Posts Tagged ‘red snapper’
Mountain of evidence points to allocation increases for recreational anglers in the Gulf
With the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council set to review allocations for Gulf red snapper and grouper during its meeting this week in Tampa, Coastal Conservation Association has presented a summary of 19 studies going back to 2000 that show the economic benefits of shifting a greater portion of the allocation of these two species to the recreational sector. All of the studies, conducted by private, academic and government scientists, have been presented to the Gulf Council previously and the Council has chosen to take no affirmative action.
“We’re not talking about one or two studies, we’re talking about an overwhelming body of work spanning more than a decade by some of the most respected economists in fisheries management,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “The best available economic science clearly supports increasing the recreational allocation. It is difficult to understand why NOAA Fisheries has not acted on these studies before now to produce the best possible outcome for the economies of the Gulf states and for the nation.”
CCA supports basing allocations on modern economic and demographic criteria that reflect current and future realities for these fisheries rather than outdated catch histories. Management schemes that give away public resources through measures such as sector separation and catch shares lock-in outdated allocations to individual businesses, making those resources subsequently unavailable to respond to economic and demographic changes.
“We urge NOAA Fisheries to use the considerable economic information it has in hand to increase opportunities for the entire recreational sector, comprised of hundreds of thousands of anglers,” said Brewer. “Recreational angling is an economic engine that should be enhanced during these tough economic times that are impacting every sector of our society. These 19 studies indicate that a relatively simple allocation shift would immediately produce economic benefits to anglers and the businesses that depend on them.”
CCA supplied the summary of economic data to Gulf Council members and NOAA staff in a letter to Council Chairman Robert Gill. CCA urged the Council to act on the information and look objectively towards maximizing the benefits generated for the entire nation by these valuable marine resources.
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Tags: grouper, Gulf of Mexico, reallocation, red snapper
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
As the debate winds down on whether Gulf states will be consistent with federal regulations for the 2012 red snapper season in the Gulf of Mexico – 40-days (tops) and a two-fish bag limit – it once again brings the conversation around to what seems to be the best solution of all: “Why don’t we just extend state waters out to 30 miles or 100 miles or 200 miles for fisheries management and be done with it?”
Implicit in that statement is acknowledgement of NOAA Fisheries deep-rooted problems in federal fisheries management and a belief in the states’ ability to do it better. It is a concept that is hard to argue with if you’re a recreational angler. Consider that after decades of effort by NOAA Fisheries, participants in the red snapper fishery are being rewarded with a 40-day season (tops) and two-fish bag limit. That is about as bad as it has ever been, and that is with a fishery that by all accounts is recovering wildly. The current situation merely confirms that NOAA Fisheries may not be any better at managing success than it was at managing failure. After all, it took a couple of lawsuits and an Act of God (Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005) to finally turn the red snapper fishery around, and yet federal managers had to make the rounds in 2012 to beg the Gulf states to be content with a 40-day season and a two-fish bag limit.
In a blog earlier this year, we said that trust in federal fisheries management was at an all-time low, which was based in part on developments exactly like this. Thirty years of federal futility have brought us to this point with red snapper, where we have state agencies grappling with a devil’s choice of staying consistent with wholly unsatisfactory federal regulations or going inconsistent and bringing on a raft of different problems. After all the time, money, effort and stress over this fishery, there is still no good answer for the states. It’s like being asked if you want to have your leg amputated or your arm.
Inconsistency creates all kinds of negatives – from enforcement to conservation, and it definitely bites charter boats and other federally permitted boats. However, states staying consistent for recreational anglers means staying on board a ship that is slowly sinking with no lifeboats in sight. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
What an awful position for the state fish and wildlife agencies to be in, through no fault of their own. One would hope that the federal government will grasp the take-home message from the states that seriously considered non-compliance this year – fix this fishery, once and for all. Come up with something that makes sense for the resource and sense for recreational anglers. Do it now – not in five more years or ten more years or twenty more years. Now.
Failing that, here’s an idea – why don’t we extend state waters out for fishery management purposes and be done with it?
Tags: non-compliance, red snapper
Posted in CCA Federal Fisheries, CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
As hard as it might be to believe, management of the Gulf red snapper fishery reached a new level of frustration this week. At its meeting in Mobile, the Gulf Council announced that the overall quota of red snapper harvest will be increased, but the 2012 season will likely be the shortest ever, perhaps no more than 40 days.
Why?
Well, the fishery is rebounding beyond all hopes and expectations. It’s a smashing success story by almost any definition…. except the one used by NOAA Fisheries. There are more red snapper out there than anyone can explain, and the fish are much bigger than anyone thought they would be at this point in the rebuilding plan. Anglers are catching big, fat red snapper so fast we are reaching our quota even before the meager allotment of days set for our season elapses. The only answer NOAA Fisheries has to offer is to keep cutting days off our season so that anglers stay within their limits.
You would think that someone would stop to question if this is what they ought to be doing and, admirably, some Gulf Council members are doing just that. It is more than past time to ponder the lunacy of closing a highly prized fishery for at least 325 days – one that appears to have more fish in it than at any time in recent memory. Especially since Council staffers are looking for “something radical” to exert even more control in the future – something like tags or one-fish bag limits, according to Roy Crabtree, NOAA regional administrator. And, that is not what we need.
Rather than searching for the next level of control, there are better questions to ask here: Is this really how we want to manage our fisheries? What does success look like? What exactly is the goal here?
Somewhere along the way, the idea of managing the oceans like ordered aquariums came into the equation. Federal law currently compels managers to act in ways that seem designed to drive recreational anglers right off the water, and managers seems defiantly content to do so. That kind of rote pursuit of a goal, regardless of the consequences, is what is driving anglers into the streets to protest.
There is nothing wrong with stepping back and asking if this is the right path – if this is what anyone could possibly have had in mind when Magnuson-Stevens was reauthorized in 2006. That is not what’s happening. To the contrary, managers are thinking up even more ways to gain greater and greater control to count every fish and cap every fishery, without ever stopping to wonder if it is feasible or even if it is the right thing to do.
As evidenced by yet another unbelievable Gulf Council meeting, federal fisheries management doesn’t need a Band-Aid or even “radical” surgery.
It needs a completely new vision.
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Tags: gulf council, Magnuson-Stevens Act, red snapper
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
Panel continues to push recreational-based catch share agenda
In a letter to the chairman of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, Coastal Conservation Association is asking the Council to reject the recommendations of the Limited Access Privilege Program Advisory Panel (LAPP AP) and abandon consideration of sector separation and catch share experiments in Gulf reef fish fisheries.
“The recreational anglers who participated in this panel have been greatly frustrated with Council-generated directives and LAPP AP agenda templates that were predetermined to achieve a particular outcome,” wrote Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “In the end, the panel has come up with a result that is opposed by almost the entire Gulf of Mexico for-hire sector, as well as the private boat angling sector.”
The LAPP AP was originally tasked by the Gulf Council with looking at Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ)/catch share programs for the “other species in the reef fish management unit” across sectors, but its scope was subsequently broadened significantly. Its focus evolved to include pilot programs to give a portion of the recreational red snapper quota to the for-hire fleet under a concept known as sector separation, which breaks the recreational sector into private boat anglers and charter/for-hire businesses.
“At the core of the report from the LAPP AP is the issue of taking red snapper quota away from the overall recreational sector to allow a tiny segment of the fishery to increase its economic viability,” says Brewer. “We see no effort by the Council to increase the financial viability of the entire fishery by maximizing the economic value available. NOAA Fisheries’ own analysis shows that the only way the Council will increase the number of days the for-hire vessels can fish for red snapper will be by taking fish away from the millions of private anglers along the Gulf Coast.”
CCA is asking the Council to focus instead on management measures such as completing the five-year review of the red snapper IFQ program, along with a review of red snapper allocation and the exploration of methods to exchange IFQ shares across sectors, all of which are mandated by the NOAA Catch Shares Policy. Similarly the Council should proceed with the timely completion of Amendment 28 and reallocate grouper between the recreational and commercial sector in order to create jobs and increased economic value from this fishery as well.
“We hope that the Council will recognize the extreme disconnect between the conclusions reached by this predisposed AP and the sentiments of the vast angling public,” says Brewer. “We urge the Council to abandon consideration of an unpopular and unnecessary program that caters to a tiny fragment of the fishery and instead focus on management measures that will create the greatest economic, conservation and social benefits.”
Click HERE for a copy of the CCA letter to the Gulf Council.
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CCA is the largest marine resource conservation group of its kind in the nation. With almost 100,000 members in 17 state chapters, CCA has been active in state, national and international fisheries management issues since 1977. For more information visit the CCA Newsroom at www.JoinCCA.org.
Tags: gulf council, LAPP AP, red snapper, sector separation
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico, Catch Shares | 6 Comments »
CCA applauds Gulf governors’ efforts on behalf of recreational anglers
Red snapper season in the Gulf is just around the corner, and if Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other Gulf state governors have their way, it will be a bit longer than anyone expected. In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill last summer, the recreational angling sector fell short of catching its quota of red snapper by almost one-third. Gov. Perry, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and Florida Gov. Rick Scott have all presented letters to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council urging that more than one million pounds of red snapper uncaught in 2010 be added to the 2011 season.
“We are writing to urge the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council to recommend adding the 2010 uncaught recreational quota for red snapper to the 2011 quota to increase the projected length of the season,” Gov. Scott writes. “Given the present economic condition of Florida, we believe the addition of this quota, and the extension of the season, would provide a much needed economic boost to this region that is still recovering from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.”
“I acknowledge the red snapper population is currently being rebuilt and understand the strict calculations used in setting commercial and recreational quotas,” Gov. Perry writes. “As such, I ask that you consider the region’s economic recovery and health of the fishery in considering my request. By building on the leftover 2010 quota, I believe we are satisfying both requirements, and I look forward to your swift and favorable action.”
Red snapper are an exceptionally popular sportfish, and have been the subject of federal management for more than two decades. After years of frustration, setbacks and sacrifice for recreational anglers, the population of red snapper is on a steady path to recovery, although strict rebuilding guidelines are still in effect to reach rebuilding goals set by fisheries managers. The red snapper season in 2010 was the shortest on record at just 53 days, even though anglers almost universally report a booming red snapper fishery in the Gulf.
“We are truly grateful to Gov. Perry and his staff for standing up for recreational anglers on this issue,” said CCA Texas Executive Director Robby Byers. “He is exactly on target – we need to be mindful of the health of the fishery, but with the underage from last year and the robust recovery our members are witnessing in the Gulf, it would be a tremendous boost to the region to create more opportunities for angling offshore. Gov. Perry continues to be an excellent friend to Texas’ anglers.”
Governor Rick Scott’s Letter
Governor Rick Perry’s Letter
Governor Bobby Jindal’s Letter
CCA is the largest marine resource conservation group of its kind in the nation. With almost 100,000 members in 17 state chapters, CCA has been active in state, national and international fisheries management issues since 1977. For more information visit the CCA Newsroom at www.JoinCCA.org.
Tags: Gulf governors, red snapper
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
CCA’s call for reallocation could provide much-needed relief for recreational anglers
GULFPORT, MS – The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has taken a long-awaited first step toward addressing outdated allocations between the commercial and recreational sectors in the grouper and red snapper fisheries. During its meeting this week in Gulfport, the Council voted to begin an amendment on grouper allocations, and to review red snapper allocations and transferability options at its next meeting in April.
“This is something that Coastal Conservation Association has been working on for a long time, and it is a significant development for recreational anglers,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “Frozen allocations based on ‘realities’ that no longer exist have plagued recreational anglers for decades. Crafting forward-looking allocations for these fisheries based on current and future economic, social and conservation criterion is the foundation of sensible management.”
CCA has maintained that economic data should be a key part of how allocations are determined for important mixed-use fisheries that have both commercial and recreational participation. The posterchild for the problems that exist with outdated allocations is Gulf red snapper, where about 300 commercial boats take 51 percent of the total harvest every year, while hundreds of thousands of recreational anglers are left with the remaining 49 percent.
To emphasize the point on reallocation, CCA commissioned an economic study by Gentner Consulting Group in 2009 that revealed the maximum economic value of the Gulf grouper fishery would be achieved by a significant shift of the allocation to the recreational sector. The study, conducted by Brad Gentner, who ran the recreational economics data collection program for the National Marine Fisheries Service for eight years before starting his own company, showed the fishery would yield far more jobs and economic output from a greater recreational allocation.
“CCA has always advocated that the fishery management councils look at how they want these fisheries to look in the future, instead of reflecting an outdated past based on catch histories,” said Brewer. “There is a lot of hard work still to be done, but this is a very encouraging sign that federal fisheries managers are finally willing to work on a forward-leaning management philosophy. It could be the answer to a lot of the problems anglers are seeing in the Gulf and elsewhere.”
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CCA is the largest marine resource conservation group of its kind in the nation. With almost 100,000 members in 17 state chapters, CCA has been active in state, national and international fisheries management issues since 1977. For more information visit the CCA Newsroom at www.JoinCCA.org.
Tags: grouper, reallocation, red snapper
Posted in CCA Federal Fisheries, CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
Snapper and shrimp booming in the Gulf
A report to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council on shrimp trawl effort at the Council’s meeting in October indicates that a variety of factors are combining to create the best of all worlds for anglers and the Gulf. The analysis indicates that while shrimping effort is down 78 percent from the three-year average before Hurricane Katrina, the spawning stock for brown and white shrimp is the highest ever and the shrimp industry as a whole had a very profitable year last year.
“At the same time, red snapper stocks are rebounding nicely, with many anglers saying they have never seen as many snapper as they are seeing today,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “These are not unrelated events. Before the ruling, a significant percentage of every year class of red snapper died in shrimp trawls when they were just a few inches long. We have fought NOAA Fisheries and the shrimp industry to get to this point for more than two decades, but when the resource is healthy, everyone benefits.”
In 2007, Coastal Conservation Association won a landmark decision when a federal district court judge ruled that NOAA Fisheries had violated the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act by its continuing failure to take timely and appropriate steps to rebuild red snapper stocks in the Gulf of Mexico or to regulate the harm to red snapper caused by shrimp fishing. The judge’s ruling overturned a 2005 rebuilding plan for red snapper because it failed to address and regulate the shrimp fishing industry. While the 2005 hurricane season, a slowing economy, and high fuel prices reduced shrimping effort markedly, regulations enacted as a result of the CCA lawsuit have held the line to keep wasteful bycatch under control.
“The result of that lawsuit was the most significant bycatch reduction measures ever imposed on the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fleet, which set the foundation for the steady recovery of Gulf red snapper stocks that we are seeing today,” said Russell Nelson, CCA’s Gulf Fisheries consultant. “The shrimp industry is finally causing less damage, and yet shrimpers are catching big, valuable shrimp and anglers are seeing huge numbers of red snapper. It’s been a hard fight to get here and now we have to make sure we stay on the path so everyone continues to reap the benefits.”
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CCA is the largest marine resource conservation group of its kind in the nation. With almost 100,000 members in 17 state chapters, CCA has been active in state, national and international fisheries management issues since 1977. For more information visit the CCA Newsroom at www.JoinCCA.org.
Tags: bycatch reduction, gulf council, red snapper
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
Emergency rule gives option for longer season if quota not taken due to oil spill
GULFPORT, MS – In response to a request from Coastal Conservation Association, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has approved an emergency rule that paves the way for the recreational red snapper season to remain open past July 24 if the quota is not taken due to the oil spill. Dr. Russell Nelson, CCA’s Gulf Fisheries Director, made the request for the impact of the oil spill to be taken into account during the Council’s meeting this week in Gulfport, Mississippi.
“We appreciate the Council taking a pragmatic approach to this unprecedented situation in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Nelson. “If the quota is not taken, a longer season will hopefully allow more people who have been sidelined by the oil spill to take advantage of this recovering stock.”
The recreational red snapper season is set to run from June 1 to July 24 and is the shortest season on record at 53 days. With as much as 35 percent of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico closed to all fishing as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it is likely that the season will end before many anglers from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are cleared to fish offshore. With passage of the emergency rule, on a motion made by Florida state member Bill Teehan, the Gulf Council has given NOAA Regional Administrator Roy Crabtree the authority to leave the season open if recreational quota remains available.
“This is an example of how the Council and the recreational community can work together to find common-sense solutions to complex problems,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “We are going to face many challenges in the Gulf of Mexico and it will be necessary for everyone to find a way through the tough times. It is good that the Council has acknowledged the impact the oil spill has had on recreational anglers and the coastal communities that depend on them.”
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CCA is the largest marine resource conservation group of its kind in the nation. With almost 100,000 members in 17 state chapters, CCA has been active in state, national and international fisheries management issues since 1977. Visit www.JoinCCA.org for more information.
Tags: Gulf red snapper, red snapper
Posted in CCA Federal Fisheries, CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
Anglers left holding the bag with shortest red snapper season on record
NOAA Fisheries announced a perplexing paradox today that speaks to the flaws in the federal fisheries management system. In the release, NOAA Fisheries declared both an increase in the overall total allowable catch of Gulf red snapper in 2010 and the shortest recreational red snapper season on record, at the same time.
“We are very encouraged that a combination of factors, including shrimp trawl bycatch reduction and environmental impacts, have converged to produce a recovery in red snapper, at long last,” said Chester Brewer, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “However, there is obviously something systemically wrong with how this fishery is being managed when recreational red snapper anglers will be sitting at the dock more than 10 months of the year while the commercial sector fishes year-round.”
Even with a recovering stock, the recreational anglers from five Gulf States pursuing red snapper in the Gulf are still left with just 49 percent of the total allowable catch of 6.945 million pounds, while about 400 commercial fishermen are currently entitled to 51 percent of the harvest through a catch share system. A rebounding stock means recreational anglers are finding it easier to catch red snapper, and the fish they catch are bigger. With a quota set in total pounds, the only way the government is capable of controlling recreational harvest is to shorten the season. In 2010, that means 53 days.
“The next step for this fishery has to be a serious look at reallocation. When you think how much the demographics and economics of this fishery have changed since it was set at 51 percent commercial and 49 percent recreational, the current allocation is indefensible,” said Brewer. “We must have reallocation of fisheries where appropriate, and there is no greater need for this than in Gulf red snapper.”
At the recent Recreational Fishing Summit in Washington DC, commercial catch shares were credited by some federal fisheries managers for the recovery of Gulf red snapper, a claim that CCA and others in the recreational fishing community are quick to refute.
“There is an effort right now to credit catch shares with the recovery of Gulf red snapper, which is false advertising,” said Jeff Angers, president of the Center for Coastal Conservation. “This recovery is being fueled by the impact of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and others on the fishing fleet, by reductions in fishing effort due to high fuel prices, and by mandated reductions in shrimp trawl bycatch due to CCA legal action. Catch shares have succeeded in cementing in the current allocation and creating a 53-day recreational fishing derby, and that is about all.”
More information on Gulf red snapper, including a summary of a 2009 bioeconomic study conducted by Texas A&M University showing the overwhelming value of the recreational sector, can be found in the Gulf of Mexico section of the CCA Newsroom.
Tags: Gulf red snapper, reallocation, red snapper
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico, Catch Shares | No Comments »
April 14, 2010
Peter Hood
Southeast Regional Office
NMFS, 263
13th Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Mr. Hood,
The Coastal Conservation Association represents more than 80,000 members in state chapters along the Gulf Coast. We have two major concerns to address in this letter on the proposed rule that would increase the commercial and recreational quotas for red snapper, while enacting the shortest recreational red snapper season in history.
Click HERE for the complete comments.
Tags: Gulf of Mexico, red snapper
Posted in CCA Gulf of Mexico | No Comments »
