Site Search:

A letter from Capt. Gary Jarvis - August 2009

Thanks for checking out the SOS web site. I appreciate the fact that you care enough about your businesses to research for yourself what will be the best course of action to protect your investment in time, money and life's passion to become a professional fisherman. The whole time SOS has been involved together as individual Charter boat owners and Captains we have stayed true to the concept of truth and transparency. As we got together to try and formulate our individual ideas on a better course for the charter for hire industry to go in and bring it into a cohesive plan that would benefit all charter for hire fishermen, we knew that there would be resistance to our ideas on ways to make our plan even better. The SOS plan as it now is called, has continued to evolve as individuals like you have gotten involved with the politics of fishery management and helped formulate practical ways to improve the long term outlook for the Charter for hire industry.

We have, through the development of good ideas and hard work, gotten the Gulf Council to take a hard look at the unsuccessful status quo fish management practices to see if there was a better way to manage our fishery. The discussion about data collection, sector separation, and allocations have been the most proactive that we have seen in a quite some time. A new attitude on how to and how soon we can improve the fishery and the charter for-hire industry has given some of us o'l salts a glimmer of hope that our industry has a chance to benefit the next generation of men and women that want to work and make a living on the water.

Unfortunately, as one of the spokespersons for our plan, I have been the target of detrimental comments and accusations about my character , my professional abilities as a fisherman, and my associations with people and organizations, and even if I am the author of these agonizing one finger at a time e-mails and statements. The last accusation is the one that really hacks me the most, just to get this far in this letter has taken me about 25 minutes.

As we began this plan just 2 years ago we understood that it would be hard, time consuming, frustrating and at times, over our heads when it came the politics and procedures of the NMFS, but we were so desperate as businessmen that we began anyway. During the early process when we were communicating back and forth about different ideas and plans I wrote a few e-mails to the few captains I know about my ideas concerning the demise of our businesses. You can see one of them here, I wrote them and made them public in Feb -March of 2007, that was about 8 months before we presented the SOS plan to the Ad Hoc Recreational Red Snapper AP panel in New Orleans. A short time after, I sent those e-mails to Capt David Krebs of Arial seafood who then forwarded it to Pam Baker of EDF. Pam and David had worked together to come up with a plan to stop the insane fishing derby that was negatively impacting the commercial fishing industry.

In late June almost 4 months after my e-mails began our discussions and before we had our plan on paper, Jeff Barger who works with Pam at EDF contacted me and wanted to meet and talk and learn more about the ideas presented in my letters and to see if there were any common issues that we could combine resources on. He stated that our ideas not only had conservation oriented plans but that it was the first time that anyone in the recreational sector came up with ideas to be accountable for what they harvest and desired sound scientific applications to accomplish it. It was through these discussions and follow-up meetings that involved several captains from Orange Beach, Destin, Panama City and surrounding areas that gave rise to the SOS plan, a comprehensive plan to turn our ideas into a workable solution to the serious problems facing our industry.

If you have followed fish politics and know the difficulties and procedural applications that any group or person has to go through, it is easy to see that we need any advice we can get to speed things up because of the impending issues with ACL and AM's. And in these economic times we are in, any delays that could be avoided by making mistakes from lack of knowledge of the NMFS process is critical due to our industry withering away on the vine due to fishing regulations and the economy affecting our industry.

In the fishery management process you will not have much success with the Gulf Council, NMFS or the environmental groups unless you have a sound conservation minded plan. Our plan is sound and with help from EDF we have stayed front and center with this council trying to resolve years of frustration to accomplish something that will benefit us. For this, those opposed to our plan have taken shots at me at a regular basis. I am now getting used to it but had to write this letter for those who desire to know the truth, these are the facts:

  1. EDF came to us to offer help in putting a together a plan that they could support;
     
  2. We vetted them out and examined their track record. When it comes to helping fishermen make more money, fish more efficiently, and overall be more successful, their successes are well documented – see for yourself, go to their web site – www.edf.org;
     
  3. They gave us help only when we asked for it, they offered opinions, some we listened to other we did not;
     
  4. I have not received any paid salary or job compensation from EDF for my efforts, however, have squeezed some beers and a few meals out of Jeff for putting up with him;
     
  5. EDF has paid for travel expenses for some of us to go to Washington twice to meet with our elected representatives to help get our message across;
     
  6. I have not asked you or anyone else for money to go to all these other meetings. All other expenses have been on my dime as well as the other SOS spokespersons who pay their own way. It has and continues to be expensive, but for me it is part of my cost to do business and protect our future;
     
  7. I will not ask any of you to give me money, only to come and participate and share the work load to protect your business and customers;
     
  8. I will continue to challenge all of you to get involved. It is time for you to fight your own fight. We ask for your support and will stand with you to protect our ability to be successful;
     
  9. I will ask, and hopefully receive, help from any organization that has the improved health and well being of the fishery stocks AND those of us who rely on the healthy fishery in their interest;
     
  10. It will be above board and transparent and I make no apology for recognizing my weakness in certain knowledge and the lack of resources to battle the NMFS to save our industry;
     
  11. And that includes getting any for help for travel to go back to Washington DC or Tampa, Port Aransas or wherever I need to go to talk to men and women like yourself to work to protect our livelihoods. 

In my life as a husband, father, Captain and boat owner, volunteer high school wrestling and soccer coach, even a t-ball coach, I have always tried to use any and all resources that would help me be the best I could be at all of these endeavors. I have always relied on people who can or have the abilities to teach me or help me do good things for those who have put trust in me. Be it my wife, my Sons, customers, friends, or athletes. For all who have had contact with me and have wanted me to help them or rely on me, I have always taken this approach. Of course every time I try to go it alone failure is not far behind and my life partner and wife Pam will attest to this statement of fact. And this is how and why not only I, but the other charter for hire Captains that you see on our supporter list have made no apology for the relationship we have with EDF and any other organization that has come to support us and encourage us to move forward. And provide us with skills, resources or recommendations in this effort to move in a positive direction. For us, it only makes good business sense.

I believe this should answer some of the accusations, more are sure to come, all up to now have been half truths at best most are out right lies. Whether it is jealousy, power plays, plain old fighting for as much as they can get or the lack of knowledge about the dilemma that we are in the things said about our efforts are far from the truth. In the future be careful what you hear and always talk to the person being accused. Please feel free to contact me directly - it is always best to check things out for yourself. And, as Paul Harvey always said, "And now you know the rest of the story.”

Capt. Gary Jarvis