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ADVISORY COUNCIL ON SHELLFISHERIES
MINUTES OF MAY 18, 2009
Richardson and Robbins Building Auditorium, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, Delaware 19901
Phone: 302-739-9914, Fax: 302-739-6157
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ADVISORY COUNCIL
Leonard “Limbo” Voss, Jr., Chairman
Patrick Gaffney (absent)
Virgilio Pacelli
Paul Satterfield
Steven Copp (absent)
Charles Auman (absent)
Robert Thompson
DIVISION OF FISH & WILDLIFE
Roy Miller
Rick Cole
Stew Michels
Rich Wong
PUBLIC
9 Visitors
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The meeting was called to order by Chairman Voss at 7:00 PM.
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Agenda Item 1. Approval of Minutes from 3/13/08
Mr. Voss welcomed everyone and introduced new council member Robert Thompson. A motion was made, seconded and carried to approve the minutes from March 13, 2008.
Agenda Item 2. Oyster Licenses and Potential Legislation to Address the Issue of No Ceilings on Licenses Issued
Mr. Voss said he has thought for the last couple of years that a cap should be placed on the issuance of the oyster harvest license because he believes that far too many people have entered this fishery making it much less lucrative for each participant. He commented that with so many new participants each year in this fishery it is conceivable some eligibility requirements are being falsified. He said he contacted Mr. Cole to inquire about capping new licenses for this fishery. Mr. Miller went over some statistics to be considered stating that, for the 2009 oyster season, 169 license holders signed up to receive oyster harvest tags (there were 177 licenses actually issued for 2009) and the bushel allotment for this season is 64 bushels/licensee. In retrospect, the number of oyster harvest licenses sold in 2001 was 84. As the number of oyster harvest licenses issued rises, the number of bushels/licensee declines. Limiting the number of these licenses issued would require legislative action. After a great deal of discussion, Mr. Voss expressed an interest in making a motion, so he requested that Mr. Miller temporarily act as Council Chairman (as per Robert’s Rules of Order). Mr. Miller agreed. Mr. Voss then made a motion to have the DFW draft two proposals; one to establish a cap on new oyster harvest licenses and to make renewal of this license mandatory each year regardless of whether or not there is an oyster harvest season, and the other to allow the transfer of oyster harvest licenses to family members or through the apprenticeship program. This motion was seconded and carried (4-0).
Agenda Item 3. Inappropriate Use of Division Launch Ramps Paid for with W/B Funds When Used for Loading and Unloading Shellfish (this would just be a brief “FYI” for the Shellfish Harvesters)
Mr. Miller requested that commercial watermen be mindful of using the state-maintained tidal boat ramps for commercial purposes. These boat ramps were built using sport-fishing funds, so their primary purpose is for recreational activities. There is no problem with commercial watermen using the ramps as long as they are not there for an inordinate amount of time.
Agenda Item 4. Brief Discussion on the Need for Trip-Based Reporting Rather Than Monthly Reporting for Blue Crab Landings
Mr. Wong stated that knowing the fishing effort that is put into a fishery is vital in evaluating the status of a stock. The possibility for finding potential crises in a stock, and therefore having an ability to implement necessary action to protect that stock, would be dramatically improved with daily reporting. The blue crab fishery is the only shell-fishery that is not reported on a per trip basis. He said it is very important for data collection purposes that he gain further understanding of how many trips are taken by commercial crabbers and, of course, what the daily landings are for those trips. Another advantage of changing to daily reporting is that it would simplify procedures for processing the data since all the shell-fisheries reports would be standardized. Mr. Miller added that the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program has standardized trip-based reporting, so if we changed to trip-based reporting, we would become consistent with their requirements. Mr. Voss commented that he believes data collected from daily reports will be no different than the data from monthly reports, except that a daily reporting requirement would put more burden on the commercial crabbers. Mr. Wong stated there is no question that daily reporting is more accurate than monthly reporting. In general, the commercial watermen present strongly opposed daily reporting for blue crabs.
Agenda Item 5. Consideration of a Possible New Regulation Allowing a Tolerance for Undersized Conchs in Commercial Landings
Mr. Miller stated that there is currently no language in DE Code for the tolerance of undersized knobbed conchs caught commercially. There is a regulation allowing tolerance for undersized smooth conchs. Mr. Miller asked if the Council would like to have similar wording for knobbed conchs. Mr. Voss answered positively, and then asked if this action would have to be put through the legislature. Mr. Miller said that since the wording for smooth conchs was added via Department regulations, this set a precedent to proceed with similar wording for knobbed conchs via the regulatory process, and not via the legislative process. Mr. Cole cautioned that this type of a regulation will allow more conchs to be taken, and this would have a negative impact on the stock which is currently over-fished (fished at a higher rate than the stock can sustain over a long period of time). After some discussion, Mr. Voss recommended that a regulation be prepared allowing a tolerance for undersized knobbed conchs with similar wording to the regulation allowing for undersized smooth conchs.
Agenda Item 6. Topics & Tentative Date for the Next Meeting
Mr. Voss stated that, in the past year, a lack of agenda items has lead to the decision by him and Mr. Miller to not schedule a meeting until now. He said that unless there is good reason to hold a meeting, it makes no sense to do so. He then asked for possible agenda items for a future meeting:
1. Discussion regarding legislation allowing for the transfer of all commercial shellfish licenses.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:25 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Kim Records
Recording Secretary