Plovers, sea bass show public’s plight

Multiple-choice quiz: What are true statements about black sea bass and coastal piping plovers?

Choices:

(a) Both are beach residents.

(b) Coastal plovers and sea bass are endangered species.

(c) No one may harvest them.

(d) Many citizens are not happy about how they’re managed.

(e) There are plenty of them, and both are regulated by federal agencies.

If you picked (a) you’d be partially correct because plovers live near the coast, but black sea bass usually are found several miles off the beach, out in the ocean. Neither is endangered, so (b) isn’t true. Black sea bass can be harvested four months each year, piping plovers not at all, so (c) isn’t correct. For (d) a tiny minority of Americans really like the way plovers are managed and about the same number that approves of the way black sea bass are being managed That leaves (e).

Some may dispute total plovers numbers, but the 1991 count showed 1,376 breeding pairs, 2,752 individual birds. But the last plover census in 2011 noted about 2,000 breeding pairs or 4,000 birds, so the population is growing. But you’ll notice, neither count mentions juvenile birds; no one knows immature plover numbers, plus the last plover census missed by 37 percent observing all plovers as some breeding areas are unknown.

Plovers exist from Nova Scotia to Mexico, with Texas having scads of them. Endangered plovers live in the Northern Great Plans and Great Lakes areas. The Environmental Protection Agency lists Atlantic and Gulf Coast plovers only as threatened. Plains and Great Lakes problems are habitat loss and predation — not interactions with off-road-vehicles and people.

Anglers off the North Carolina coast catch dozens of sea bass when fishing for other species, yet the feds ban the recreational harvest of black sea bass harvest eight months each year.

In the matter of plovers, the game-breaker should be the actual number and how many nest at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Only 18 nesting pairs were observed in 2011.

The Park Service, however, isn’t the villain. The agency must follow federal edicts and a judge’s orders, but it plans to provide access to favorite surf-fishing spots such as Buxton’s Cape Point.

The problem is a system that’s been gamed by Defenders of Wildlife and Audubon and a judge bound by a re-interpretation of the park’s founding document that now holds the rights of a handful of birds and turtles above public (and free) access promised to the citizens of the United States in the park’s founding document.

The NMFS also ignores real science in the case of sea bass and bans catching them eight months a year.

Bottom line: When the feds get involved these days, reason usually is directed to the back of the bus.