Some more details re VA's buyback program

[Tom Powers]

http://www.mrc.state.va.us/Notices/BC%20Buy-Back%20Bid%20Summary_Press.pdf

Sorry about the format.  Go to the above .pdf document for details in a more readable format.

Allocation of license buy-back funds among harvester categories.
Harvester
Category Percentage Allocation
Full-Time 50% $3,362,235
Part-Time 30% $2,017,341
Wait List 20% $1,344,894

Summary of the number and value of bids received, by gear and harvester
category.
Harvester Bids Received
Category Gear Number Value
Full-Time Crab Pot 47 $5,405,997
Peeler Pot 27 $1,667,400
Part-Time Crab Pot 234 $13,911,089
Peeler Pot 126 $4,565,229
Wait List Crab Pot 141 $2,866,777
Peeler Pot 90 $2,016,405
Total Crab Pot 422 $22,183,863
Peeler Pot 243 $8,249,034

Statistics summarizing the value of bids received, by gear and harvester
category.
Harvester Bid Statistics
Category Gear Lowest Highest Average Median
Full-Time Crab Pot $6,000 $600,000 $115,021 $82,000
Peeler Pot $5,000 $250,000 $61,756 $40,000
Part-Time Crab Pot $500 $634,000 $59,449 $30,000
Peeler Pot $500 $200,000 $36,232 $20,000
Wait List Crab Pot $1,000 $220,000 $20,332 $10,000
Peeler Pot $500 $300,000 $22,404 $7,998

[kevin g]

The Virginian-Pilot
© November 24, 2009
NEWPORT NEWS

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission will buy back 359 commercial crab licenses as part of an effort to take more than 75,000 crab pots out of the water in an effort to rebuild the species.

It’s an 18 percent reduction in the number of pots permitted for use in Virginia waters, a news release from the Marine Resources Commission said. The licenses will be retired permanently.

Last year, the U.S. Commerce Department proclaimed the Chesapeake Bay’s renowned crab fishery a national disaster, the first such declaration in Virginia history.

Declining stocks of blue crabs, especially females, over the past 15 years motivated the governors of Virginia and Maryland to press for deep catch restrictions last year in hope of sparking a comeback.

Surveys indicate the crackdown worked, with adult populations nearly doubling between 2008 and 2009.

Using $6.7 million in federal money, the state began a license buyback program, letting crabbers submit non-negotiable bids to sell their licenses back to the state. The crabbers submitted the lowest offer they would accept for the purchase of their license.

Bids varied from $500 to $634,000. Accepted bids ranged from $500 to $175,000. Purchase priority was given for the licenses used most often and the number of pots permitted for each license, in order to reduce the fishing effort in the most cost-efficient manner, the news release said.

A total of 664 bids were received by the Nov. 1 deadline, the news release said. Of those, 359 licenses were accepted for buyback. There will still be 1,649 licenses in circulation.

Those 359 licenses came from 59 full-time commercial crabbers, 131 part-time crabbers and 169 crabbers who had not used their licenses since 2004 and were put on a waiting list until the crab population rebounds and stabilizes at high levels for three consecutive years.

In total, the buybacks will remove 75,441 licensed crab pots from the water. There were 423,000 crab pots licensed in Virginia.

[Crabslayer]

The Virginian-Pilot
© November 24, 2009
NEWPORT NEWS


Surveys indicate the crackdown worked, with adult populations nearly doubling between 2008 and 2009.

I'd like to see the ACTUAL data as this year's catch results do not support what was published.

[kevin g]

Those 359 licenses came from 59 full-time commercial crabbers, 131 part-time crabbers and 169 crabbers who had not used their licenses since 2004 and were put on a waiting list until the crab population rebounds and stabilizes at high levels for three consecutive years.

In total, the buybacks will remove 75,441 licensed crab pots from the water.
                                              
The usual VMRC Fuzzy math!!!!!!!!33,409 pots are not even licensed their on a waiting list!!!!

[genecrabman]

Mixing Politics and Math never works out... Only working people and Taxpayers LOSE...

[jack1747]

For immediate release
Nov. 23, 2009
Contact: John M.R. Bull
757-247-2269 (office)
757-509-0969 (cell)
NEWPORT NEWS, VA. – The Virginia Marine Resources Commission will buy back 359
commercial crab licenses, in a historic action to take more than 75,000 crab pots off the water as
part of a multi-year species rebuilding effort.
The licenses will be retired permanently. The removal of 75,441 licensed crab pots represents an
almost 20 percent reduction in the number of pots permitted for use in Virginia waters.
“This far surpassed our expectations,’’ said VMRC Commissioner Steven G. Bowman. “This is a
great long-term benefit for this environmentally and economically important species.”
The license buyback program closed on Nov. 1. A total of 664 bids were received, in the first
ever so-called reverse auction in which crabbers submitted non-negotiable bids and gave the
lowest offer they would accept for the purchase of their licenses.
The bids were analyzed and matched to the harvest histories of each bidder. Purchase priority
was given for the licenses used most often, and number of pots permitted for each license, in
order to reduce the fishing effort in the most cost-efficient manner.
Acceptance letters to the holders of the 359 licenses accepted for the buyback were mailed on
Nov. 20. Checks will be written within the next few weeks.
Payments will be made from a pool of $6.7 million appropriated by the federal government as
part of a blue crab disaster designation by the National Marine Fisheries Service last year. The
VMRC’s license buyback program was enthusiastically approved by NMFS.
License buyback offers were accepted from 59 full-time commercial crabbers, 131 part-time
crabbers and 169 crabbers who had not used their licenses since 2004 and were put on a waiting
list until the crab population rebounds and stabilizes at high levels for three consecutive years.
Those full-time crabbers held licenses that permitted the use of 14,299 crab pots; 27,733 pots for
part-timers; and 33,409 for those on the waiting list.
“It is especially important to ensure the long-term viability of our rebuilding efforts to retire
licenses held by those on the waiting list. When the overall crab population returns to abundance,
those licenses could significantly undermine the stability of the stock if they were put back in
use,’’ said VMRC Fisheries Chief Jack Travelstead. “This is money well spent for the future of
this fishery.”
Removing 75,441 crab pots from circulation is a reduction of 18 percent of the 423,000 crab pots
that had been licensed for use in Virginia waters.
Retiring 359 crab licenses from the books will leave 1,649 licenses in circulation, including 314
licenses that cannot currently be used because they are on a waiting list. The number of crab
licenses issued was capped in 1998.
The bids received varied widely. Full-time crabber bids ranged from $5,000 to $600,000; parttimer
bids ranged from $500 to $634,000; and bids from those on the waiting list ranged from
$500 to $300,000.
The accepted bids ranged from $500 to $175,000.
Last year, the VMRC and Maryland officials confronted a dangerously low crab population and
enacted a bay-wide 34 percent harvest reduction strategy in an effort to rebuild a stock in danger
of crashing in the event of a single poor year of reproduction.
At that point, the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab population had plummeted 70 percent since 1993.
The VMRC banned the winter dredging of crabs last year and this year, shortened the season for
harvest of female crabs, required larger escape rings on crab pots, and enacted a waiting list for
inactive licenses.
Within a year, the bay-wide adult crab population doubled, according to a scientific crab
population survey that has proven over decades to be highly accurate. Results of this winter’s
survey will guide the VMRC in future crab management decisions.
“We are stewards of our marine resources and we take our jobs seriously,” said Bowman. “We
will do what is necessary.”

[jack1747]

Those 359 licenses came from 59 full-time commercial crabbers, 131 part-time crabbers and 169 crabbers who had not used their licenses since 2004 and were put on a waiting list until the crab population rebounds and stabilizes at high levels for three consecutive years.

In total, the buybacks will remove 75,441 licensed crab pots from the water.
                                              
The usual VMRC Fuzzy math!!!!!!!!33,409 pots are not even licensed their on a waiting list!!!!

They are licensed pots.  The license is on the list of unfishable licenses because of unuse since 2004 (waiting list). 

[kevin g]

It was a [Sam Hill] of a deal several of my friends are getting between $100,000-$150,000 and had extra licenses in family members names so they'll keep on crabbing as usual

[Mikie]

Good to see some watermen getting some of the government give away instead of just Wall Street, commercial banks and auto makers. Now, if I could just figure out a way to get mine!