Saving Seafood

GEORGIA: Progress on red snapper, ‘catch share’ request withdrawn

March 9, 2017 — In Weird Al Yankovic’s cult ’80s film “UHF,” contestants play for their weight in fish on a game show called, “Wheel of Fish.” A woman, the returning champion, gets the first spin at the wheel that, yes, sports a number of fish tied to it at regular intervals. Then the wheel stops.

“Ah, a red snapper,” says the show’s host, a character played by Gedde Watanabe. “Mmm — very tasty.”

They are tasty, which created a problem the closed red snapper season off the Southeast United States was supposed to solve — rebuilding the fish’s population so as to allow both commercial and recreational fishing for red snapper once again.

At the Tuesday morning meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Snapper Grouper Committee meeting, there appeared to be some progress in moving toward reopening red snapper fishing in federal waters off Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas.

Zack Bowen, a charter fisherman from Savannah, pushed the need for movement, saying, “The recreational anglers are mad as hell,” charter operations are starving for business and there needed to be something done soon to address opening red snapper fishing.

Read the full story at The News 

FLORIDA: TIME TO RETHINK RED SNAPPER RULES?: Locals are hopeful feds will reopen fishery

February 22, 2017 — Local fisherman say officials should consider re-opening the red snapper fishery in the federally controlled waters off of Florida’s northeast coast this year, but after years of being told it won’t happen, they don’t sound too hopeful.

While the season remains open year-round in the state-controlled Atlantic waters between the coast and 3-miles offshore (regulations are different in the Gulf of Mexico), fishermen say there are virtually no snapper to be had there.

“You won’t catch a snapper around here in state waters,” said Capt. Luke Jarriel, a boat captain for Sea Love Charters that operates out of Cat’s Paw Marina.

But they are thick, he said, at the spots 16-20 miles offshore, where he was fishing Monday with about 30 clients.

He estimated those clients caught about 60 red snapper, none of which could be kept.

“And that’s on the modest end,” he said Monday evening as he helped some clean the fish they could keep.

It’s numbers like those that make Jarriel and his boss, Sea Love’s co-owner, Darryl Lloyd, think the population is strong enough to start fishing again.

“You’ll see more red snapper than pretty much any fish you will see out there,” Lloyd said Monday while waiting in the marina parking lot for his boat to return.

Lloyd said he could only speak to the waters around the Northeast Florida area, but what he and his captains see from week to week suggests they should be allowed to keep the snapper they are catching anyway.

Read the full story at The St. Augustine Record

Fifth Circuit sides with commercial fishermen in Gulf red-snapper case

February 12, 2017 — In a dispute pitting recreational anglers against commercial fishermen in the management of red snapper in Gulf waters, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has sided with the interests of the Charter Fisherman’s Association.

The Coastal Conservation Association and other private fishermen sued the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries and others in federal court in New Orleans in April 2015 challenging a rule that regulates the recreational sector of Gulf of Mexico red snapper.

Known as Amendment 40 to the Reef Fishery Management Plan, the rule adopted earlier in 2015 calls for “increased flexibility in future management of the recreational sector in order to reduce the likelihood of recreational-quota overruns, which could negatively impact the rebuilding of the red-snapper stock,” the opinion stated.

Read the full story at the Louisiana Record

LOUISIANA: Sea lords and the secret votes that made them rich

February 9, 2017 — What do you have the right to see, as a citizen of this country? if a vote takes place that essentially gives away a public resource for nothing, should you see who votes yes and who votes no?

When we showed Congressman Garret Graves the response to our Freedom of Information Act request, he laughed.

The response was a heavily-redacted tally of votes, conducted years ago, that helped hand over tens of millions of dollars every year to a small group of fishermen. We requested the vote count in our FOIA request, but the federal government gave us little of the information we requested, blacking out the key part: who voted yes and who voted no.

“This is a public body,” notes Graves, a Louisiana Republican. “You can’t hide the votes from this. That’s not OK.”

When we showed him the blacked-out lists again, he tells us, “Not for long – because I’m going to get the answer to that.”

Read the full story here at FOX 8

LOUISIANA: Gov. John Bel Edwards wants angler input on red snapper regulation

February 2, 2017 — Gov. John Bel Edwards told a group of recreational anglers Thursday that he was open to state regulation of red snapper fishing off Louisiana’s shore, which some anglers said was a rollback of the governor’s previous wildlife and fisheries leader.

“We ought to be able to regulate ourselves when it comes to fishing,” Edwards told the Coastal Conservation Association Louisiana annual membership luncheon during a 14-minute speech that otherwise was long on hunting and fishing stories and short on policy.

 Edwards said his position hasn’t changed, but he understands that mixed messages went out over the past year.

Using population and harvesting data, federal agencies have pressed the Gulf State Marine Fisheries Commission, made up of representatives from the five states bordering the Gulf of Mexico, have limited the red snapper season to nine days and restricted how many fish could be caught.

Read the full story at The Acadiana Advocate.

Reminder – Public Hearing/Scoping Meetings Continue Next Week in NC; Deadline for Advisory Panel Applications Approaching

February 3, 2017 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Join local representatives from the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and Council staff as public hearing and scoping meetings continue next week in North Carolina. 

The Council is holding a series of public hearing/scoping meetings to collect public input on management options for red snapper and the Vision Blueprint for the snapper grouper fishery and proposed measures affecting allocations for yellowtail snapper.  Documents and online presentations are available by clicking the link below.

Note: Meetings begin at 6:00 PM

 

Monday, February 6

Hilton Wilmington Riverside

301 North Water Street

 Wilmington, NC

 

Tuesday, February 7

Hatteras Community Center

 57689 NC Highway 12

Hatteras, NC

 

Wednesday, February 8

Doubletree by Hilton

 2717 W. Fort Macon Road

Atlantic Beach, NC

 

Can’t Attend a Meeting in Person? Each of the meetings is available via webinar. Registration is required.

Visit the Council’s website: Public Hearing & Scoping Meetings

Red Snapper Season Begins Tomorrow In Louisiana

January 31, 2017 — Recreational red snapper fishing will begin tomorrow (Feb. 1, 2017) in the state waters of Louisiana, and wildlife officials say they will remain open until further notice.

Louisiana waters include all bodies of water up to nine nautical miles from shore and they will be open seven days a week.

The decision to make the season longer was made last week by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission during their monthly meeting.

Despite the longer season, fishermen will be regulated to only two fish per person and the red snapper must 16-inches in length.

Federal wildlife officials have not yet announced the dates for the federal season in 2017, which opens all waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Last year, the federal season was only nine days long in July.

Read the full story at WRKG

SOUTH ATLANTIC FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL: Reminder – Public Hearing/Scoping Meetings Begin This Week in Florida

January 23, 2017 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Join local representatives from the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and Council staff as public hearing and scoping meetings continue this week along Florida’s east coast.

The Council is holding a series of public hearing/scoping meetings to collect public input on proposed management measures for yellowtail snapper, red snapper options and the Vision Blueprint for the snapper grouper fishery.

Monday, January 23 

Lexington Hotel & Conference Center

1515 Prudential Drive

Jacksonville, FL

Tuesday, January 24

Hilton Cocoa Beach

1550 N. Atlantic Ave.

Cocoa Beach, FL

Wednesday, January 25

Flagler Place

201 S.W. Flagler Ave.

Stuart, FL

Thursday, January 26

Hilton Key Largo

97000 Overseas Hwy.

Key Largo, FL

Read the full release at the SAFMC

Red snapper scarcity prompts push to change US fishing laws

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.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

SOUTH ATLANTIC FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL: Public Hearing and Scoping Meetings Continue

January 12, 2017 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Council is holding a series of public hearing/scoping meetings and webinars between January 12 and February 8, 2017 to collect public input on proposed management measures for yellowtail snapper, red snapper options and the Vision Blueprint for the snapper grouper fishery.

For details on meeting locations, webinar registration, amendment documents/presentations, and instructions on how to submit written comments, visit the Council’s website:

See more information at the SAFMC