Hypocrisy in Politics

           

One of the more discouraging aspects of politics is the unapologetic hypocrisy displayed by politicians and political parties. The examples are numerous and neither party has a monopoly on hypocrisy. Whenever one party is in power, it seems to excel in hypocrisy partly because the members actually have to govern and not just pontificate.

A recent article in USA Today points out the hypocritical statements from politicians representing poor states like Alabama and Kentucky about reducing spending when their states are totally dependent on federal funds. Here is the last paragraph from: Time to Unload Kentucky, Steven Straus, USA Today, June 7, 2017.

“One major reason for the U.S. government's dysfunction is the GOP's hypocritical grandstanding about wanting smaller government and running America like a business when, in fact, it [GOP] needs big federal government programs such as the military, Medicaid, food stamps and farm subsidies to keep many of its supporters afloat. If Republicans really believe in the snake oil they've been selling, it's time to show it. If not, it's well past time for them to stop their empty ranting. As Shakespeare would have said, it increasingly sounds like a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

I would note that the same could be said of Democrats during the Clinton era.

Red Snapper – Don’t Forget the Past

It is quite popular among anglers, politicians, and talk show hosts to blast NOAA Fisheries in regards to red snapper management. While it is clear that there is much room for improvement, the mostly uninformed, extreme criticism creates an atmosphere (like much of our current politics), that in the end, may not give the best results.

Let’s start with a very brief history of management. When I moved to Lower Alabama in 1983, the concept of the federal fishery management councils actually regulating fisheries was just catching on. The Councils were established in 1976 to help National Marine Fisheries manage fish stocks as mandated by the Magnuson Stevens Act. The thrust of the Act was to promote and protect the US commercial fishing industry and had some lofty wording such as “preventing overfishing while … . achieving the optimum yield”.  There wasn’t much guidance about how to do this and the various Councils (guided by NOAA) began to establish Fishery Management Plans (FMP), usually for the most high profile stocks.

In the early 1980’s it was pretty darn hard for an average recreational fisherman to catch a red snapper (small boats, maybe had Loran C, and few structures) and both the charter guys and commercial fishermen recognized there was a problem.  There was not a lot of hard data besides commercial landings records but enough concern for the Gulf Council to create a FMP. The first FMP that addressed red snapper was completed in 1981 but not implemented until 1984. The delay in part was due to opposition to almost any restrictions by some fishermen.

This radical plan limited recreational fishermen to minimize a size of 13 in (but 5 under the limit were allowed) and charter boats were exempted till 1987.

The FMP was amended in 1990 to include:  a red snapper 13-inch total length minimum size limit, 7-fish recreational bag limit and 3.1 million-pound commercial quota that together were to reduce fishing mortality by 20 percent and begin a rebuilding program for that stock. Again there was a huge outcry by some against these unnecessary regulation and government intrusion on “the right to fish”.

Since those early management efforts there have been numerous amendments to the plan and the Magnuson Stevenson Act (as voted by your US Congress) was strengthened (perhaps over strengthened in some cases) to prevent overfishing and rebuild stocks in a timely manner. Every amendment to the FMP has been opposed by those who felt they were wrongly being harmed.

Despite all the opposition over the years, an average angler (with a larger boat, GPS and numerous structures) can now easily catch two 20 inch snapper weighing 6 pounds or more and we see pictures of much  larger fish all the time. The current population of red snapper would not have been possible without federal fishery management.  

In the 1980’s the Gulf states did not have the resources or the political will to even think about regulating offshore fish stocks. Of course they did not have the authority but its hard to imagine they could have, or would have, taken the steps necessary to rebuild red snapper.

Those that foam at the mouth over current federal management should remember there would not be anything to foam about if the stocks were not rebuilt to the incredible levels that have been achieved in the last 8 or so years.

Any government agency is an easy target when we don’t like the regulations etc.  but history has repeatedly shown that we are not very good at self-regulation when it comes to public resources. Strong oversight is necessary to prevent overfishing.

That said, the very restrictive bag and season limits implemented to rebuild the snapper stock may not be needed as the stock approaches healthy status. Some of the old assumptions built into the rebuilding plan may not be true or not applicable to the current Gulf ecosystem. But no one should think that we can have long fishing seasons or significantly increased bag limits. There are too many of us anglers with too much fishing power to sustain a healthy population if we are not constrained more than we would like.