June 2, 2017 — The head of the Fisheries Division of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says a pilot program designed to give a select few recreational anglers access to a sizable portion of the Gulf’s red snapper quota is simply an effort to reduce statistical error in the agency’s scientific analysis.
Patrick Banks told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Tuesday the exempted fishing permit, which has drawn howls of protest from the recreational-fishing industry, is designed to improve accuracy of LA Creel, an innovative fish-counting program designed by department biologists that has served as a guide for other Gulf states.
The EFP would allow 150 anglers, selected at random, to harvest 25,000 pounds of red snapper in both 2018 and 2019. These anglers would have no daily limits, and would be legally allowed to fish federal waters any time they like. In 2017, the red snapper season in federal waters for all private-boat anglers was only three days.
The proposal fits in with a seven-pronged approach the agency is working on to try to gain management authority over red snapper, Banks said.
The hallmark of that plan, according to Banks, is a so-called Louisiana-only amendment that would give the state full management authority of the fish in both state and federal waters in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Louisiana was given the go-ahead to flesh out the idea by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, but must ultimately present details of the plan to the council for a final up or down vote.