April 10, 2014 — An Alabama-based, two-year pilot program that would give the state's entire charterboat fleet the freedom to catch a predetermined number of red snapper whenever they wanted got a second life and the blessing of the full Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Wednesday afternoon.
A new day may have dawned on management of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico.
An Alabama-based, two-year pilot program that would give the state's entire charterboat fleet the freedom to catch a predetermined number of red snapper whenever they wanted got a second life and the blessing of the full Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Wednesday afternoon.
The program garnered so much support during a public hearing Wednesday afternoon at the council's meeting in Baton Rouge that National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Regional Office Administrator Roy Crabtree suggested it may be time to consider options for implementing a similar program in the for-hire sector Gulfwide.
"I think we are at a point where I haven't seen as big a mess as we are in," Crabtree said. "There are fundamental problems that are going to require that we change how we are managing the fishery and measuring the catches."
Crabtree went on to say that he believed the Alabama pilot program could be a good test for a Gulfwide system and that the council should begin the process now of looking at options to create a for-hire individual fishing quota program instead of waiting for results generated by the pilot after it ends two years down the road.
"While this test program in ongoing, this council should be focusing on working on a for-hire IFQ options paper . That would be a good starting point, then we can begin getting the public involved, get their comments and in two years we could be ready to roll on something Gulfwide," Crabtree said. "It could be time to really start thinking this thing through."