Excellent stuff!
Read this.
It once again describes the problem and it also provides for a great template for any comments you may want to post to the relevant NOAA page.
The all-important statement is
I oppose the proposed rule that the 2014 Atlantic Shark Commercial Fishing Season open on January 1 based on its negative effect on the regional lemon shark aggregation off the coast of Jupiter, Florida. To relieve fishing pressure on a highly vulnerable, breeding population of lemon sharks, I request the fishing season revert to the original opening date of July 1st, after the completion of the annual birth cycle and when the seasonal distribution of lemon sharks is less concentrated geographically.
After which you can add whatever you wish.
Without the reference to changing the season back to July, your comment is basically worthless - and having checked, too many of the comments are still not much more than generic sharkitarian fluff.
That is step one.
Step two should consist in advocating a seasonal fishing closure and/or gear ban around the Jupiter aggregation site, much like what is being done for the Fish spawning aggregations. Like there, the rationale would be that targeting the breeding stock of a particular population is generally bad for the fishery depending on it.
Any takers?
Comments close on Monday September 23.
1 comment:
Thanks for posting! Here's hoping it will lead to relevant, meaningful comments before the September 23 deadline!
Also, please note that the blog was a joint effort of Shark Savers and Bimini Biological Field Station -- the Shark Lab. Without excellent input, data, edits and guidance from them, a compelling, sound argument for changing the opening commercial fishing date back to July 1st, instead of January 1st, would not be possible.
This is good example of using data for direct application to advocacy for conservation. Many thanks to Doc Gruber, Steve Kessel and their whole team!
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