July 16, 2015 — The following was released by The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance:

The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance (Shareholders’ Alliance) and the commercial fishermen and women we represent stand strong in supporting the sustainable federal management of our nation’s commercial red snapper fishery. We are able to build stable, long-term business plans; we live within sustainable limits; and we can provide the American seafood consumer with sustainable, fresh, Gulf of Mexico red snapper. The commercial red snapper management plan is working.

That’s why we cannot support any legislative attempt to strip the commercial red snapper fishery away from federal mangers and turn it over to the Gulf states. This plan, developed by the fishery directors of the five Gulf states in a secret backdoor meeting without any fishermen allowed in the room, threatens to eliminate the commercial red snapper fishery and the of tens of thousands jobs it supports in order to bring fresh red snapper to your plates.

Our federal fisheries law, the Magnuson-Stevens Conservation and Management Act (MSA), requires that sustainable fishing limits be identified and adhered to, conservation be promoted and that unhealthy fish stocks be rebuilt to healthy levels. It is these protections that have helped bring red snapper back to some of the highest levels in recent history. Turning the commercial red snapper fishery over to the Gulf states through an act of legislation will allow them to undermine our federal fisheries law and sidestep these conservation protections. Over forty commercial fishing organizations from throughout the Nation, representing thousands of commercial fishermen and tens of millions of pounds of commercially important seafood, support us as we work to protect our businesses and consumer access to red snapper.

Read the full release from the Gulf of Mexico Reef Shareholder’s Alliance here