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SAFMC News Release: Federal Fishery Managers Continue to Explore Options for Red Snapper

March 13, 2017 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Members of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council addressed a number of issues affecting offshore fisheries during their meeting this week in Jekyll Island, Georgia including the continued closure of the red snapper fishery in federal waters off the South Atlantic coast and the prohibition of recreational harvest of Atlantic cobia in federal waters from Georgia to New York. Red snapper were initially closed to harvest in the South Atlantic in 2010 in order to rebuild the stock and end overfishing. Limited harvest was allowed in 2012, 2013 and 2014 through weekend openings. Recreational fishing for Atlantic cobia closed early in 2016 after it was estimated that anglers had exceeded the total annual catch limit for the year. NOAA Fisheries announced on January 24, 2017 that the Atlantic cobia recreational fishery would be closed for the remainder of the year in federal waters after exceeding the annual catch limit in 2016 and in anticipation of harvest being allowed by some states that will likely result in the catch limit being exceeded again in 2017.

The Council, whose members include representatives from state marine resources agencies, federal agencies, and recreational, charter and commercial fishermen, discussed options to reduce discards, improve the survival rate of fish that are released, and perhaps allow limited harvest of red snapper in the future as the stock continues to rebuild. The latest stock assessment update for red snapper was completed in 2016 using data collected through 2014. The Council recently received notification from NOAA Fisheries, the agency responsible for collecting fisheries data, that due to several factors, including uncertainty in the stock assessment and in estimates of fishing mortality, along with anticipated changes to the current methods used for recreational data collection, that an Acceptable Biological Catch for red snapper cannot be determined at this time. Without this number, the Council is unable to set other parameters for red snapper, including Annual Catch Limits. During its meeting the Council requested a joint meeting of the Scientific and Statistical Committees from both the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, along with scientists from NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center and the Marine Recreational Information Program to address the issue as it applies to red snapper and other species.

“We have to come to some resolution of what kind of management approach may be acceptable as we work towards getting an ABC for red snapper,” said Council Chair Dr. Michelle Duval. “We should stay focused on the goal of Amendment 43 to reduce discards and turn discards into landings. The unfortunate reality is that we simply aren’t going to have numbers for the next few months.” The Council is developing Snapper Grouper Amendment 43 with management options to reduce discards, improve discard mortality, and improve recreational data collection. Public scoping meetings were held in January and February of this year to get input from the public on how best to reduce discards/discard mortality and improve private recreational data. The Council removed an action that considered large area closures and agreed to continue to develop best fishing practices management measures during its June 2017 meeting.

Vision Blueprint

Development of additional management measures continues as part of the Council’s 2016-2020 Vision Blueprint for the snapper grouper fishery. The Council reviewed public comment received as part of the public scoping held earlier this year and discussed options for the recreational fishery including restructuring aggregate bag limits, adjusting the current shallow-water grouper spawning season closure, and reducing the minimum size limit for black sea bass through Visioning Regulatory Amendment 26. Commercial measures are being addressed through Visioning Regulatory Amendment 27 and include options for split seasons, and modifications to trip limits and step-downs.

Yellowtail Snapper and Dolphin

The Council decided to postpone further actions on two amendments to allow for further analyses that may be necessary following changes underway to NOAA Fisheries Marine Recreational Information Program. Management measures addressing allocations of yellowtail snapper through Snapper Grouper Amendment 44 and for dolphin (fish) through Dolphin Wahoo Amendment 10 will be delayed until the revised recreational catch data are available.

Atlantic Cobia

The Council also received an update on management measures affecting Atlantic cobia, including a report from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission on its development of a complementary management plan that will allow additional flexibility for cobia management. In September 2016, the Council approved measures through Regulatory Amendment 4 to help reduce harvest of Atlantic cobia in federal waters that include increasing the minimum size limit, reducing the recreational bag limit, and establishing vessel limits. The regulations are currently being reviewed by NOAA Fisheries. The Council’s Mackerel Cobia Advisory Panel will meet April 19-20, 2017 to continue discussions and provide input.

Other Actions

The Council heard from more than 30 fishermen and other stakeholders during a public comment session held on Wednesday afternoon, with the majority of comments directed toward opposition to a proposed Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) that would have allowed for a voluntary pilot catch share program. The Council may provide recommendations for the permits with the final determination made by NOAA Fisheries. Dr. Roy Crabtree, Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office announced just prior to the public comment session that the EFP for the pilot project had been withdrawn by the applicants. Although many attending the public comment session expressed support for withdrawal of the pilot project, some had driven several hours to provide comment. The Council allowed attendees to voice their concerns and discussed ways to avoid the situation for reviewing EFPs in the future. Over 600 written comments were received online regarding the EFP for the pilot program and various other issues addressed by the Council this week.

The next Council meeting is scheduled for June 12-17, 2017 at the Sawgrass Marriott in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Final committee reports, public comments, and other materials from this week’s meeting are available from the Council’s website at http://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/council-meetings/.

Read further details and see images and other related meeting links at the March 2017 Council Meeting Round-up Story Map

The March 2017 Meeting Report is also available.

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.

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