July 23, 2018 — Offshore fish stocks could soon be governed by better science or ravaged by loopholes in new rules, depending on which side you ask.
A contested bill to reorganize offshore fishing regulation is now in the U.S. Senate after passing the House of Representatives in a split vote. It pushes alternatives to the daily catch and season limits to restore game species.
Off South Carolina’s coast, it could dramatically change how much stock is caught of popular game and commercial fish such as snapper and grouper.
For example, under the proposed rules, any fishing restriction to rebuild the stock would be based partly on how quickly the fish reproduce, not on the standard 10-year timetable, and would have to take consumer concerns into account.
Fishing for nearly every sought-after offshore species is under a series of timetable restrictions because research indicates overfishing. Anglers have long argued their catches suggest more fish of nearly every regulated species are out there than current surveying suggests.
Federal regulators have conceded that and are working to improve the counts.
The proposed rules, a rework of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, would give anglers and regulators more line.