Saving Seafood

LOUISIANA: Red snapper dispute continued at Wednesday meeting

September 8, 2016 — The war of words continued Wednesday during an all-day meeting in Baton Rouge designed to educate members of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission on red snapper management.

A surrogate of Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, presented a letter declaring states would not be responsible for research funding under HR 3094, a bill authored by Graves and Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, that would transfer management authority to Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

That directly contradicted charges made by Charlie Melancon, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, that the bill became an unfunded mandate when Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, tacked an amendment to it.

“Amending things to death is how you kill a bill,” Melancon told the crowd of industry leaders and interested anglers Wednesday. “What was done to (HR 3094) was an attempt to kill the bill.”

But Paul Sawyer, Graves’ chief of staff, presented a letter, signed by Bishop, stating that his amendment merely banned the transfer of funds to the states for fisheries research because that research would continue to be conducted by NOAA Fisheries.

“Existing NOAA data collection on red snapper stocks is unaffected by my amendment, and nothing precludes the federal government from sharing that data or existing research activities with the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority to inform and assist with state management,” Bishop said in the letter.

Read the full story at The Times Picayune

FLORIDA: Red Snapper Season Reopens In September

August 31, 2016 — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is opening up weekends in September and October for recreational red snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Residents will be able to fish Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays starting Sept. 2 and on Labor Day.

The daily bag limit is two fish per person with a fish minimum size limit of 16 inches.

In May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration kept commercial and recreational red snapper fishing in South Atlantic federal waters closed. This was due to exceeding the allowable catch limit in the 2015 season.

Read the full story at WFSU

LOUISIANA: Red Snapper Season Will Close September 5

August 29, 2016 — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) announced that the state recreational red snapper season will close at 11:59 p.m. on September 5, 2016.

Preliminary estimates from the LA Creel survey indicate that the Department’s self-imposed quota of 1,116,732 pounds of red snapper for the private and charter sectors of the recreational fishery is projected to be harvested by September 5, 2016. Closing the season in state waters avoids an overrun of the overall Gulf of Mexico recreational quota and allows the red snapper stock to continue rebuilding. The Secretary of the Department has the authority to re-open the recreational season, as has been done in previous years, for additional recreational harvest if finalized landings data indicate such harvest would be within conservation targets.

The state red snapper season, which opened on January 8, allowed anglers an opportunity to harvest recreational red snapper for 242 days in state waters.

Read the full story at The Outdoor Wire

Fish Fraud: Something Fishy Is Happening With the Labeling of Seafood

August 24, 2016 — These days, choosing fish isn’t easy, whether you’re buying it at the grocery store or ordering it at a restaurant. You want to select seafood that’s fresh, reasonably priced, high in omega-3 fatty acids and low in mercury. After all, fish is one of the healthiest foods on the planet – it’s a lean source of protein that’s good for your heart and mind, experts note – which is why the updated U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines encourage Americans to eat fish or seafood at least twice a week. It’s a tricky balancing act, though, because at the same time, consumers are frequently warned about the potential risks of contaminants like mercury, which tends to build up especially in large predatory fish.

Here’s a shopping shocker that makes the issue even more complicated: You may not be getting the fish you’re paying for at retail outlets or in restaurants. In an investigation from 2010 to 2012, Oceana, an international organization dedicated to ocean conservation, examined more than 1,200 fish samples from 64 restaurants, sushi venues and stores in 21 states throughout the U.S. and found that mislabeling occurred in 59 percent of the 46 fish types that were tested; in particular, less desirable, less expensive or more readily available fish were often swapped for grouper, cod and snapper. Holy mackerel!

Among the most common examples of fish fraud the Oceana study found: Tilapia is frequently substituted for red snapper; pangasius (Asian catfish) is being sold as Alaskan or Pacific cod or grouper; Antarctic toothfish is being swapped for sea bass; farmed Atlantic salmon is standing in for wild, king and sockeye salmon; and escolar is being sold as white tuna, according to the report. In South Florida, king mackerel – a fish that’s on the Food and Drug Administration’s “do not eat” list for sensitive groups such as women of reproductive age and young children because it’s high in mercury – was being sold as grouper, and in New York City, tilefish – which is also on the “do not eat” list for sensitive people – was being sold as halibut and red snapper.

“It’s all based on economics,” notes Roger Clemens, a professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Southern California and past president of the Institute of Food Technologists. “Many of the fish that are substituted are less expensive, so the restaurant or retailer profits from the deception.”

Read the full story at the US News & World Report

Mississippi supports regional red snapper management bill

July 25, 2015 — Mississippi is in favor of regional management of red snapper.

The state supports H.R. 3094, known as the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority Act.

U.S. Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana sponsored the 16-page bill on July 16, 2015.

Gov. Phil Bryant sent a letter in support of Graves’ legislation to House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi after federal funding was stripped from the bill last month.

With the bill, the five Gulf states’ chief fish and wildlife officials will be in charge of red snapper management in federal waters.

Read the full story at the Sun Herald

Red snapper talk dominates Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting

July 21, 2016 — Red snapper again dominated the most recent Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting, and what proponents of separation of the recreational sector into for-hire/charter and private-angler groups called an “experiment” apparently will be become standard operating procedure.

The biggest news was the council backed a proposal by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to establish an Ad Hoc Advisory Panel for Recreational Red Snapper Management set to meet for the first time in January 2017.

This year marked the second year of sector separation (Reef Fish Amendment 45), which granted charters 47 percent of the annual recreational red snapper take from Gulf waters, and there was a three-year sunset provision at the outset. The most recent council vote extended the sunset provision to 2022. This, and all other actions like it, are sent to the U.S. Department of Commerce for review.

Read the full story at The Advocate

Louisiana is only Gulf state not supporting regional red snapper management bill

July 18, 2016 — Louisiana currently stands alone as the only Gulf state indicating it would be unable to afford to oversee red snapper management if oversight authority of the fishery is ultimately stripped away from the federal government.

In interviews with LouisianaSportsman.com, marine fisheries representatives from the other four Gulf states have confirmed they are still supporting H.R. 3094 from Baton Rouge Congressman Garret Graves and had no reservations about moving forward because federal funding was stripped from the bill last month.

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Charlie Melancon said in late June that he opposes Graves’ bill that would strip management of red snapper in the Gulf from federal authority and hand it over to the states. Melancon said his opposition stems from the lack of federal funding.

That wasn’t a concern for the other four Gulf states, however.

“Alabama is prepared to manage the red snapper fishery with or without federal funding. We still think state management is the best idea,” said Chris Blankenship, director of marine resources for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “A lot of the work we’re doing with red snapper, we’re already paying for out of our funds now and providing that information to NOAA for the stock assessments for red snapper.”

Read the full story at the Louisiana Sportsman

Gulf Council Seeks Applicants for Ad Hoc Red Snapper Panel

July 12, 2016 — The following was released by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council:

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is accepting applications for membership on a newly created Ad Hoc Red Snapper Private Angler Advisory Panel. The charge of the panel is to develop fair and effective ways to mitigate the derby fishing occurring in the private angler component of the red snapper fishery. The panel will meet by January 2017.

Advisory panels are comprised of individuals who are knowledgeable and interested in the conservation and management of the fishery resources, or who are engaged in the harvest of Gulf of Mexico managed species. Membership provides individuals with an opportunity to become more directly involved in the management decision-making process.

Ad hoc advisory panel members are appointed by the Council and will serve a two-year term. Advisory panel members generally meet no more than once or twice per year and are compensated for travel and per diem expenses. Ad Hoc panels operate in the same manner; however, these panels are temporary and are disbanded when the panel charge has been met.

To apply to this Ad Hoc Advisory Panel, complete the online application.

If you have any questions, please call the Council office at 813-348-1630.

Applications must be received by August 5, 2016 for consideration by the Council during its August meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.

ROB WALTON & FRED KRUPP: Restoring Fisheries, Scoring a Net Gain

July 11, 2016 — Tres Atkins followed his passion and made the biggest bet of his life: He became a commercial fisherman. In 2006, he bought a boat, moved to Galveston, Texas, and began fishing for red snapper. He also unwittingly joined the front lines of one of the most important conservation success stories in recent history—the turnaround of U.S. fisheries.

The future looked bleak when Mr. Atkins entered the fishing business. Decades of overfishing had sharply depleted the red snapper population, and attempts to address the problem had led to a tangle of federal regulations, including short fishing seasons and low quotas. That, plus depressed prices, made it hard to make ends meet. Yet a decade later, the Gulf of Mexico red snapper population is rebounding, and Mr. Atkins’s big bet has paid off. Having entered the fishery with a single boat, he now runs one of the largest family-owned fleets in the Gulf of Mexico, along with a wholesale seafood business.

His success is part of a larger story. The U.S. has reversed the seemingly intractable downward trend in fish stocks that began in the 1980s. A composite health index of federal fisheries is at an all-time high. American jobs supported by domestic fisheries now number 1.83 million, up 15% since 2011.

Not every fishery is thriving. The challenges facing some fishermen, including many small operators in New England, are real. But after years of alarming headlines, a national picture of success is emerging. What fueled the comeback?

Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal

Red snapper management would cost Louisiana $10 million-plus in first year, LDWF says

July 8, 2016 — If red snapper management is ultimately turned over to the individual Gulf states through Garret Graves’ bill currently moving through Congress, the program would come with a $10,039,000 price tag for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in its first year, according to the state’s head fisheries biologist.

The cost estimate was unveiled in Baton Rouge by LDWF Assistant Secretary of the Office of Fisheries Patrick Banks at Thursday’s four-hour meeting of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, where charter fishermen spoke out against the legislation and members of Coastal Conservation Association Louisiana voiced their support for the bill.

The commission took no action on the red snapper presentation or the cost analysis.

“We had a Gulf Council meeting break out,” David Cresson, executive director for CCA Louisiana, said after the meeting. “It was a bit surprising to see representatives from Texas and Florida — representatives of historically anti-recreational groups — show up to give their opinions.

“So it felt a lot like a Gulf Council meeting today. And all the arguments they made sounded just like at the Gulf Council every time.”

Read the full story at the Louisiana Sportsman