February 10, 2015 — The following was released by the Gulf Seafood Institute:
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council recently held their first meeting of the new year in Point Clear, Alabama, a town where in the 1800s wealthy families from Mobile and New Orleans tried to hide from yellow fever outbreaks by escaping to the daily breeze off Mobile Bay they deemed as “good air”. The “good air” from Mobile Bay continues to blow, but for Council members there was no hiding from tough fishery issues they face during the coming year.
As in the past, regional management for recreational red snapper and red snapper allocation was at the forefront of discussion. The Council heard an update on the Red Snapper Stock Assessment including information on the 2014 provisional red snapper catch estimates. It also received the overfishing limit and acceptable biological catch limit recommendations from its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC).
Members of the Council asked staff to prepare a framework action to increase the red snapper annual catch limit based on revised acceptable biological catch using the 2014 provisional red snapper catch estimates. Photo: Facebook/Intimidator Fishing Charters
Members of the Council asked staff to prepare a framework action to increase the red snapper annual catch limit based on revised acceptable biological catch using the 2014 provisional red snapper catch estimates. The SSC must first review those estimates and determine whether to approve the revised catch recommendations. When completed the Council will then hold a special to review the SSC’s recommendations and take final action on a framework action to increase the annual catch accordingly.
Read the full story from the Gulf Seafood Institute