Saving Seafood

NOAA: Red snapper data can’t be shared with states

October 12th, 2016 — A letter written late last month by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicates  that if red snapper are ultimately removed from federal oversight to be managed by the five Gulf states, much of the data currently collected on the species by NOAA — including stock assessments — would not be shared with the states.

The letter dated Sept. 22 from Eileen Sobeck to Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Charlie Melancon contradicts what Rep. Garret Graves — the author of H.R. 3094 that would strip red snapper from federal oversight and award it to the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority — has said about how potential costs associated with stock assessments and data collection for snapper will be covered if his legislation becomes law.

Requests for telephone interviews to discuss details of the NOAA letter with Melancon were denied.

But Graves said the letter is just another in a long list of allegations brought by the LDWF in an attempt to derail the bill.

“The reality is this: NOAA is going to go out there and do fish surveys, and they don’t have any idea what type of fish is going to come up in that net or on that long line, so for them to suggest that they’re going to pretend that some fish isn’t there and another fish is there is completely bogus,” Graves said. “And if NOAA is going to jump in and play these political games with Charlie (Melancon), have at it. Y’all enjoy your next two and a half months of playing games because y’all are gone. It’s just continued silliness and obviously has no merit.”

Read the full story at Louisiana Sportsman

Southeastern Fisheries Association: Keep Federal Management of Red Snapper

June 14, 2016 — The following opinion piece was released by Southeastern Fisheries Association Executive Director Bob Jones, concerning H.R. 3094, the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority Act. The bill “amend[s] the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to transfer to States the authority to manage red snapper fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico.” The bill will be subject to full committee markup by the House Natural Resources Committee tomorrow, June 15:

HR 3094 will scuttle, by action and precedence, the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). We believe the MSA has done much to make US fishery resources sustainable.

Before there was a federal fishery management zone, commercial fishermen brought their issues before the state legislatures. They were assured fair hearings by legislative committees. Then some state fish commissions, in Florida for example, assumed the management without legislative oversight. The Florida Marine Fisheries Commission did come under the Governor and SIX elected Cabinet Officers for a few years where fishery issues were fully discussed. Then an autonomous Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission was established so the commercial fishermen came under a SEVEN person group. In Florida we started out under a 160 member legislature, then down to a SEVEN member commission and now HR 3094 places us and a billion dollar seafood industry under the whims of THREE people with no federal oversight for managing federal resources. Is any other food producing industry subject to THREE unelected people in control of their livelihood?

When the MSA was enacted it established management of Gulf red snapper under a SEVENTEEN person fisheries council composed of all state members except one. The council operates under a mandated set of National Standards. For the most part it operates under the rule of law.

HR 3094 changes the rule of law to the rule of man by creating a FIVE member authority with no elected official oversight. On a FIVE member authority THREE votes is a majority.

“(502 (a) (1) of HR 3094 (says:) Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority that consists of the principal fisheries manager of each of the Gulf coastal States.“

“{c) (i) of HR 3094 (says:) any recommendation by the GSRSMA to reduce quota apportioned to the commercial sector by more than 10 percent shall be reviewed and approved by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.”

This means the ‘Gulf States authority’ will reallocate 9.99% of the red snapper each year from the commercial harvesting sector to the anglers. This Texas/Louisiana CCA inspired ‘authority’ will allocate all the red snapper for themselves in about a decade. That is the true goal of this bill. 

HR 3094 was already killed when it was proposed as an amendment to the MSA legislation. It has “risen from the ashes” to once more attempt to reward the only fishing sector without accountability. 

HR 3094 needs to be killed just as it was at full committee earlier in the Congress.

View a PDF version here

Rec Red Snapper Sector Using Congress to Bypass Gulf Stakeholders to Get State-Run Management

SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Michael Ramsingh – February 10, 2016 — Recreational red snapper users are going to Congress to bypass industry stakeholders to shift commercial and recreational management to the five Gulf States according to the commercial and charter sectors.

In January the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council tabled the Amendment 39 proposal. That included a move of recreational red snapper management to the five Gulf States. This would undermine the primacy of federal fisheries management in the Magnuson Stevens Act.

Both the Charter Fisherman’s Association (CFA) and Gulf Reef Shareholders Alliance (GRSA) say the Council’s decision to delay Amendment 39 is part of an effort to get state-run management passed at the federal level by Congress.

“The same five state directors who for years have said they could manage the red snapper fishery better than the NMFS voted unanimously that they couldn’t do so and led the charge to postpone work on Amendment 39 (regional management) indefinitely,” said Capt Mike Jennings, a member of the Shareholders Alliance. “These five individuals are now asking Congress to hand it to them via federal legislation. Then they can work out a deal behind closed doors, without public input, despite their inability to do so in a public process guaranteed under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.”  

Last summer, the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority Act or HR 3094, was introduced as a way to get state-run Gulf Red Snapper management. The bill is sponsored by Representative Garret Graves (R-LA). 

The legislation differs from Amendment 39 since it shifts all red snapper management decisions—including commercial and charter sectors—to the Gulf States. The Congressional bill also circumvents input from industry stakeholders on how a state-run management system would function. Essentially, one director from each state would oversee Gulf red snapper management. 

However, in November HR 3094 was blasted in hearings before a House Committee on Natural Resources’ Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans.

“Charter-for-hire captains throughout the Gulf, and many commercial fishermen, chefs, and others involved in the seafood industry, are deeply concerned that this legislation will lead to an eventual, exclusive recreational fishery for Gulf of Mexico red snapper,” said Gulf of Mexico, Captain Gary Jarvis, president of the Destin Charter Boat Association at the time.

Meanwhile, other opponents of HR 3094 note how the bill directly flaunts the success of the federal fishery management process under Magnuson. 

“Unfortunately, some in Congress are supporting legislation that would undercut the MSA — drastically cutting consumers access to red snapper. U.S. Rep. Garret Graves’ H.R. 3094 would grant five Gulf states exclusive management authority over the entire red snapper fishery,” said Seafood Harvesters of America Executive Director Brett Veerhusen and Haley Bittermann, Corporate Executive Chef and Director of the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group in an Op-Ed published this week in the The Times-Picayune. “We cannot support state takeover of the commercial fishery in the Gulf of Mexico. This bill threatens the availability of red snapper to local fishermen and restaurants across the country. This could prompt unsustainable overfishing by private anglers and set a dangerous precedent where states would have little incentive to be stricter than their neighbor.”

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.