The intent here, as presented and discussed at the commission meeting was to basically freeze the policy at the 2018 stage, and suspend the provisions in the final stage of transition to full implementation in 2019.
But they made it even worse. Instead of just "freezing" the policy, Kehoe's amendment has now been interpreted to mean STRIKING all the dates that constrain gillnets..... not just leaving them at 2018 status. They no longer have to wait until Sept 16 in 2T/U, or Sept 7 in 2M/N. They don't have to wait at all! Gillnets in August would be totally fine. J F C..... GDITMMM!
A credible source states the WB portion of the PFMC negotiations was completed today. I suspect a news release sometime tomorrow as part of a larger post PFMC media-release.
I'll credit staff for hearing our recommendations, in particular the objections of rec advisors to all the new commercial leeway approved by the commission last weekend. Pleased to report that our worst fears did NOT come to pass, so we can all breathe a sigh of relief.
Although the date restrictions were lifted as noted in my previous post, in order to stay within the 20% impact cap THERE ARE NO NETTING DAYS IN AUGUST scheduled for the 2019 season. The entrenched North Bay fishery is spared from nets until Sept 16 to avoid gear conflict between the sectors... just as we've done in the past. And the South Bay has only 2 net days during Labor Day week. Moreover, the highly controversial "control zone" closure will not be in effect for 2019.
We can finally all look forward to getting our lines wet!
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)
"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)
The Keen Eye MDLong Live the Kings!
Previous Topic
Index
