Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance Archives

Fishing advocates say new Gulf council appointments ‘maintaining a balance’

July 3, 2024 — A Florida commercial fisherman and an Alabama charter operator are newly appointed to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, among 22 new and returning members to the six regional U.S. Councils named by the Department of Commerce.

The new Gulf appointments “are a positive step in the right direction by maintaining a balance of interests,” according to the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance.

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo named Juan “John” Sanchez of Florida and Troy Frady, a charter captain from Orange Beach, Ala. The appointments “are a positive step in the right direction by maintaining a balance of interests on the Gulf Council, with three of the seventeen members making a living in the commercial or charter/for-hire fisheries under the Gulf Council’s purview,” according to the alliance.

However, the group added, “we still have a long way to go before there is truly balanced representation on the Gulf Council from all fishing sectors – commercial, charter/for-hire, and private anglers.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance Share Thoughts Following Offshore Wind Approval

July 25, 2023 — Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, an organization of commercial snapper and grouper fishermen in the region, released a statement following the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to approve offshore wind energy lease sale in the Gulf.

According to the organization, the major offshore wind news comes with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s decision to grant “bidding credits for companies and developers who commit to establishing or contributing to a fisheries compensatory mitigation fund.”

“These credits can count for 10% of the cash bid, allowing eligible bidders to put down slightly less upfront for the lease, with the guarantee that they will use an equivalent amount to develop or contribute to a fisheries compensatory mitigation fund for the Gulf commercial and charter/for-hire fishing industries,” the Alliance explained in its statement.

The funds will help offset the costs of gear loss, counterbalance reductions in fishing income, and reduce the cost of necessary upgrades to gear/navigational equipment and support fishermen’s involvement in the wind project.

The Shareholders’ Alliance said including the compensatory mitigation fund was a “sound strategy.”

“In offering these bidding credits, the Shareholders’ Alliance believes that BOEM has taken a positive step forward towards addressing potential adverse impacts of the offshore wind lease to the Gulf’s commercial fishing industry,” the group wrote.

It also said that it believes offshore wind holds promise for not only the Gulf of Mexico but the entire planet. It believes there is potential for a strong partnership between BOEM and fishermen. The group believes the industry and BOEM can create a “complementary rather than competitive” partnership.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

Only 1 of 17 Gulf Council members to have full-time experience in commercial fisheries

June 27, 2023 — The following was released by the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance:

The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance (Shareholders’ Alliance) today issued the following statement on the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) appointments by the Secretary of Commerce, which represented a small step in the right direction towards fair representation:

After three years the Secretary of Commerce and Biden Administration appear to be turning an ear to the needs of fishing communities, and have finally taken a small step in populating the Gulf Council with individuals who make a living on the water by appointing Captain Ed Walker to the Florida/At-Large Seat.

The Gulf Council was originally designed and successfully operated as a balanced, stakeholder-driven management body that fairly represented the interests of all fishing sectors. It was balanced with both recreational and commercial representation, fish stocks were rebuilding, management was effective, and commercial fishermen had profitable and stable businesses.

Over the last several years, the Gulf Council shifted solely towards the interests of one group as appointments were dominated by recreational representatives. This decline in balance continued until the commercial sector was dwindled down to merely one representative out of seventeen seats, despite the hundreds of thousands of jobs, $8 million in landings revenue, and $4 billion in seafood sales generated by the industry across the Gulf Coast (NOAA Fisheries Economics of the United States 2020). Such a significant cultural and economic impact should not be ignored in management.

Many critical Gulf of Mexico stocks are in a nosedive – red grouper, gag grouper, and greater amberjack quotas have all been slashed by up to 80% over the last two years because the populations are so low, due in part to the shockingly high number of fish that are discarded by the recreational sector, often dead or dying. Red snapper, the remarkable stock that bounced back faster than anyone expected, are now in decline, due to mismanagement of the private recreational sector and their chronic discarding of fish. All these actions took place while the Gulf Council was dominated by a private angler supermajority.

By appointing Captain Ed Walker to the Gulf Council, the Administration has taken a small first step in bringing someone to the table that makes a living on the water. Captain Walker is a qualified candidate with a unique perspective through his experience as a dual-permitted charter/for-hire and commercial captain. However, this still leaves the Gulf Council with only one seat out of seventeen with full-time experience in federally managed commercial fisheries. One.

This still falls far short of “fair”, as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. While the appointment of Captain Walker is a step in the right direction, we have a long way to go in restoring the voice of coastal communities who are directly impacted by the decisions the Gulf Council makes.

It is imperative the Gulf Council return to fair, balanced, and impartial representation that prioritizes science-based management and conservation. Diverse perspectives and expertise are essential in promoting effective resource management and decision making. This year, thousands of constituents called on the Biden Administration to right the ship. But recent appointment decisions reveal this Administration’s disregard for these principles, and the needs of coastal communities, commercial fishermen, and the consumers who rely on them for seafood. We are encouraged by the appointment of Captain Ed Walker and extend our congratulations to him, but this still fails to meet the needs of healthy fisheries and healthy fishing communities.

The fight for balance is ongoing. We will continue to call for fair representation for commercial fishing families. We will not stop until our voices are heard, and composition of the Gulf Council reflects the makeup of the men and women on the water – the people who work relentlessly to put seafood on everyone’s dinner tables deserve a say in the management process which directly affects their livelihoods.

At the Shareholders’ Alliance, we believe that the appointment of diverse perspectives and expertise is essential in promoting effective resource management and decision making. We will continue to fight for the interests of commercial fishermen until we are able to achieve reasonable diversity of sectors on the Gulf Council. Today marks the first step in the right direction.

The Shareholders’ Alliance continues to be committed to participating in the Gulf Council process, and advocate for management that is rooted in science, prioritizes the health of the resources, and ensures fish populations are robust enough to support the men and women who make their living on the water. We stand ready to work with Captain Ed Walker, and all Gulf Council members, to meet these objectives, so that our fisheries are managed in a sustainable manner.

Red grouper could be precedent for new Gulf catch reallocations

June 17, 2022 — Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishermen expect to face off in court against the National Marine Fisheries Service later this summer. They’re challenging the agency’s recent reallocation of some of their red grouper Individual Fishing Quota to the recreational sector.

Fishermen have more at stake than the cut in their grouper quota: NMFS and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council are already forging ahead with serial reallocations of other fisheries. The lawsuit may be their best, if not only, chance to stop them.

“We’re 2 and 0 against the NMFS in the courts,” said Eric Brazer, deputy director of the Galveston, Texas-based Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance. Other plaintiffs in the suit include A.P. Bell Fish Company, of Cortez, Florida, and the Southern Offshore Fishing Association, a longliner group based in Madeira Beach, Florida.

The courts sided with commercial fishermen in 2014 and 2017 when they challenged the council and NMFS over actions to extend the recreational red snapper season and reallocate more quota to the sector.

“The council took action that harmed the commercial fishermen and rewarded the recreational fishermen. We told them it was not legal, they didn’t believe us. They approved the document, we took them to court, and we won,” said Brazer.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Commercial Fishermen, Other Members of Seafood Industry Challenging NOAA’s Red Grouper Reallocation

May 11, 2022 — Last week SeafoodNews reported on NOAA’s Amendment 53, a new rule in the Federal Register regarding the reef fish fishery of the Gulf of Mexico. The final rule revised the annual catch limits (ACLs) and annual catch targets (ACTs) for both the commercial and recreational sectors, reallocating 20% of the commercial red grouper quota to the recreational sector. The decision had commercial fishermen and others in the industry up in arms. But they’re not just sitting back. A lawsuit has been filed challenging the legality of the decision to reallocate the red grouper quota to recreational fishermen.

The lawsuit was filed late on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by A.P. Bell Fish Company, the Southern Offshore Fishing Association, and the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance.

“This case is about the government’s allocation of fishing privileges for catching red grouper in the Gulf of Mexico between two user groups,” reads the suit. “The challenged agency action takes fish away from the commercial sector, and gives them to the recreational fishing sector. But the recreational sector is wasteful, catching and throwing back millions of red grouper each year, of which hundreds of thousands die. Allocating more fish to the recreational sector will increase this waste, reduce the amount of fish available for consumption, and increase the risk of overfishing the stock. These outcomes are unlawful.”

The Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance (GCSA) made their opinions on NOAA’s decision very clear in an analysis that can be found here. Meanwhile, the recently filed lawsuit can be found here.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance Supports Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Red Grouper Quotas

May 9, 2022 — The following was released by the Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance:

Commercial fishermen and members of the Gulf of Mexico seafood industry have filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of a recent decision by NOAA Fisheries to reallocate red grouper quota to recreational fishermen at the expense of the commercial fishery. The Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance (GCSA) supports the efforts by the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, Southern Offshore Fishing Association, and A.P. Bell Fish Company to challenge this decision, in an effort to restore a fair allocation for commercial fishermen.

The lawsuit, filed late on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenges recent red grouper allocations approved by NOAA as part of Amendment 53 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico.

The plaintiffs indicated they will seek expedited review.

Amendment 53 drastically reallocates the quota for red grouper. It increases the recreational share of the quota from 24 percent to 40.7 percent, while decreasing the commercial share from 76 percent to 59.3 percent. Simultaneously, the Amendment decreases the overall available red grouper quota in order to account for increased grouper discards from the recreational fishermen.

According to the lawsuit, this allocation “unlawfully benefit[s] the recreational fishing sector, harm[s] the commercial fishing sector and seafood consumers, and jeopardize[s] conservation,” while going against the conservation goals set out in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the federal law governing U.S. fishery management. It notes that the Amendment is only the latest in a series of decisions showing “unlawful favoritism” to recreational fishermen.

GCSA has previously criticized Amendment 53 in its own analysis. GCSA specifically has criticized the Amendment for the flaws in the process that led to its adoption, the inadequate economic analysis that supported its allocation decision, and the legal precedents that the Amendment violates.

The complaint specifies ten causes of action, demonstrating that Amendment 53 violates:

Magnuson-Stevens Act National Standard Four, which requires that allocations of fishing privileges “shall be…fair and equitable to all such [U.S.] fishermen” and “reasonably calculated to promote conservation.”
Magnuson-Stevens Act National Standard Nine, which requires that “[c]onservation and management measures shall, to the extent practicable, (A) minimize bycatch and (B) to the extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of such bycatch.”
Magnuson-Stevens Act Section 303(a)(11), which requires that any Fishery Management Plan “establish a standardized reporting methodology to assess the amount and type of bycatch occurring in the fishery, and include conservation and management measures that, to the extent practicable and in the following priority—(A) minimize bycatch; and (B) minimize the mortality of bycatch which cannot be avoided.”
Magnuson-Stevens Act Section 303(a)(15), which requires all Fishery Management Plans to “establish a mechanism for specifying annual catch limits in the plan (including a multiyear plan) implementing regulations, or annual specifications, at a level that overfishing does not occur in the fishery, including measures to ensure accountability.”
Magnuson-Stevens Act National Standard One, which requires that “[c]onservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery for the United States fishing industry.”
Legal requirements regarding the setting and review of optimum yield as specified in Magnuson- Stevens Act Sections 303(a)(3), 303(a)(4)(A), AND 302(h)(5).
Magnuson-Stevens Act National Standard Two, which requires that “conservation and management measures shall be based upon the best scientific information available.”
Magnuson-Stevens Act National Standard Eight, which requires that NOAA must “take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities.”
The Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance: Statement on Red Grouper Quota Instability

Florida red grouper quota reallocation angers commercial-fishing sector

May 6, 2022 — A reallocation of the Gulf of Mexico red grouper catch limits has angered the region’s commercial fishing sector, which stands to lose a sizeable portion of its share of the catch to recreational anglers.

Amendment 53, which was announced by NOAA on Monday, 2 May, and which will go into effect 1 June, 2022, amends the fishery management plan for reef fish resources in the Gulf of Mexico so that the allocation of the red grouper catch to the commercial sector is lowered from 76 percent to 59.3 percent, while increasing the recreational catch-share from 24 percent to 40.7 percent.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance: Statement on Red Grouper Quota Instability

May 5, 2022 — The following was released by the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance:

On Monday, May 2, 2022, NOAA Fisheries published a Final Rule for Reef Fish Amendment 53, which reduced the commercial sector’s allocation of the red grouper quota from 76% to 59.3%.

Yesterday, on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, NOAA Fisheries published a Proposed Rule to Modify Red Grouper Catch Limits that would, if implemented, slightly increase red grouper catch limits based on a new interim analysis (IA) that indicated a slight improvement in the health status of red grouper since 2019.

While a positive step, this latest action doesn’t fix the damage caused by Amendment 53. In fact, exacerbates it.

Without the reallocation under Amendment 53, commercial fishermen should be receiving 76% of the new proposed 4.96 million pound annual catch limit (ACL) – which would have been an approximately 600,000 pound increase from the 2021 quota. Instead, under the two actions NOAA Fisheries took this week, commercial fishermen will be limited to a 2.94 million pound ACL and 2.79 million pound Annual Catch Target (ACT). This reduction represents a significant loss in commercial fishing access, millions of dollars in lost revenue to commercial fishing families, and hundreds of thousands fewer grouper servings available for the seafood-consuming public.

Furthermore, this new 2.79 million pound quota is still 210,000 pounds less than the quota level commercial fishermen were operating under prior to Amendment 53.

In reality, commercial fishermen have lost even more than that. Reallocation to the recreational sector under Amendment 53 increases dead discards and commercial fishermen are forced to fish under a reduced catch limit to cover those discards. So commercial fishermen are penalized twice: first by the reallocation, and second by lower overall catch limits to offset increased recreational discards. In essence, commercial fishermen now have a smaller piece of a smaller pie as a result of Amendment 53. If the allocation remained 76% commercial, fewer red grouper would be thrown overboard dead, and the catch level increase under the IA would be even larger than what is in this Proposed Rule.

Simply put – Amendment 53 is the “gift” that keeps on taking. Commercial fishermen were penalized in Amendment 53 through a reduction in quota and now they are on the hook for subsidizing an even greater amount of recreational dead discards that could undo the progress this stock has made since 2019. The proportional losses through Amendment 53 will carry on in perpetuity as the recreational sector wastes more red grouper by throwing them overboard dead.

The forthcoming slight quota increase, while generally a positive sign for the red grouper population, does not restore the commercial quota to the level it was in recent years and falls far short of what the commercial sector and seafood consumers would have access to without the reallocation from Amendment 53.

To be clear – we will give credit where credit is due, and we want to thank NOAA Fisheries for conducting this rapid IA in response to repeated concerns by commercial fishermen about the years-long process translating the results of a stock assessment into management, and the need for more real-time data collection and science-based decision making.

But this marginal quota increase does nothing to solve the fundamental reallocation and recreational mismanagement problems (dead discards, lack of census-based reporting) that landed us here in the first place.

Red Grouper Reallocation by NOAA Fisheries Punishes Commercial Fishermen and Seafood Consumers, Jeopardizes Red Grouper Sustainability

May 2, 2022 — The following was released by A.P. Bell Fish Company, the Gulf of Mexico Reef Shareholders’ Alliance, and the Southern Offshore Fishing Association:

Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries formally published their decision to take fish from commercial fishing families, the seafood supply chain, and the seafood consumers they serve. The publication of the Final Rule implementing Amendment 53 to the Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan comes despite NOAA Fisheries admitting that doing so will increase recreational discards, put more strain on the recovery of this species, and reduce the amount of red grouper that all fishermen can enjoy in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Red grouper is the foundation of my family’s business that has existed in Florida for more than 80 years,” said Karen Bell, third-generation owner and President of A.P. Bell Fish Company located in Cortez, Florida. “We pride ourselves on catching and serving our customers fresh, wild, sustainably-caught red grouper from the Gulf of Mexico. Now NOAA Fisheries is making it difficult for us to serve our customers and stay in business.”

The ostensible purpose of Amendment 53 is to account for new data from NOAA Fisheries based on the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) Fishing Effort Survey (FES), which indicated the recreational sector catches more red grouper than previously estimated. But instead of using these new data to spark a discussion about better management and more accountability to ensure all fishermen stay within their catch limits, NOAA Fisheries and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) chose to use these new data to literally “rewrite history” to justify taking 32% of the commercial sector’s quota and giving it to the recreational sector.

“Somehow NOAA Fisheries took this new recreational FES survey, magically revised 35 years of data about what recreational anglers caught in the past, and told us that commercial fishermen need to give up some of our quota so these anglers get more fish to catch in the future,” said Ed Maccini, president of the Southern Offshore Fishing Association (SOFA), based in Madeira Beach, Florida. “But unlike commercial fishermen who report and weigh every pound of fish we land, recreational anglers don’t have to report what they catch or even be accurate in what they choose to report. It’s all basically guesswork by NOAA Fisheries. And now they’re taking our quota away based on these highly uncertain and wildly changing estimates.”

Commercial fishermen remain baffled as to why NOAA Fisheries would make such an anti-conservation decision when the red grouper stock recently reached some of the lowest levels on record. Furthermore, according to the Gulf Council’s own analysis, rewarding the recreational sector with more allocation “is more likely to result in an overfishing or eventual overfished status of red grouper.”

“This is a lose-lose-lose situation: our businesses are taking a hit, seafood consumers are taking a hit, and the health of the red grouper stock is taking a hit,” said Jason DeLaCruz, owner of Wild Seafood Co. in John’s Pass, Florida. “The commercial sector is stuck with getting a smaller slice of a smaller pie, yet the recreational sector is allowed to throw back more than 3.7 million red grouper every year, and a few years back they threw back more than 6 million red grouper – that’s more fish than commercial fishermen are allowed to land. Amendment 53 reduces everyone’s quotas so that the recreational sector can discard more fish. It’s such a waste.”

The public opposition to Amendment 53 has been overwhelming – all told, more than 99.3% of all testimony recently submitted to NOAA Fisheries opposed Amendment 53. This opposition came from a wide range of industries and sectors including:

Commercial fishermen
Commercial fishing organizations (in the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the country)
Federal commercial fishing coalitions (representing commercial fishermen from Alaska to California to Maine to the Gulf of Mexico)
The restaurant industry
The seafood supply chain
Charter/for-hire fishermen and fishing organizations
Scientists
Economists
Environmental organizations
Lawyers/legal advisors, and
Seafood consumers (literally thousands of them)

“Amendment 53 is illegal. Period,” said Buddy Guindon, Executive Director of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, based in Galveston, Texas. “It maximizes discards, unfairly penalizes commercial fishermen by taking away their quota to cover dead discards by recreational anglers, and increases the risk of overfishing. This is opposite of what Congress intended when it adopted the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.”

Gulf of Mexico commercial fisherman upset at red grouper allocation

July 12, 2021 — Commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico said they were shocked to see their share of the red grouper quota cut by 600,000 pounds.

A statement released Tuesday, 29, June by the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance said the reallocation to recreational fishermen means a loss of about USD 3 million (EUR 2.5 million), a significant loss for “fishing families.” They also fear it could lead to overfishing of the species.

Read the full story at Seafood Source