SUMMARY OF THE PUBLIC HEARINGS ON SCOPING DOCUMENT FOR AMENDMENT 31 SEA TURTLE/LONGLINE INTERACTIONS (WITH ATTACHMENTS)

SUMMARY OF THE PUBLIC HEARINGS ON SCOPING DOCUMENT FOR AMENDMENT 31 SEA TURTLE/LONGLINE INTERACTIONS (WITH ATTACHMENTS) Tab B, No. 3(c) December 10, 2008 Madeira Beach, FL Council members Council and NMFS staff 51 members of the public Julie Morris Steven Atran Bob Gill Phyllis Miranda Ed Sapp Jennifer Lee James Holder Supported CCA position. Sean Gucken CCA - CCA s long-held position is that longline gear should be removed from the fishery. Sea turtle bycatch is just one more reason to do that. Red snapper bycatch is also increasing since the longline vessels do not have IFQ shares to keep the fish. Tony Tucker - Mote Marine Laboratory Mote has four years of sea turtle satellite tracking data. Of 46 turtles that have been tagged, 10 stayed within the west Florida shelf zone where sea turtle takes have been observed for as long as the radio tags were active. (provided printed figures of turtle locations). Bob Spaeth Southern Offshore Fishing Association Recent data since the observer study show that the longline takes of sea turtles in 2008 were 3. Additional comments were read from a written statement. Highlights include: - Bait modifications worth investigating are bait color and bait size. - The section titles Modify Effort should actually be Reduce Soak Time. However, shorter soak times will result in more sets. Sea turtles are mostly taken during deployment and retrieval, so this may actually increase the number of sea turtle takes. - Area or time closures will not be effective. The distribution of observed takes may represent the distribution of observers rather than that of sea turtles. If this is the case, such closures will displace fishermen to less efficient locations and times, but will not necessarily reduce sea turtle takes. - Additional alternatives are suggested in the written statement, including the use of acoustic turtle scarers, short-term turtle avoidance notifications, weighting gear to sink more quickly, and upgrading of turtle handling procedures. Amendment 31 is premature. The Council should not take action until the Biological Opinion is completed. Jessica Koelsch Ocean Conservancy - Urged quick action by the Council and NMFS. 1

- A strong commitment is needed from all sides to test gear modifications and increase observer coverage. - If adequate monitoring is not possible, the fishery should stop until rulemaking is completed. - A 90% reduction is needed to get back to the 2005 BiOp sea turtle take levels. To achieve this: 1. Convert some or all longline vessels to vertical line vessels. 2. Time/area restrictions should be implemented to prohibit fishing where they will have the greatest impact except for experimental fishing permits. 3. Implement complete observer coverage on all sectors of fishing - More sea turtle studies on foraging behavior, prey items, etc. Mark Twinam Commercial fisherman - Stopping fishing as the previous person suggested is a radical solution. - Has seen tiger sharks caught by longlines that have sea turtles in them. If longlines are stopped, more tiger sharks will survive and predation on sea turtles will increase. Dennis O Hern Fishing Rights Alliance - Opposes use of longlines in reef fish fishery due to high bycatch mortality. - Questioned the numbers for recreational effort on pages 20-21 of the scoping document that suggested ocean effort was over 6 million trips in 1981 and over 14 million trips in 2004. - A possible reason for the declines seen in sea turtle nesting is correlations with increases in hurricane activity. John Schmidt Commercial spearfisherman - Has fished adjacent to longline vessels and has made several longline trips, and has seen zero bycatch. He has never seen discarded sea turtles or fish in the vicinity of a longline boat. He has also never seen discarded longline gear in the water. - Has also seen sea turtles in some of the sharks caught. - Supports having a reasonable monitoring system. - Give longline fishermen fair shake. Will Ward Gulf Fisherman s Association - Supports the comments by the previous speaker. - Gear modifications and bait changes worked well for the pelagic longline fishery. - Agreed that IFQs can consolidate vessels and reduce effort. - It s unfair to put people out of work without first seeking a solution. - Recommended convening a workshop between industry representatives and NGOs to develop recommendations. Ed Small Commercial longline fisherman 2

- Since 1999 when he switched to reef fish fishing, he has only caught one sea turtle. In earlier years, fishing for sharks in shallower waters, he would catch two or three sea turtles per trip. - Mexico has a 2.5 million pound sea turtle quota, but no infrastructure for reporting catches. - Compared to the Mexican catches, trying to reduce sea turtle mortality by restricting longlines is like trying to empty a bilge using an eye dropper. Steve Furman CCA Tampa Chapter - CCA Florida Chapter supports moving longlines to 50 fathoms. Jim Clements Commercial vertical line fisherman - Consider the consequences of possible actions. Longline fishing has been around more than 30 years, and catches most of the grouper. - It s unfair to punish only the longline fishermen. All fishermen interact with sea turtles. In addition, shore lights, sea walls and jetties have negative impacts. - Sea gulls and pelicans are lures to shore by people and negatively impact sea turtles. - If longlines are prohibited, the fishermen will switch to vertical line and will fish closer to shore, competing with existing fishermen. The gag quota could be filled as early as May. - In the shrimp fishery, shrimpers were not removed from the fishery due to bycatch, but instead had gear modifications (TEDs). Elizabeth Griffin Scientist, Oceana - Concerned with estimates that 50 percent of the sea turtles caught are killed. - Oceana has petitioned NMFS to changed status of loggerheads from threatened to endangered. - Continued use of squid for bait should be seriously evaluated. - A report has just been released evaluating the use of squid as bait that recommends switching from squid to fish bait for pelagic longlines. A copy was provided to staff 1. - Supports the idea of holding a stakeholder workshop. - Better observer coverage is needed both before and after implementing changes. If this is not possible, the fishery should be shut down. William Henderson Commercial vertical line fisherman - Noted that there are third world countries that have sea turtle hatcheries. Suggested that also be done in the U.S. 1 NOAA Tech. Mem. NMFS-OPR-41 looked at combinations of bait and hook type/size in the pelagic longline fishery. For example, an 18/0 circle hook with squid bait compared to 9/0 J hook reduced loggerhead sea turtle catch between 77% and 85%. The same comparison of hooks types when large mackerel bait was used reduced loggerhead sea turtle catch between 88% and 90%. It recommended switching to fish bait from squid, and using specific size circle hooks depending on target species. 3

Bob Trumble MRAG Americas Was not planning to speak and did not bring documentation, but will provide written documents to Council. MRAG Americas ran a Hawaii longline observer program for several years. In the first year, the fishery was shut down in a couple of months due to observer coverage of sea turtle takes. After that, the fishery reduced its sea turtle bycatch and the fishery did not get shut down. MRAG has a report on the steps taken to reduce sea turtle bycatch. Matt Joswig Commercial fisherman - Felt that the extrapolation of sea turtle takes from the small amount of data doesn t work to provide usable results. A more precise way to estimate takes is needed. - NMFS should work with the longliners to try some of the suggested methods. - Eliminating squid for bait will reduce the killrate by 73%. - Pushing longlines out of the fishery is not the answer. 4 4