It looks like NMFS is taking issue with Grensticks used on Gen Cat boats in NC.
Green sticks issue has become sticky wicket
BY SUSAN WEST | SENTINEL STAFF
Illustration courtesy of
http://www.alltackle.com
Captain Fred Fox couldn't have been more surprised last month when National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) told him he would need longline fishing permits if he planned to continue to use a green stick to catch bluefin tuna.
"I've been using a green stick since the early 90s, and this was never an issue until this year," said the Wanchese fisherman.
Like Fox, other Outer Banks tuna fishermen have fished with green sticks under a general category, highly migratory angling, or highly migratory charter-boat tuna permit.
Although green stick gear is not defined in the federal regulations, a notice issued by NMFS in October states that the gear can be used to catch tunas and other highly migratory species.
The catch for Fox and other fishermen is that green sticks with three or more leaders are considered longline gear by NMFS.
And, to use longline gear to fish for tunas, NMFS requires three permits -- swordfish, shark, and tuna longline permits.
The sticky wicket for fishermen like Fox is that NMFS doesn't sell those permits, all three of which fall under limited access control. Fishermen need to find another fisherman willing to sell his or her permits.
The wicket gets stickier in light of the fact that longliners aren't allowed to target bluefin tuna, and NMFS has set a scale to control the incidental take of bluefin in the longline fishery.
Under that ratio, longliners can catch one bluefin for every 2,000 pounds of targeted catch, two for every 6,000 pounds, and three for every 30,000 pounds.
"I know that NMFS is interested in solving this issue," said Louis Daniel, special assistant to the director of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.
"I hope that can be done in an upcoming amendment with the development of a definition of green sticks that supports the use of this environmentally friendly gear," Daniel said.
Green sticks are fiberglass poles, running anywhere from 35 to 45 feet long and mounted to a boat's deck. A main line is attached to the pole and lures or baits on leader lines are snapped to the main line. The line is towed and the baits skip across the water's surface.
"A green stick is not a longline, even with seven or eight baits," explained longliner Jeff Oden.
"Green sticks are towed, and longlines aren't. Plus, baits on green sticks are not suspended in the water," explained the Hatteras fisherman.
Charles Midgett of Wanchese is credited with pioneering their use on the Outer Banks. Midgett first saw the sticks while on vacation in Hawaii in 1986, and worked for several years perfecting the gear.
A green stick can be green or purple or black or any other color. The gear is named for the olive hue of the original poles used by the Japanese.
ridgeroad@earthlink.net 
NMFS and Greensticks 
