this far. Party and charter boat catch only here - I know quite a bit about it because MD has only one seaside inlet. Managers must think there are crazy pulses of fishing effort - that our clients demand one species or another but almost never two years in a row.. Scroll down through this real data.

**Species: TAUTOG Maryland Charter/Partyboat**
Year	HARVEST (TYPE A + B1)	PSE
1981	4,670	65.9
1983	2,126	57.4
1984	36,008	59.9
1985	486	59.7
1986	5,476	64.6
1987	765	42.9
1988	14,849	63.5
1989	3,150	52.2
1990	541	61.3
1991	2,413	47.7
1992	2,354	84.7
1993	8,652	44.8
1994	19,314	37.6
1995	1,799	66.7
1996	216	81.3
1997	2,461	67.1
1998	1,235	62.7
1999	3,604	63
2000	1,165	90.5
2001	3,635	60.1
2002	17,650	39.7
2003	6,532	26.6
2004	6,439	26.8
2005	5,693	20.6
2006	2,969	14.2
2007	9,417	25.6
2008	5,572	16.8
2009	11	90.3

Dang!

Eleven fish in MD for 2009 in the entire for-hire industry?

Whaaaaat....

That certainly requires adjustment.. maybe move the PSE up a couple digits? What if that got thrown into a recreational catch-share average?

We all did at least some toggin last fall. Cbass closed, had to target tog. There is no excuse for an estimate this low.

Crazy.

The catch shown in this table in 1988 & 1994 never happened.

At all.

Nor the decline from '94 to '96.

The catch in 2002 is fantasy; We were solid into some of the the best sea bassing I'd ever seen. Maybe 10 guys on the planet can fish a crab while doubles of nice sea bass are coming over the rail. There were no party boat trips targeting tog at all in 2002.

Eleven fish.. It was a proportionally similar --but opposite-- data failure that was used to close sea bass by emergency regulation last fall.

..despite that we turn in a 6 layer deep carbon-copy catch data form taken on a day-by-day basis: Mail it to 'em..

There really is no excuse for saying MD Charter/Party caught 11 tog last year.

It is a gigantic Screw You - Fishers have never fought the data and won - MRFSS says we caught 11 fish or 8 million - They always win.

Still, here's an easy one, 11 tog, a slam dunk--multiple eyewitness--error. Almost 30 years of data though.. You see a spike in 1984. Happened too. It kept right through the next year in real-life, but that got missed in the data. They didn't pick up on the fact that the surge in tog effort continued for 2 1/2 years.

I remember - was working deck - netting peoples fish - would catch big tog on diamond jigs when the day's crabs were gone.

With no limits on a species with a narrowly defined and shrinking habitat -- We crushed 'em.

And then our tog catch stayed very, very low and flat for about 2 decades. Wasn't the commercial bad guys - We did it.

In 2003, after over a decade of a self-imposed 3 fish at 16 inches limit, a hard lesson learned about habitat and fishing pressure, and having failed in an effort to get MD to go with a larger size limit in the ocean to increase egg production; We resumed tog fishing with the State's 5 fish at 14 inches limit.

I could pry this farther apart by researching my own logs but you can see again that trends are evident in the party/charter data though not perfectly so: OK, it's very poor here, but evident if you have background knowledge---perfectly evident that some estimates are just wrong at least.

Another Then: The slipperiest data sets are almost always the private boats--except when shore estimates go badly wrong. Here's the set for private boat ocean fishing for tautog -- does not include the back-bay or jetties. Watch for consistency. (but don't hold your breath)

**Species: TAUTOG Maryland Private Boat - All Ocean Combined**
Year	HARVEST (TYPE A + B1)	PSE
1982	8,507	100
1987	62,758	69.5
1988	64,332	68.8
1989	910	0
1990	438	75.4
1991	282	100.3
1992	7,971	43.8
1993	6,913	30.6
1994	1,215	100
1995	4,747	100.8
1997	20,859	49.2
1998	3,713	71.5
1999	0	0
2001	5,952	91.2
2002	0	0
2003	538	93.1
2007	20,082	75.3
2008	1,350	0

Hmmm.. I'd call HS on the whole data chart. That means Highly Speculative and has nothing to do with what gets cleaned from a horse's stall.

I'd wager 1991, 2003 & 2008 are the best sets here. Remember, this estimate does not include the jetties and such, just the ocean.

The 1987 & '88 sets are hallucination; There were maybe 40 private boats that might target tog, less than a dozen were serious about it..

Zero caught in '99 - Zero again in 2002 - 2004, '05 & '06 are zero by omission: And 20,082 were caught in 2007?

This is precisely the type of data that is being used to destroy the recreational fishing industry...

Below is Everybody in Maryland's Tog Effort --Boats, Shore, For-Hire-- Everybody. See what you spot..

**Species: TAUTOG Maryland All Areas/All Effort**
Year	HARVEST (TYPE A + B1)	PSE
1981	4,670	65.9
1982	35,105	61.1
1983	2,126	57.4
1984	42,835	51.6
1985	486	59.7
1986	5,476	64.6
1987	90,523	53
1988	107,570	45.3
1989	34,709	42.9
1990	45,467	26
1991	26,770	36.9
1992	106,255	35
1993	60,231	30.7
1994	157,260	31.3
1995	43,542	36.4
1996	9,695	43.8
1997	85,682	34.1
1998	6,512	45.8
1999	20,180	44.1
2000	20,129	50.3
2001	23,715	40.9
2002	42,038	29.2
2003	13,555	31.4
2004	14,049	55.5
2005	39,993	48.4
2006	14,314	48.2
2007	107,061	30.5
2008	24,127	28.5
2009	38,194	34.5

You may well remember in 2007/08 when we had to pick an "Option" with which to take our mandatory reduction; That because we had "Over Fished Our Quota" in 2007 we would be allowed less the following year..
I spent maybe an hour trying to refute the data.

No Mercy.

Irregardless how obvious the implausibility of the data, managers won't even fight it. Policy is to use the centerpoint: Subordinates need a paycheck and will use the data as ordered.

Their defense: The data Could be right. Just add more fishers - lucky ones at that.

Lots of people want to add greater and greater layers of complexity to our data collection; Make it real-time like the hi-tech surveillance on an Afghanistan hillside's battlefield.

I think greater complexity leads to higher expense and often to failure.

Were we to take the hic-ups out of the MRFSS flounder, sea bass & tautog data we'd have management flowing along fairly well.

Remove data sets that are only supported by managers under duress of job loss and fishers wouldn't be in such trouble.

Instead though, managers are running around from emergency to emergency, fishers are trying to cope with closures in the great recession; A great embattlement over the sourest of data sets ensues.

Below are the MRFSS sea bass tables that I think were pivotal in closing our season last year. They're self explanatory. Yet these are some of the data sets that have taken our sea bass season from 11 months to 3 months. We really need fairhanded governance here.

Words on paper can change how numbers on paper are used.

Then we can get back to fixing where the fish live, a place where paper has, thus far, been nearly useless.

We did not overfish.

Sea bass habitat remains undiscovered.

Habitat fidelity remains unused in a coastwide management approach.

The very worst that can happen is we go back to a size/creel/season that we know rebuilt sea bass and other species for well over a decade.

Sacrificing an entire industry in worship of MRFSS data is shameful.

There's a new team in place that can fix it.

Ought to.

Fishery Closed: Shifting fishing effort to whatever remains open then retards progress in other restorations.

The fishing public's faith in governance goes lower.

Lifetimes of work are destroyed by complex calculation without the simple posit: Could this catch estimate possibly be correct?

See cbass data below. I'd wager any would see what I'm talking about.

Needs Fixin.

We need our sea bass season back.

Regards,

Monty

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/

**Species: BLACK SEA BASS - MA - Private Boats - Wave 4 - July/August**

**1,122.28% Increase**
Year	HARVEST (TYPE A + B1)	PSE
2005	43,478	42.6
2006	27,518	44.1
2007	13,062	71.3
2008	13,548	69.4
2009	165,595	25.6

Species: BLACK SEA BASS -MA - Partyboat - All Areas - Wave 3 - June/July

14,564.64% Increase

Year HARVEST (TYPE A + B1) PSE

2005 204 32

2006 74 31.7

2007 3,015 31.1

2008 526 19

2009 77,136 32

Wave 2 NJ Party Boats - March/April

Species: BLACK SEA BASS

15,230.5% Increase

Year HARVEST (TYPE A + B1) PSE

2005 61 71.1

2006 30 99.6

2008 134 100.1

2009 20,543 37.7

Wave 2 March/April - From 1998 to 2009 - New Jersey, Private Boats

Species: BLACK SEA BASS

942.2% Increase

Year HARVEST (TYPE A + B1) PSE

2002 9,921 92.9

2007 3,302 74.1

2009 34,418 56.4

Species: BLACK SEA BASS - Private Boats - New York

455.2% Increase

Year HARVEST (TYPE A + B1) PSE

1999 23,711 62.8

2000 13,179 66.5

2001 0 0

2002 59,718 55.3

2003 59,282 25.6

2004 4,852 59.6

2005 17,591 95.4

2006 58,051 81.4

2007 12,461 89.7

2008 15,320 47.2

2009 85,056 36.5

**Species: BLACK SEA BASS -MA - Partyboat - All Areas - Wave 3 - June/July**

**14,564.64% Increase**
Year	HARVEST (TYPE A + B1)	PSE
2005	204	32
2006	74	31.7
2007	3,015	31.1
2008	526	19
2009	77,136	32

**Species: BLACK SEA BASS**

**15,230.5% Increase**
Year	HARVEST (TYPE A + B1)	PSE
2005	61	71.1
2006	30	99.6
2008	134	100.1
2009	20,543	37.7

**Species: BLACK SEA BASS**

**942.2% Increase**
Year	HARVEST (TYPE A + B1)	PSE
2002	9,921	92.9
2007	3,302	74.1
2009	34,418	56.4

**Species: BLACK SEA BASS - Private Boats - New York**

**455.2% Increase**
Year	HARVEST (TYPE A + B1)	PSE
1999	23,711	62.8
2000	13,179	66.5
2001	0	0
2002	59,718	55.3
2003	59,282	25.6
2004	4,852	59.6
2005	17,591	95.4
2006	58,051	81.4
2007	12,461	89.7
2008	15,320	47.2
2009	85,056	36.5

posted by Monty # Sunday, April 04, 2010

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