Guam - Local Fishermen are reeling over the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council's efforts to limit just how much they can catch. "You are taking away people's enjoyment of life, lets be frugal here and have enjoyment, we are not rich but we are rich in fish lets enjoy eating it," said John Tenorio.
 
He's been fishing on Guam since he was five years old. He disagrees with the Council's notion to set limitations on how much he can catch. "What is limitation? God put fish here to catch, eat and survive and now we have limitations, its bad enough they preserve the island in regards to the Tumon and Sasa Bay, this is people's culture, when they talk about culture they just took that culture away," he said.
 
The Council says the annual catch limits apply to fish caught in the Exclusive Economic Zone waters 3 to 200 miles from shore around Hawaii, American Samoa, the CNMI and Guam and is based on the acceptable biological catches recommended by the Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee. "Our island here is small we are surrounded with water, now why do you preserve the water, because on thing fish here in Guam is seasonal, when the biologists count fish on a non-seasonal time of course there's no fish around, you are going to see emptiness, you are going to see a bunch of seaweed just roaming around coral," said Tenorio.
 
"There's always been fish in Guam because we are surrounded by water, c'mon, please lets be realistic here," he added.
 
According to the news release, the 2012 annual catch limits for federally managed species in the US Pacific Island is a requirement by Congress. It's something Tenorio says Guam's fishermen will not give into lightly.
 
"Do that," he warned, "and you are going to have a fight on your hands."