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The U.S. Caribbean: Easing the Pressure
Using wire-mesh fish traps as their principal gear, some 1,000 small-scale fishers working out of ports in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have decimated the region's reef fish stocks, says Alexander Stone, Executive Director of Reefkeeper International: ``Virtually every species of grouper and snapper is commercially extinct in the Caribbean. They're down to the triggerfish and the parrotfish, which graze on algae and inhibit algal overgrowth. How much more can parrotfish be exploited before the habitat is compromised?" Fish trap yields, said St. John resident Darrell Tasman at a recent meeting, are ``down to 1% of what they used to be half a century ago."
Since its founding in 1989, the Miami-based Reefkeeper International has been waging an energetic struggle to reverse the situation and preserve the depleted populations of reef fish in U.S. Caribbean waters. Recently Reefkeeper International joined other conservation groups in filing a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), charging that its regulations governing ``mixed stock" fisheries—such as those in the U.S. Caribbean—allow species under stress to be overfished because they are managed jointly with more abundant stocks of other species. The suit contends that this NMFS practice violates the conservation provisions that the U.S. Congress added in 1996 to the federal fisheries law called the Magnuson Stevens Act.
In addition, Reefkeeper International has been pressing the Caribbean Fishery Management Council to create no-take Marine Fishery Conservation Districts at sites south of St. John and St. Thomas islands, thus preserving spawning stocks and encouraging the replenishment of populations in surrounding areas. Endorsements from 22 local groups have been recorded. Recently a group of fishers advanced an alternative proposal and the Council conducted public hearings to receive testimony about both requests. ``For us it's a win-win situation, says Stone. ``We've been advocating both sides. Creating any of these reserves would be a significant tactical move toward a recovery from overfishing in the region." The Council's decision is expected this summer. Contact Reefkeeper International at Tel. (305) 358-4600. URL: http://www.reefkeeper.org. |
