August 11, 2025 — NOAA Fisheries has taken emergency action to increase the amount of red grouper fishers can harvest in the Gulf of Mexico, currently referred to as the Gulf of America by the U.S. government.
The move increases both the commercial and recreational annual catch limits (ACL) by roughly 50 percent.
March 6, 2024 — A U.S. federal appeals court is requiring NOAA to review red grouper reallocations the group made under its Amendment 53 decision issued in May 2022.
U.S. Gulf of Mexico commercial fishermen sued NOAA’s NMFS the same month, alleging the reallocation of red grouper catch shares illegally favored the recreational-fishing sector via a flawed formula that did not comply with legal requirements. Amendment 53 reduced the commercial allocation of red grouper caught in the Gulf of Mexico to 59.3 percent – down from 76 percent – while increasing the recreational-fishing sector’s allocation from 24 percent to 40.7 percent.
March 5, 2024 — The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance today issued the following statement on the decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to remand Amendment 53 (Red Grouper Reallocation) back to the National Marine Fisheries Service:
Two years ago a coalition of commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico sued the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for reallocating red grouper fishing quota from the commercial sector to the recreational sector.
January 10, 2023 –A federal court has upheld the National Marine Fisheries Service decision to implement changes to the Gulf of Mexico reef fish management and reallocate more red grouper to the recreational fishing sector.
U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly in a Jan. 6 opinion said the agency is acting properly in enacting Amendment 53 to the reef management plan, approved by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council over strenuous objections from the commercial fishing industry.
Amendment 53 was challenged in the District of Columbia federal dcourt by the Galveston, Texas-based Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance, the A.P. Bell Fish Company, of Cortez, Florida, and the Southern Offshore Fishing Association, a longliner group based in Madeira Beach, Florida.
The Charter Fishermen’s Association joined in by filing an amicus, or “friend of the court” legal brief. While nominally part of the recreational sector, the charter captains said they agreed with commercial fishermen that Amendment 53 could ultimately hurt the red grouper resource and fishery.
January 9, 2023 — NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service’s implementation of Amendment 53 will move forward after a federal judge upheld the U.S. agency’s management plan for reef fish in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Gulf Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance and allied fishermen had sued NMFS to stop the implementation of Amendment 53, part of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s reef fish management plan. The plan, announced by NOAA on Monday, 2 May, 2022, will reduce the commercial allocation of red grouper caught in the Gulf of Mexico to 59.3 percent, down from 76 percent, while increasing the recreational fishing sector’s allocation from 24 percent to 40.7 percent.
November 2, 2022 — Acoalition of Gulf of Mexico fishermen got their day in federal court, making the case against reallocating red grouper to the recreational sector.
At an Oct. 18 hearing in Washington, D.C., lawyers for the Gulf Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance and allied fishermen presented their case against Amendment 53 to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s reef fish management plan.
The arguments before U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly focused on the amendment’s effect of reducing the annual commercial allocation to 59.3 percent, down from 76 percent, and increasing the recreational allocation from 24 percent to 40.7 percent.
August 24, 2022 — Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is getting involved in a legal battle over recreational fishing in the state.
He has filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit challenging a National Marine Fisheries Service rule that deals with quotas for Gulf of Mexico red grouper fish.
August 9, 2022 — Recreational harvest of red grouper in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) will close at 12:01 am, local time, on August 30, 2022, and will remain closed until the 2023 fishing year begins on January 1, 2023.
Landings information received from the Southeast Fisheries Science Center and Southeast Regional Office indicate the 2022 recreational annual catch target (ACT) of 1,840,000 pounds gutted weight (lb gw) is projected to be met on August 29, 2022.
In accordance with the regulations, NOAA Fisheries must close harvest when the recreational ACT has been met or is projected to be met. Therefore, this closure will begin on August 30, 2022. This closure is needed to prevent overfishing of red grouper (annual catch rate is too high).
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.
May 23, 2022 — The federal government will soon impose new limits on the amount of red grouper that commercial fishers can catch in the Gulf of Mexico and local business owners say that will impact the industry and their customers.
“It will definitely cost you more today. And will probably cost you more tomorrow because there’ll be less allocation,” said Frank Chivas, owner of Baystar Restaurant Group, which operates 12 restaurants in the greater Tampa Bay region.
Karen Bell, owner of A.P. Bell Fishing Company in Cortez agrees that the price for grouper is likely to rise.
“It’s limiting what we’re able to sell to the public,” she said. “When the supply is reduced, the price goes up because there’s less of it available.”
Earlier this month, the government announced an amendment to the National Marine Fisheries Service management plan. The quota for recreational fishing would rise from 24 percent to 40.7 percent, while the commercial share would decline from 76 percent to 59.3 percent.
Bell has signed on to a federal lawsuit challenging the reallocation of the red grouper harvest.
“I don’t dislike the recreational sector,” she said. “In fact, we pack bait for them and I think it’s important that they have quality time on the water just like we do but to shift it to give it to someone else when we provide it to the non-fishing public, that’s a hard pill to swallow.”