April 8, 2016 — A reallocation of the 2016 and 2017 quota of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico will benefit recreational anglers at the expense of commercial fishermen, and may result in legal action.
The decision, made in August 2015 by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and approved 30 March, 2016, by the National Marine Fisheries Service, will transfer 2.5 percent of the Gulf red snapper quota, or 352,000 lbs. whole weight, from commercial to recreational use, lowering the commercial share of the quota to 48.5 percent and raising the recreational share to 51.5 percent. As a result, the decision will extend the 2015 red snapper fishing season for private anglers fishing from their own boats in federal waters from six to nine days.
Andy Strelcheck, NMFS deputy regional administrator for the Southeast, said the change was made after new and improved survey methods gave his agency a more accurate picture of how many snapper recreational anglers were harvesting.
“Once we began implementing those improvements, our data essentially indicated that our catch estimates for recreational fishermen fishing for red snapper previously were underestimated,” Strelcheck said.