Judge Rejects Effort to Curtail “Wetfish” Fishing
Lawsuit Sought Drastic Cuts in Fishing Quotas
MONTEREY – The California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA), a non-profit association promoting sustainable marine resources and fishing communities, today lauded the decision from the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of California which rejected major complaints from Earthjustice, on behalf of the non-governmental group Oceana, that would have decimated California ’s historic wetfish industry.
California ’s “wetfish” fisheries include coastal pelagic species (CPS) such as sardines, mackerels and market squid, traditionally termed wetfish because they were processed directly, wet from the sea.
The CPS complex represents more than 80 percent of total volume and 40 percent of dockside value of all fisheries in the Golden State .
Oceana sought deep and unnecessary cutbacks in sardine fishing, as well as substantial harvest reductions in other “forage fish” fisheries, including anchovies and market squid – which are already managed strictly and sustainably.
In his ruling denying Oceana’s primary complaints, Judge Joseph Chen found for Defendants, including the Secretary of Commerce, National Marine Fishery Service and CWPA, noting that Amendment 13 of the CPS Fishery Management Plan was in line with the intent of Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act National Standard 1 guidelines. (The MSRA is the Congressional statute governing all fisheries in federal waters.)
“It does not appear that this [Amendment] will actually result in higher catch levels…”. Under Amendment 13 harvest rules the fishery is automatically closed if catch levels reach prescribed limits. “Hence the effect … is to provide a potentially lower limit than the harvest guideline.” Judge Chen further found that approving Amendment 13 was “an action that by its very terms has no negative impacts at all.”
“Fishermen in California and the west coast are breathing a little easier today because the Court saw through and rejected the main complaints in the Earthjustice / Oceana lawsuit, which was riddled with sensationalist claims based on unproven findings and conclusions,” said Diane. Pleschner-Steele, executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association.
“This decision is a victory for our coastal cities and ports – including Monterey , Ventura , Port Hueneme and San Pedro – as well as fishing families and local seafood processors throughout California and the west coast,” Pleschner-Steele continued. “ California is number one in total sales generated by the U.S. seafood industry and number one in total jobs. And thanks to this decision, we can remain on top.”
Oceana’s lawsuit claimed that sardines and other so-called forage species were being (or had the potential to be) massively overfished. Ironically, California ’s coastal pelagic fisheries have one of the lowest harvest rates in the world. Further, fishery management in California and the California Current Ecosystem is recognized as one of only a few areas worldwide deemed ‘sustainable’ by internationally recognized scientists, according to a 2009 Science magazine article, Rebuilding Global Fisheries, and other recent studies.
New ecosystem modeling studies on the west coast are reaffirming earlier findings.
For example, a paper by Kaplan et al (2012) in Fish and Fisheries, evaluated cumulative impacts of fisheries in the California Current . “The paper shows that the purse-seine [wetfish] fishery has the largest effect on other ecosystem components; almost all of the effects were positive! The purse-seine fishery resulted in large increases in the large planktivores (mackerels), very little change in the small planktivores (sardine and anchovy). The paper noted that the fishery harvests less than 4 percent of the small planktivore biomass, thus fishing results in increases in salmon, deep-vertical migrators, pelagic sharks, large zooplankton, krill, microzooplankton, and nearshore fish,” said Dr. Richard Parrish, retired NMFS fishery biologist in Monterey who has more than 50 years’ knowledge of CPS and the California Current.
Oceana’s complaints alleging that CPS fisheries harm the environment were baseless and the judge agreed, pointing out Plaintiff failed to offer specific evidence of harm, notwithstanding an Administrative Record consisting of 291 documents and tens of thousands of individually numbered pages..
“All of the forage species cited by Oceana are actively managed or monitored by the federal government, as well as the state,” said Steve Scheiblauer, Monterey ’s harbormaster. “This decision will help protect the wetfish industry and California’s fishing industry overall since wetfish account for more than 80 percent of both volume and value landed across the dock in the Monterey Bay area, and the numbers for Ventura and San Pedro are even higher, These landings are essential to maintain harbor infrastructure and the fishing economy, both locally and statewide.”
The state and federal government established guidelines more than a decade ago for coastal pelagic species harvested in California and on the west coast, maintaining at least 75 percent of the fish in the ocean for monitored stocks that are lightly fished, far below the science standard set for other fisheries.
The actively managed sardine protection rate is even higher at close to 90 percent. In addition, California implemented a network of marine reserves in state waters through the Marine Life Protection Act. Many reserves were established explicitly to protect forage for other marine life, including important bird rookery and haul out areas around Año Nuevo and the Farallon Islands , as well as the Channel Islands in Southern California . In addition, more than 30 percent of traditional squid harvest grounds are now inside of marine reserves and closed to fishing.
“Oceana failed to get a bill passed in California ’s state legislature two years ago and now their main agenda to curtail our well managed “forage” fisheries has been rejected in federal court,” said Pleschner-Steele. “The Pacific Fishery Management Council and its Science and Statistical Committee and management team are the best place to set rules governing our CPS finfish fisheries. Our industry works closely with both state and federal fishery managers to ensure that harvest policies are based on best available science, not false claims and hyperbole.”
About California Wetfish Producers Association
The California Wetfish Producers Association strives for sustainable fishery resources, access, education and scientific research. Find more info at www.CaliforniaWetfish.org.