Saving Seafood

CFA Responds to Approval of H.R. 3094 Today in the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee

June 15, 2016 — The following was released by the Charter Fisherman’s Association:

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Earlier today the House Natural Resources committee in Congress approved H.R. 3094 by Rep. Garret Graves (R-La) to transfer management of the private, charter for-hire and commercial components of the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fisheries away from the federal government to a newly created five-person committee made up of the five Gulf state fishery directors. The CFA has been adamantly opposed to this concept since its inception last year and one of our members (Captain Gary Jarvis) testified against the bill in a hearing on the bill in October. The following statements are in reaction to this morning’s vote.

“As federally permitted charter captains, we are the access point for millions of Americans who want to go offshore but don’t own a big boat,” said Captain Shane Cantrell from Galveston, TX. “We have worked constructively with NOAA to develop management solutions for our industry to improve accountability, increase sustainability and deliver flexibility for our customers and most of the Gulf States have opposed us every step of the way. Congress should be advised that transferring authority over this fishery will result in the Gulf of Mexico being reserved for only wealthy boat owners in short order.”

“I am disappointed to see this dangerous piece of legislation move out of the Natural Resources committee because our industry has been near unanimous in saying that we want to stay under federal management. The private recreational system is what is broken and those anglers absolutely deserve relief, but you don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. If the states want to manage millions of private anglers that is fine, but there are 1,200 of us and we operate exclusively in federal waters and we don’t want any part of that.” ~ Capt. Gary Jarvis from Destin, FL.

“In addition to turning their backs on years of progress in rebuilding this fishery, they are passing down a huge unfunded mandate to my home state of Louisiana. After the multi-billion dollar mess that the previous Governor left us, I don’t know how they expect us to pay for the management of another 191 miles offshore!”  ~ Capt. Steve Tomeny from Fourchon, LA. 

Council to consider loosening red snapper fishing rules

June 15, 2016 — COCOA BEACH, Fla. — A regional fish management panel meets this week to consider — among other things — whether to allow more time for fishermen to bag a red snapper.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries closed the red snapper fishery on Jan. 4, 2010, to protect the species from fishing pressure. Fishery managers said the ban was necessary because the species had been “overfished.”

The council in recent years had reopened the fishery for short seasons lasting only a few days, after new scientific information projected red snapper could continue to grow in numbers, even with some allowable catch.

Consideration of allowing up to a six-month red snapper fishing season — possibly by 2018 — will come up at around 1:30 p.m. at the Wednesday, June 15 council meeting, held at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, 1550 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach.

Read the full story at Florida Today

Southeastern Fisheries Association: Keep Federal Management of Red Snapper

June 14, 2016 — The following opinion piece was released by Southeastern Fisheries Association Executive Director Bob Jones, concerning H.R. 3094, the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority Act. The bill “amend[s] the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to transfer to States the authority to manage red snapper fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico.” The bill will be subject to full committee markup by the House Natural Resources Committee tomorrow, June 15:

HR 3094 will scuttle, by action and precedence, the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). We believe the MSA has done much to make US fishery resources sustainable.

Before there was a federal fishery management zone, commercial fishermen brought their issues before the state legislatures. They were assured fair hearings by legislative committees. Then some state fish commissions, in Florida for example, assumed the management without legislative oversight. The Florida Marine Fisheries Commission did come under the Governor and SIX elected Cabinet Officers for a few years where fishery issues were fully discussed. Then an autonomous Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission was established so the commercial fishermen came under a SEVEN person group. In Florida we started out under a 160 member legislature, then down to a SEVEN member commission and now HR 3094 places us and a billion dollar seafood industry under the whims of THREE people with no federal oversight for managing federal resources. Is any other food producing industry subject to THREE unelected people in control of their livelihood?

When the MSA was enacted it established management of Gulf red snapper under a SEVENTEEN person fisheries council composed of all state members except one. The council operates under a mandated set of National Standards. For the most part it operates under the rule of law.

HR 3094 changes the rule of law to the rule of man by creating a FIVE member authority with no elected official oversight. On a FIVE member authority THREE votes is a majority.

“(502 (a) (1) of HR 3094 (says:) Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority that consists of the principal fisheries manager of each of the Gulf coastal States.“

“{c) (i) of HR 3094 (says:) any recommendation by the GSRSMA to reduce quota apportioned to the commercial sector by more than 10 percent shall be reviewed and approved by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.”

This means the ‘Gulf States authority’ will reallocate 9.99% of the red snapper each year from the commercial harvesting sector to the anglers. This Texas/Louisiana CCA inspired ‘authority’ will allocate all the red snapper for themselves in about a decade. That is the true goal of this bill. 

HR 3094 was already killed when it was proposed as an amendment to the MSA legislation. It has “risen from the ashes” to once more attempt to reward the only fishing sector without accountability. 

HR 3094 needs to be killed just as it was at full committee earlier in the Congress.

View a PDF version here

Why You Should Be Worried About Fish Fraud

June 13, 2016 –Fish has been heralded as one of the healthiest foods on the planet, loaded with those highly beneficial omega-3 fatty acids.

But there is one important thing to consider before you make fish a staple in your diet – seafood fraud.

This type of fraud includes any illegal activity that misrepresents seafood being sold, which is shockingly easy. More than 90 percent of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported, and the government inspects less than 1 percent of that specifically for fraud, according to Oceana, one of the largest international ocean conservation and advocacy organizations.

Using DNA testing, Oceana conducted a two-year investigation of seafood fraud from 2010 to 2012 and found that one-third of seafood is mislabeled, according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines.

Additionally, 44 percent of all the grocery stores, restaurants and sushi venues the organization investigated sold mislabeled seafood. It’s difficult to pinpoint, however, at what stage in the supply chain these fraudulent activities occur, as the Oceana study notes.

Read the full story at attn.com

Red snapper confusion has some seeing red

June 10, 2016 — Next week, expect to hear more talk about confounding math methods than the first time our schoolchildren introduced us adults to Common Core. Then expect to hear that many anglers turned as red in the face as the scales on the red snapper they will again be told they can’t keep when fishing in federal waters.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will meet in Cocoa Beach for week-long meetings to discuss management of some of the more than 100 species of important food fish and popular game fish it is responsible for handling.

The bulk of the focus during next week’s meetings will be on the red snapper, a fish that is very important to three sectors with very different goals. Red snapper grow large, fight hard, fetch a good price at the market, and have a critical role in the ecosystem of the coral reefs located on the sea floor from North Carolina to Florida’s Treasure Coast.

Commercial fishermen working out of ports from Sebastian and Port Canaveral to the Outer Banks would love to target red snapper year round. Charter boat operators in that same zone are stinging ever since the National Marine Fisheries Service put a halt to red snapper harvest in 2010. Recreational anglers who fish a day or two on the weekend aren’t allowed to take any home for dinner, either.

But next week, the entire world that revolves around the red snapper will have a chance to read and hear the latest data on this prized and valuable resource. The long-awaited red snapper stock assessment was completed in April and peer reviewed in May, so it will be debuted to the world Tuesday and Wednesday.

Read the full story at TC Palm

NOAA Announces Proposals to Expand Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

June 9, 2016 — Building on more than 30 years of scientific studies, including numerous reports released in the last decade and in the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, NOAA today announced a proposal to expand Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary to protect additional critical Gulf of Mexico habitat.

The plan lays out five expansion scenarios, ranging from no expansion of the 56-square-mile sanctuary, to one bringing it to a total of 935 square miles. In NOAA’s preferred scenario, the sanctuary would expand to 383 square miles to include 15 reefs and banks that provide habitat for recreationally and commercially important fish, as well as a home to 15 threatened or endangered species of whales, sea turtles, and corals.

“These habitats are the engines of sustainability for much of the Gulf of Mexico and are critical to fish such as red snapper, mackerel, grouper and wahoo, as well as other protected species,” said John Armor, acting director, NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. “The proposed expansion also advances NOAA’s mission to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources that help sustain local communities and America’s economy.”

Read the full story at Ocean News

Latest Issue of the SAFMC South Atlantic Update Newsletter Now Available

June 2, 2016 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Latest Issue of the South Atlantic Update Newsletter Now Available:

Inside this issue:

  • Council Approves Five Spawning Special Management Zones
  • Red Snapper Management Options
  • Mutton Mania – New regulations being considered for mutton snapper
  • Regulations Snapshot and more…

Read the full newsletter at the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council

Atlantic Red Snapper Fishing Season Closed for 2016

June 2, 2016 — June 1 marks the opening of red snapper season in Gulf of Mexico federal waters (extending beyond 9 nautical miles from land), but our east-coast brethren have to sit this one out. Based on data collected by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, a branch of NOAA Fisheries, too many red snapper were harvested from this region in 2015, so there will be no 2016 recreational or commercial season.

One of eight regional councils created under what is now the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, SAFMC is responsible for conservation and management of fish stocks within the federal 200-mile limit off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and east Florida to Key West. Red snapper, a historically overfished species, has been one of the council’s top concerns since the 1980s.

Read the full story at Outdoor Life

The Gulf War

May 31, 2016 — Katie’s Seafood Market is a corrugated-metal building on the Galveston waterfront with a wooden ship wheel hanging from its ceiling and an 89-pound snapper mounted near the entrance. A small retail area faces the street, but most of the action happens on the dockside, which opens onto a channel leading to the Gulf of Mexico.

It was there, last November, that William “Bubba” Cochrane could be found supervising the unloading of 11,000 pounds of red snapper from his boat the Chelsea Ann. A beefy man with a gray-flecked beard, Cochrane recorded weights on a clipboard as large blue vats filled with fish. Outside, his twelve-year-old son and deckhand, Conner, moved around the boat in orange bib pants. “Kids in school say, ‘I want to be a video-game designer,’ ” Conner said. “I’m the only one who has ever said, ‘I want to be a fisherman.’ ”

That would have been a ludicrous ambition a decade ago. When Cochrane started fishing for a living in the early nineties, the Gulf population of red snapper—mild and buttery, easy to catch, with pink-orange scales that stand out on market shelves—had bottomed out following a forty-year decline. Potential egg production, a key measure of population health, had fallen to 2.6 percent of its natural level, one tenth of what scientists consider sustainable.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) and its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), scrambled to find solutions. For years commercial fishing was limited to the first ten days of the month during the spring and fall seasons. This led to a mad race—a “derby” in industry parlance—as every vessel barreled into the Gulf at once. “If it was blowing a gale on the first, you had to go,” Cochrane says. “You’ve got bills to pay and a boat loan.”

Under those conditions, fishermen didn’t have time to find the perfect fishing spot. “If I’ve got to kill two hundred pounds of undersized fish to catch fifty pounds of legal fish, I’ll do it,” he says of the attitude during those years. “A few discards, you try not to think about it.”

Derbies didn’t just stress the fishers; they also failed as a conservation tool. Most years, the commercial sector exceeded its allocation. The stock improved, but not by much.

Read the full story at Texas Monthly

SAFMC to Meet in Cocoa Beach, FL on June 13-17, 2016

May 27, 2016 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Meeting Location:

Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront

1550 N. Atlantic Avenue

Cocoa Beach FL 32931

Phone: 800-445-8667 or 321-799-0003

Agenda Highlights

  • Mackerel Committee – Discussion on Atlantic cobia management.
  • Snapper Grouper Committee – Discussions on management of mutton snapper, red snapper, and hogfish.
  • Data Collection Committee – Discussion on electronic reporting for charter vessels.
  • Joint Dolphin Wahoo/Snapper Grouper Committees – Discussion on allocations for dolphinfish and yellowtail snapper.

Read more about the meeting at the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council