January 13, 2017 — Proposed changes to the main US fishing law could alter the way scarce red snapper is regulated, even as a new advisory panel aimed at alleviating long-standing tension between recreational and commercial fishermen prepares its first report.
The incoming administration of Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled congress may make it easier for proponents to achieve changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the law that governs all fishing regulation in the US federal waters, sources have told Undercurrent News.
Some of the most vocal proponents of changes to the current law and their critics are users of the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery, which was once overfished but has recovered amid strict regulation.
With recovery, however, has come controversy, particularly among recreational red snapper fishermen who have seen the number of days they are allowed to fish in federal waters dwindle even as the number and quality of fish in the water improve.
In response, the five gulf states have set their own recreational fishing seasons in near-shore state waters. Keeping this in mind, federal officials have responded by drastically cutting the number of days red snapper fisherman can fish in federal waters. Multiple lawsuits followed.