NOAA letter

I received this in the mail today.  They should send it to those who catch fish on a regular basis like ATD, Fishunter, Dustin, Racinrob, Craig or Allen.

I got the same letter today... 25 min survey to follow.... Anyone know whether this is a pro fishing or not study!?!?!? How should we answer "The importance of ground fish to you and the effects of regulation of recreational fishing on you" Study Originates in Santa Cruz think tank.... Pushed by NOAA!?!?!? Anyone have more info as to what my, our response should be to this?

Do they have a contact email address or phone number?  I hate this like this where they make it all official looking, but you have no idea what the data is to be used for.

-Allen

Lok at what NOAA has done to fishing on the east coast...not good

Exact same letter... My guess is that they tapped into fishing licence data and we will all receive this letter... I did get a steelhead report card last year and a second pole stamp... Can't wait to see what they ask... Info below off web site NOAA does not look promising...

Fisheries

NOAA is dedicated to protecting and preserving the nation's living marine resources through scientific research, fisheries management, enforcement and habitat conservation. NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) is the lead federal agency responsible for the stewardship of the nation's offshore living marine resources and their habitat.[/glow] NOAA Fisheries manages, conserves and protects fish, whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other living creatures in the ocean.

NOAA Fisheries works within the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act to fulfill its mission of promoting healthy ecosystems. Federally-managed living marine resources provide an important source of food and recreation for the nation, as well as thousands of jobs and a traditional way of life for many coastal communities. As a world class science agency that serves the entire country, the mission of NOAA Fisheries is to ensure healthy fisheries and habitat for the benefit of all Americans. (NOT for fisherman...???!!!)

So after some checking.....
On January 12, 2007, President Bush signed the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006. The new law is groundbreaking in several respects: it mandates the use of annual catch limits and accountability measures to end overfishing, provides for widespread market-based fishery management through limited access privilege programs MLPA's , and calls for increased international cooperation.

this also looks bad and carries the Obama stink on it...

DEFINITION
“Catch share” is a general term for several fishery management strategies that allocate a specific
portion of the total allowable fishery catch to individuals, cooperatives, communities, or other
entities. Each recipient of a catch share is directly accountable to stop fishing when its exclusive
allocation is reached. The term includes specific programs defined in law such as "limited access
privilege" (LAP) and "individual fishing quota" (IFQ) programs, and other exclusive allocative
measures such as Territorial Use Rights Fisheries (TURFs) that grant an exclusive privilege to
fish in a geographically designated fishing ground.

Huh, that's weird... I had a similar thing happen but by phone. A few months ago I got a call from DFW (I think, can't really remember right now) asking me when, where, how often I fished what I caught what I kept etc.. it was quite lengthy (despite her assurance that it would only take a minute or two) and detailed to the point of feeling a little intrusive. Still not sure what it was all about but it seemed a minor inconvenience in the end.

ruben

Most research studies won't tell you how the data will be used or specifically what they're looking for.  If they did that, the subjects might (consciously or not) skew their results in one direction or the other. 

You might be able to determine the focus of the research by the types of questions they ask and specifically how they word the questions.

With a title like, "The importance of ground fish to you and the effects of regulation of recreational fishing on you," it sounds like they are collecting data to see how much of a potential fight (legal battle) they might have if they increased regulations.  That's just my interpretation though...

ya, i'm feeling the same vib.... what's gonna be my share!?!?!??

Fishermen are super paranoid nowadays. I'm just curious how they got your guys' names.

Surveys like that IMHO are actually a positive overall.

There's a variety of negatives I could come up with like

" it sounds like they are collecting data to see how much of a potential fight (legal battle) they might have if they increased regulations.

 

On the other hand aren't we all complaining about decisions being made that affect us without any input or science behind it?

Giving honest responses to such a survey could have it's pitfalls, but not responding might be worse, I can't see how honest responses (in this case) would be worse than none.  Of course I tend to be honest, gullible, naive, and ever hopeful. (And often disappointed)

When it trends from resource utilization into resource management into resource protection into resource enforcement....

Most fisher folks see the writing on the wall.

Hopefully, the management agencies don't manage/enforce themselves out of a job.

I prefer management decisions based on science and data vs feelings and agenda.

We'll see who wins        

I'm pretty sure the DFG phone surveys are harmless and legit.  A couple of years ago, I received several calls from them requesting the same kind of info.  How often do you fish, salt / fresh....not much specific info was asked for.  I haven't had a call the last couple of years.  Probably random selection for the initial call and follow-up calls based on the info provided during the initial call.

https://www.facebook.com/NOAAOfficeofNationalMarineSanctuaries

I'm thinking.... Still thinking, what this survey is all about... still thinking...

http://swfsc.noaa.gov/program.aspx?program_id=50