Saving Seafood

GSI Responds to Impact of Federal Fisheries on Small Businesses Hearing

March 4, 2016 — The Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Chaired by Louisiana Senator David Vitter, recently held a hearing on “The Impacts of Federal Fisheries Management on Small Businesses”. In a letter to Chairman Vitter and Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the Gulf Seafood Institute urged committee members to keep in mind the myriad benefits this landmark legislation has had on Gulf coast fisheries.

Witness at the hearing included; Ms. Pam Anderson, Operations Manager at Capt. Anderson’s Marina in Panama City, FL, Mr. Hughes Andry, Regional Manager of Sportco Marketing, Mr. Brad Gentner, President of Gentner Group Consulting, Mr. James Hayward, President ofXI Northeast Fisheries Sector and Dr. Joshua Wiersma, Managerof  Northeast Fisheries for the Environmental Defense Fund.

“Thousands of fishermen and millions of consumers nationwide depend on robust, sustainably‐managed Gulf of Mexico U.S. fisheries,” said Harlon Pearce, GSI’s President and NOAA Marine Advisory Committee member. “Commercial, charter-for-hire and recreational anglers in the Gulf of Mexico are a regional economic powerhouse; protecting the public’s access to these resources for every American must be paramount.”

Read the full story from the Gulf Seafood Institute

BRAD KENYON: Don’t mess with success in Gulf States fisheries management

March 1, 2016 — Under federal fisheries management, red snapper populations in the Gulf of Mexico are recovering and the boating and fishing industries have grown. But on Thursday, a U.S. Senate committee will hear a proposal that could gut a decade of recovery and growth for both. The idea floated by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., would create a piecemeal system by extending the state waters of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi from 3 miles to 9. In addition, his plan would loosen some of the stronger tenets of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act — like science-based rebuilding timelines and annual catch limits.

The other gulf states’ gains would be Florida’s loss, particularly for anglers in the Tampa Bay area who must travel at least 30 miles offshore to find 60-foot waters where the red snapper population flourishes. In effect, those other three states’ extensions would create enough extra state-water fishing pressure that the stock’s rebound would be imperiled. To keep the fish populations from plunging, the government would have to severely limit the number of days for fishing in federal waters. As a practical matter, Florida fishermen would have far fewer days to catch snapper.

On Thursday, Vitter will argue before the Senate Small Business Administration Committee that the 3-mile limits hurt small coastal businesses across the gulf that rely on healthy fish populations and liberal access to them. He is wrong. And as a small boat dealership and marina owner, I know something about this.

Read the full opinion piece at Tampa Bay Times