July 1, 2021 — On Friday, June 25, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council took final action on Amendment 53: Red Grouper Recalibration and Reallocation.
If implemented by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, this amendment would reduce the commercial quota share from 76 percent to 59.3 percent, or about 600,000 pounds, starting in 2022.
“Taking 600,000 pounds of red grouper quota not only directly hurts hard-working American fishermen who rely on grouper for the businesses, but it also takes fish away from the American consumer who, through the covid-19 pandemic, proved that they are looking for more seafood and more domestic seafood,” said Bubba Cochrane, president of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, an industry trade group based in Galveston, Texas.