May 7, 2009 – The Frenchtown Community Center was overflowing Wednesday night with fishermen defending their livelihood in the face of catch restrictions they say may be illegal, stem from inaccurate data, and could leave them standing empty-handed on the shore.
Meeting before the Caribbean Fisheries Management Council, the group listened to the 13 proposed restrictions on fishery limits, allowable catch, mandated by the Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act of 2006 to protect targeted fish species from overfishing. Under the law, annual catch limits are to be set by 2010 to prevent a fisheries collapse.
Miguel Roland, CFMC executive director, read the proposals to a grim-faced, but silent and respectful audience. The only sounds, a few grunts and sighs here and there, as they awaited their turn to speak.
Roland offered the alternatives to the proposed limits that range from no action to adding additional areas to those already closed during spawning seasons. Other alternatives include reducing the fishing season and increasing the size of closed areas.
The fishermen have regulated themselves over the past 35 years; they say they are the best stewards of the fish they catch. The fishermen take issue with the findings of Dr. Roy E. Crabtree, regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Region, who also has a seat on the CFMS, which will make the final decision in 2010. The fishermen objected vociferously to using data gleaned from other than local waters, "just to meet the 2010 mandate."
Local fisherman Julian Magras, STFA board chairman, headed off the dozen or so speakers, all of whom urged "no action" on the proposed limits. Magras minced no words.
"The CFMC has here a document prepared by the NMFS, not the Council. Dr. Crabtree at the Council meeting on St. Croix in March, said 'the fishermen suffer because the data is not good.'"
Magras said the fishermen have been supplying data for 35 years, and "if there were problems with the data, they should have been addressed earlier." Magras stressed a message from all the fishermen: "You must have overfishing in order to have an overfishing limit. There is no overfishing.
David Olsen, STFA chief scientist, said, the association has reviewed the Council minutes and hasn't found any evidence that the CFMC requested this proposed document.
"We feel it violates the spirit and the law embodied in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which assigns responsibility to set limits to the council itself," he said.
Olsen supplied figures to counteract the overfishing claims. listing catches and catch limits for several species including groupers, snappers and conch.
"There is nowhere in this process that provides for a summary intervention by the NMFS regional director," Olsen said, in part, "thus, we view this document as illegal … The current designations regarding overfishing were made in the total absence of data from the Virgin Islands.
Government representatives — from the offices of Delegate to Congress Donna Christiansen, Sens. Craig Barshinger, Louis Hill, Patrick Sprauve, and Shawn-Michael Malone — spoke in support of the fishermen.
Magras said Gov. John deJongh Jr. had called.
"He had to attend something else this evening, but he wanted everyone to know he is in support of us. We will hold him accountable to that."
The fishermen spoke with intelligence and feeling about the livelihood that has been an intimate part of their lives for generations.
"There is no comprehensive water and land use plan," he said. "What we have is over-zoning, not overfishing," said fisherman David Brin.
The shortest speech of the evening was delivered by Roy Ottley who stood up, said, "No action," and sat back down amid raucous applause.
Jimmy Magner, STFA president ended the evening. "This is not about fishing," he said. "It is beyond fishing; it is about our Virgin Island culture and our people. We have worked for 35 years to create data. It is good data; don't punish us for that."
Speaking after the meeting, Eugenio E. Pineiro-Soler, CFMC chairman, said the fishermen spoke with knowledge born of experience.
"They stepped up and showed their expertise," he said, adding with a laugh, "They say if you go fishing with a scientist, you'll starve to death; if you go with a fisherman, you'll come home with a full belly."
The meeting was the first in a series of public hearings, Pineiro-Soler said. Another was scheduled for Thursday on St. Croix to hear the St. Croix Commercial Fishermen's Association, sister to the STFA, which stated its case Wednesday.
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