Federal regulators will decide by Fall whether to allow fish traps to continue crunching up American coral reefs. At two meetings set for mid-August and mid-September, federal fishery managers will evaluate ReefKeeper proposals to reduce the risk of fish trap damage to American coral reefs in the U.S. Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Over 40,000 fish traps are putting American coral reefs off West Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin islands at daily risk of serious damage. To voice your support for reducing fish trap impacts to coral, sign the petition
Fish traps are 2-foot-by-4-foot wire mesh cages used to catch snappers, groupers and other edible reef fish. To catch reef fish, fish traps need to be set near coral reef habitat. And a large proportion of those traps are slamming down on coral! That needs to stop.
Two recent scientific studies prove that over 40% of fish traps set in U.S. coral reef areas off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands land directly on coral (Appeldoorn et. al. 2000, Quandt 1999). Based on government estimates of 20,000 fish traps in use in the U.S. Caribbean, that works out to more than EIGHT THOUSAND traps smashing up coral off Puerto Rico and the USVI every day. But a May 2001 "scoping report" by the U.S. Caribbean Fishery Management Council summarizes those findings by simply stating that "most traps in the studies were not placed on coral reefs." With no more details or numbers given. Downplaying the impacts like that is not helping U.S. Caribbean coral reefs.
The 2 scientific studies also found that large amounts of coral are being damaged by fish traps. One study gauged damage at 10 square centimeters PER WEEK for every trap on coral (Quandt 1999). The other study calculated weekly damage per trap at 70 square centimeters of "complete removal of coral tissue" (Appeldoorn 2000). When those numbers are averaged and then multiplied by the 8,000 traps per week landing on U.S. Caribbean coral, the result is 160,000 square meters (40 acres) of coral damaged (destroyed, really) each and every year! And that does not count damage from hauling up the traps. Or from infection and death of the damaged coral colonies. Alarmingly, at least some federal regulators seem to think that amount of damage is acceptable.
Regulations are very strict on boat anchor damage to even one single coral colony. But the May 2001 preliminary Amendment to the U.S. Caribbean Reef Fish Management Plan discounts the ANNUAL destruction by traps of the equivalent of 40 acres of coral as "little direct impact." To ReefKeeper, that damage is unacceptable and wanton destruction of coral that must be stopped.
ReefKeeper has petitioned the responsible federal agencies to adopt 3 very simple measures.
Now, after 2 years of campaigning, our requests are up for decision at meetings in mid-August and mid-September. You can help persuade the regulators to approve those requests via a letter or a petition.
If you don't think fish traps should continue crunching American coral reefs, let the federal regulators know.
If you can make the time, write and fax or mail your own individual letter to the agencies listed below (they don't accept email public comment).
If that's not possible, sign onto the petition.
But please try to do something before August 14th. Your help could make a crucial difference.
REFERENCES CITED
Appeldoorn R. S., M. Nemeth, J. Vasslides, M. Scharer. February 2000. The effect of Fish Traps on Benthic Habitats off La Parguera, Puerto Rico. Department of Marine Science, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, PR 00681. 29 pages.
Quandt, A. 1999. Assessment of fish trap damage on coral reefs around St. Thomas, USVI. University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas USVI. 14 pages.
FEDERAL AGENCIES TO CONTACT
Caribbean Fishery Management Council 268 Munoz-Rivera Ave # 1108, San Juan PR 00918 Attn: Miguel Rolon, Exec. Director FAX (787)766-6239
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council 3018 U.S. Hwy 301 North # 1000, Tampa, FL 33619 Attn: Wayne Swingle, Exec. Director FAX (813) 225-7015
National Marine Fisheries Service 9721 Exec Center Dr North, St. Petersburg FL 33702 Attn: Dr. Joseph Powers, SE Region Administrator FAX (727) 570-5583 ***********************************************
PLEASE HELP COVER THE COSTS OF OUR END TO FISH TRAPS CAMPAIGN
FOR MORE INFO ON FISH TRAPS, GO TO Reducing impact of wire-mesh fish traps in the US Caribbean Phasing Out Wire Mesh Fish Traps in the Gulf of Mexico