Alabama Archives - Page 9 of 11

Gulf Anglers, Fishery Managers Clash Over Red Snapper Opening in Federal Waters

May 30, 2017 — Despite a months-long season for red snapper in state waters off Florida and other Gulf states, fisherman across the Gulf of Mexico are gearing up to protest a brief three-day opening to catch the prized fish in federal Gulf waters. Fishermen argue a short opening hurts businesses and hampers anglers across the Gulf, but fishery managers say a small window is important to preserve a species still recovering from overfishing.

Florida state waters extend nine miles off shore in the Gulf of Mexico; beyond that, the federal government has jurisdiction over what fish can be caught, and when. Within Florida waters, FWC approved 78 days for catching red snapper. Similar seasons are found in other Gulf states like Alabama, while Texas allows for year-round red snapper fishing off it’s Gulf coast.

On June 1, federal regulations will allow just three days for recreational fisherman to tackle red snapper in federal waters in the Gulf. Deeper federal waters are where red snapper is usually found in Southwest Florida, while Florida’s panhandle is deep enough that fishermen can usually catch the fish within the 9-mile state boundary.

Read the full story at WGCU

Gulf Coast anglers plan protest against fishing limits

May 26, 2017 — Recreational anglers along the Gulf Coast are planning floating protests against strict federal limits on red snapper fishing.

Demonstrations are being organized in fishing ports in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi for June 4.

That’s the day after the federal three-day fishing season ends for red snapper, one of the region’s most popular catches.

Federal regulators say the tight limit is needed to protect the fish. But opponents accuse scientists of using flawed science to set the rule.

Justin Fadalla is an organizer of the Alabama protest. He says the rule is hurting marinas, tackle shops, and marine services companies all over the Gulf Coast.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WJHG

GOP lawmakers to Trump administration: Fix red snapper season

May 16, 2017 — Five southern Republican lawmakers are calling on U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to extend the number of days for this year’s recreational red snapper season.

Among those signing a letter sent to Ross on Monday is U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, who calls the current three-day recreational season as “simply not acceptable.”

The season is scheduled to run from June 1-3. It makes it the shortest recreational season ever for red snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico’s federal waters.

“Anyone who knows anything about Gulf Coast fisheries would agree that the red snapper fishery is incredibly healthy,” Byrne said.

The letter was signed by Byrne and fellow U.S. House members – John Carter and Randy Weber of Texas, Garret Graves of Louisiana and Steven Palazzo of Mississippi.

“We feel re-evaluating your agency’s decision for the 2017 seasons is warranted, and we urge you to continue working with us to develop a long-term solution to address these issues impacting our recreational fishermen and coastal communities,” the letter states.

Read the full story at AL.com

Red snapper anger directed at Obama, but Trump could solve fishing frustrations

May 15, 2017 — President Donald Trump has stressed the need to make states the “laboratories of democracy.” He calls for fewer burdensome federal regulations, and declares that it’s past time to “drain the swamp.”

All of that could be quickly coming to a head in the coastal states where he secured some of his highest vote totals during last year’s election. State and local leaders are boiling mad over what they say are excessive federal regulations when it comes to fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Specifically, the frustration is directed at an all-time shortened season – three days — for recreational red snapper fishing within federal waters.

The Orange Beach City Council, on Tuesday, voted unanimously to forward its concerns in a written letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. In it, the city asks for an immediate lengthening of the recreational season to 46 days, spread over a series of three-day weekends.

The Baldwin County Commission is expected to take similar action on Tuesday.

If nothing happens between now and the first of June, city leaders and the anglers are poised to protest on June 4, the day after this year’s three-day season expires. Boaters are being encouraged to show up at scenic Perdido Pass, filling its waters, in a show of unity.

Read the full story at AL.com

ALABAMA: Orange Beach blasts red snapper restrictions: ‘Detrimental to our economic interest’

May 10, 2017 — The Orange Beach City Council endorsed a plea to federal officials on Tuesday for an immediate lengthening of the 2017 red snapper season that’s presently capped at a shortest-ever three days.

The council’s vote took place during a special meeting and after two city leaders — City Councilman Jeff Boyd and Mayor Tony Kennon – criticized the federal involvement in limiting a recreational activity that they claim is responsible for “hundreds of millions of dollars” in annual economic activity in coastal Alabama.

“This is detrimental to our economic interest and well-being of our citizens,” said Kennon.

Added Boyd: “Guests are canceling reservations, people are not purchasing boats, not buying second homes … they see no hope in the future of Gulf of Mexico fishing.”

Read the full story at AL.com

3-Day Red Snapper Season for Anglers in Gulf’s US Waters

May 3, 2017 — Private recreational anglers went 25 percent over last year’s quota for red snapper , and will have only three days to fish federal waters this year for one of the Gulf of Mexico’s most popular sport and table fish, federal regulators said Tuesday.

Charter boat captains will have a 49-day season. Both seasons will start June 1.

“It’s a disappointment to me to that we have made such gains in rebuilding this stock but the season’s going to be this short,” said Roy Crabtree, regional fisheries administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A big reason, he said, is that private anglers are expected to take 81 percent of their 3 million-pound (1.3-million kilogram) quota out of state waters, where seasons range from 66 days off Alabama to year-round off Texas.

State officials and politicians say the 3-day season just proves states should regulate the species.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

SEAMAP Releases 5-Year Management Plan

April 19, 2017 — The following was released by the Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program:

The Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (SEAMAP) has released its 2016-2020 Management Plan. Prepared by the South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean components of SEAMAP, the Management Plan serves as a reference for official SEAMAP policies and procedures through 2020. The Plan also includes detailed information on SEAMAP activities and highlights how SEAMAP data meet critical needs for recent stock assessments and management decisions. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, the Plan details how SEAMAP’s core surveys have been impacted by level/declining funding. It identifies how expansions in funding could be used to refine existing assessments and advance the movement towards ecosystem-based management; ultimately, leading to more comprehensive fisheries management in the Southeast region.

SEAMAP is a cooperative state/federal/university program for the collection, management, and dissemination of fishery-independent data and information in the Southeastern U.S. and Caribbean. Representatives from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) jointly plan and conduct surveys of economically and ecologically important fish and shellfish species and the critical habitats that support them. Since 1982, SEAMAP has sponsored long-term standardized surveys that have become the backbone of fisheries and habitat management in the Southeast and Caribbean. SEAMAP currently provides the only region-wide mechanism for monitoring long-term status and trends of populations and habitats within the region.

As a cooperative effort, SEAMAP monitors the distribution and abundance of fish and other marine resources from North Carolina through Texas and into the Caribbean. SEAMAP is intended to maximize the capability of fishery-independent and associated survey activities to satisfy data and information needs of living marine resource management and research organizations in the region. The primary means of performing that task is to optimize coordination and deployment of regional surveys and provide access to the collected data through documents and online databases. Additional roles of SEAMAP are to document long- and short-term needs for fishery-independent data to meet critical management and research needs, and to establish compatible and consistent databases for ecosystem and predictive modeling applications. SEAMAP promotes coordination among data collection, processing, management, and analysis activities emphasizing those specifically concerned with living marine resource management and habitat protection, and provides a forum for coordination of other fishery-related activities.

The 2016-2020 SEAMAP Management Plan is available online at: http://bit.ly/2pw1qXM. For more information about SEAMAP, particularly the South Atlantic component, please visit www.SEAMAP.org or contact Shanna Madsen, SEAMAP-SA Coordinator, at smadsen@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Senator Shelby leads way on more data on Gulf red snapper populations

March 27, 2017 — Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby paved the way for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to land a multimillion-dollar grant to innovate Gulf of Mexico reef-fish survey assessments and technologies.

This $9.5 million grant program, authored by Shelby, is directed by the 2016 Appropriations Act. The goal is to produce a more-accurate estimate of Gulf red snapper populations and improve fishing access.

Read the full story at the Sun Herald

Alabama’s first Oyster Shell Recycling Program captures ½ million shells; ready for January expansion

December 22, 2016 — GULF SHORES, Ala. — With an anticipated 130,000 pounds of shells to be collected by the end of a productive pilot period, Alabama’s oyster shell recycling program is set to expand into Gulf Shores and Orange Beach restaurants starting in January.

The successful program — the first multi-partner initiative of its kind in the state — is expected to save nearly 600,000 oyster shells from landfill in just nine weeks and return them to Alabama’s reefs as habitat for future oysters.

“This is an excellent program because it creates a positive cycle,” said Mark Berte, Executive Director of the Alabama Coastal Foundation, which designed the program and secured two years of funding from National Fisheries and Wildlife Federation officials.

“The more shells we collect from restaurants, the more opportunity we give new oysters to grow when we put them in the water, which means more oysters for restaurants to sell…and more to recycle,” Berte said.

The program involves weekly pickups from six seafood restaurants in Mobile along the Causeway who otherwise would toss their oyster shells as garbage or discard them somewhere out of the way on property.

Felix’s Fish Camp Grill, for example, used to line the perimeter of their parking lot with oyster shells; in fact, the restaurant became renowned for it on Travelocity and other tourism websites. A shell recycling event on November 31 filled more than 317 bins, weighing nearly 70,000 pounds, from Felix’s property — an estimated 341,092 shells.

“We had lined those along our parking lot so people weren’t driving off into the grass,” said Julius Harbison, General Manager at Felix’s Fish Camp, in Spanish Fort. “They had been there a year or two so they were some already seasoned shells.”

Harbison’s father was an oysterman so he understood the value of the program when ACF first approached the restaurant.

“Our owner asked me and my chef what we thought, and we said it was really a no brainer,” Harbison said. “It doesn’t take a lot of effort as a business, and for me personally, it’s amazing to be able to participate in something like this.”

Read the full story at the Gulf Seafood Institute

Gulf states get $370M in oil spill funds to restore wetlands

November 16, 2016 — NEW ORLEANS — Five Gulf states still seeking to restore their coastal waters and habitats after the devastating oil spill of 2010 will divvy up nearly $370 million for an array of projects that will create new wetlands, restore fisheries, aid sea turtles and more.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced the grants Tuesday for Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida as those states strive to bounce back from one of the largest environmental disasters in history.

Millions of barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days after an offshore rig fire and explosion in April 2010. British Petroleum, which was found primarily responsible for the spill, has paid billions in cleanup costs, settlements and penalties.

The funding announced Tuesday in New Orleans is the fourth and largest round of grants yet that the foundation — which oversees part of the money from criminal penalties paid by BP and other defendants — is allotting for the Gulf’s recovery. That fund is getting a total of $2.5 billion over five years for projects to repair the damage.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Rocky Mountain Telegram