Red Snapper, an iconic American fish sought after by consumers across the country, is culturally and economically Important to the Gulf Coast. Photo: EDF
by Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
Red Snapper, an iconic American fish sought after by consumers across the country, is culturally and economically Important to the Gulf Coast. Seafood sales at restaurant after restaurant dotting the southern coastline are one of the largest drivers of the Gulf’s tourism industry. According to recent consumer surveys, tourists closely identify the delicious and mild flavor of red snapper with the American Gulf coast.
For the past 30 years, management of the red snapper fishery in the Gulf has been contentious to say the least.
David Cresson, executive director of CCA Louisiana, testified before the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife of the Committee. Photo: CCA
In 1979, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council determined red snapper stocks were overfished. A drop of more than 87 percent in recreational catch prompted the Gulf Council, an organization having oversight over catch limits, to create the Reef Fish Management Plan calling for catch restrictions on commercial and recreational fishermen.
Using two-year catch history, federal managers set the allocation between the commercial and recreational sectors at 51 percent commercial/49 percent recreational, where it still resides today.
In a recent column published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune – It is indeed time to share the Gulf, change red snapper allocation, David Cresson, executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana, argues “by using a time period when the stock was historically depressed, and therefore harder to find, you could argue that the 51 percent awarded to the commercial harvesters is the all-time high-water mark for that sector, while 49 percent would be the low-water mark for recreational anglers.”
“The 51/49 allocation split was based on a very short time frame in 1979 and 1980,” said Buddy Guindon, president of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance. “Fishery allocations are usually established based on longer time periods. If the Council had looked at a five to ten year time spread, the allocation would have been 75/25 in favor of commercial fishermen.”
Red Snapper Stock Rebounding
Until recently the mild flavored fish has spent years on the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch red list, but proper harvesting management of the species has increased numbers and Red Snapper is now rebounding.
In the article Cresson makes the case for the fishery rebound due “entirely to a long-delayed steep reduction in red snapper mortality from shrimp trawls, “ when in fact it credit for the rebound has been given by Monterrey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch to a harvest program developed with the assistance of commercial fishermen.
According to Harlon Pearce, a Gulf Council designee from Louisiana and a Gulf Seafood Institute Board member, in 2007 the Gulf Council and NOAA Fisheries implemented an Individual Fishing Quota program for the commercial red snapper fishery. Photo: Louisiana Seafood News
According to Harlon Pearce, a Gulf Council designee from Louisiana and a Gulf Seafood Institute (GSI) Board member, in 2007 the Gulf Council and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Fisheries implemented an Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program for the commercial red snapper fishery. This program reduced the number of vessels and improved the operation of the fishery.
“The IFQ program now provides the harvesting sector with flexibility to fish during times that suit their needs, and the needs of the market, resulting in less pressure on the fishery, less pressure on the resource, and an end to the unsafe derby fishery that was taking place,” he explained.
“The shareholders didn’t pay a dime when they were gifted that public resource and to this day they don’t pay enough in administrative fees to cover even the cost of monitoring their own program,” said Cresson, whose organization represents fishermen who also have not contributed “a dime” in administrative fees, or implemented a monitoring program of their own.
“Realizing the red snapper stock was in trouble, Gulf commercial fisherman devised a plan where we recommended commercial fishermen take a 50% reduction in quota, but allowed to harvest continually throughout the year,” explained Buddy Guindon, a Texas commercial fisherman who has rights to harvest five percent of the Gulf’s red snapper. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
“Realizing the red snapper stock was in trouble, Gulf commercial fisherman devised a plan where we recommended commercial fishermen take a 50% reduction in quota, but allowed to harvest continually throughout the year,” explained Guindon, a Texas commercial fisherman who has rights to harvest five percent of the Gulf’s red snapper. “The success of plan has revitalized the fishery, allowing it to be taken of the red list.
According to Guindon, the commercial sector, under IFQ’s, pay three percent of the gross vessel price to pay for management. IFQ managed fisheries are the only fisheries paying a royalty to harvest the public resource. “If we could bring the rest of the reef fish into the program, it is estimated that we would cover 100% of the cost of management, and there would be a surplus when stocks are fully rebuilt,” he said.
Challenges With Recreational Quotas
According to government statistics, during nine of the last seventeen years recreational fishermen have exceeded their allotted quota.
“The ‘days at sea’ management approach for the recreational fishery remains highly controversial,” explained GSI board member Bob Gill. “Fishery managers have drastically reduced fishing days in recent years leading to serious economic implications for the Gulf coast, impacting both recreational fishing as well as local economies.” Photo: GSI
“The ‘days at sea’ management approach for the recreational fishery remains highly controversial,” explained GSI board member Bob Gill. “Fishery managers have drastically reduced fishing days in recent years leading to serious economic implications for the Gulf coast, impacting both recreational fishing as well as local economies.”
Cresson disagrees. He argues, “Using simple past catch history to determine the allocation of a fishery is perhaps the worst possible method, but using those particular years as the basis for an allocation was, and is, acutely unfair to the recreational angling sector. Recreational anglers are opportunistic creatures by nature. If the fish are there, we’ll catch them; if the fish aren’t there, we won’t. Conversely, a commercial fisherman looking for a payday will scour the ocean looking for harvest.”
The recreational fishermen have failed to follow the lead of the commercial sector. They are caught in a failed management system producing inaccurate data on the amount of harvested fish.
According to NOAA, there are approximate 12 million recreational fishermen harvesting from all coastal waters. In 2011, a portion of those 12 million recreational fishermen harvested more than 42 million pounds of fish from the Gulf of Mexico, of which 4.6 million was red snapper. Compare that to commercial fishermen, which harvested a total of only 10.5 million pounds, 3.5 million being red snapper.
The current population of the U.S. is approximately 314 million. Twelve million recreational fisherman, or approximately 3 percent of the current population, already have complete harvesting rights to Red Drum and Speckled Sea trout in the Gulf of Mexico, and now are wanting even more.
Giving Away a Fishery
In his article, Cresson feels NOAA Fisheries are compounding the flaws associated with the original allocation by implementing a catch share program for the commercial sector in 2007. The program allocates red snapper quotas to roughly 1,800 Gulf commercial fishermen in order to provide an uninterrupted supply of the sought after fish to restaurants and consumer.
“It is true both commercial and sport fisherman get the resource for the price of a license,” said Jim Gossen, chairman of Sysco Louisiana Seafood and a GSI board member. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
“Each boat in the fishery received a specific amount of fish as its own based on that boat’s past catch history,” he said, operating under the assumption the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council gave away a $79 million public resource, receiving little in return. “Shareholders were allowed to buy and sell shares from other shareholders and today less than 400 commercial boats “own” 51 percent of all the red snapper harvested in the Gulf of Mexico.”
“Unlike any other industry – energy, timber, telecommunications – red snapper shareholders pay no rents or royalties from the capture and sale of this natural resource,” said Cresson. “Many of them don’t even fish anymore and instead lease their fish to others to catch for them.”
Yet according to NOAA the recreational fishermen, who also pay no rents or royalties, even though allotted only 49% of the red snapper, are currently landing more than 51% while commercial fishermen are landing less than 49%.
“It is true both commercial and sport fisherman get the resource for the price of a license,” said Jim Gossen, chairman of Sysco Louisiana Seafood and a GSI board member. “The difference is sport fisherman take their catch home to eat or be mounted on the wall, with federal or state governments receiving no additional income. Commercial fisherman, seafood distributors and restaurants however contribute to both the federal and state tax rolls, paying income tax on profits from their sales and consumers paying sales tax on their purchase. Most importantly though, they allow consumers, including recreational fishermen and their families, to enjoy Gulf seafood every day in all 50 states at their favorite restaurants or markets.”
“Red Snapper became contentious because of the recreational sectors failure to design and implement a flexible management system for themselves,” said GSI board member David Krebs, president and owner of Ariel Seafood’s in Destin, FL. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
While Cresson’s article gives the impression of an oppressed recreational industry, the charter for hire permit moratorium has been the only access limitation placed on the recreational sector; private angler growth remains unconstrained.
“Red Snapper became contentious because of the recreational sectors failure to design and implement a flexible management system for themselves,” said GSI board member David Krebs, president and owner of Ariel Seafood’s in Destin, FL. “Recreational fisherman understand that abundance of bigger fish coupled with growing angler opportunities can only lead to fewer fishing days until they catch the recreational quota. The solution should not be to take fish away from the consumer to add fishing opportunities for private anglers, but instead should be for the recreational community to follow the commercial industries lead and develop a fishery plan that reduces waste and stabilizes recreational opportunity.”
Share the Gulf
This is a coalition of people, and groups from across the Gulf, that care about making sure access to the Gulf’s resources are shared fairly and sustainably,” said Chef Stephen Stryjewski of New Orlean’s based Cochon and Pêche Seafood Grill and founding chef chair of the coalition. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
Share the Gulf is an effort initiated, in part, as a response to the proposal in front of regulators at the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council to take the fishery away from seafood counters supplied by family-owned commercial fishing businesses.
“This is a coalition of people, and groups from across the Gulf, that care about making sure access to the Gulf’s resources are shared fairly and sustainably,” said Chef Stephen Stryjewski of New Orlean’s based Cochon and Pêche Seafood Grill and founding chef chair of the coalition.
Cresson stands firmly against this new coalition. He feels the economic studies of reef fish, especially red snapper, have shown that the recreational angling sector is by far the most economically vibrant part of the fishery, and deserves a greater allocation.
“It is not uncommon to hear “Share the Gulf” proponents cite the importance of their work providing protein for America and bringing red snapper to the dock for the millions of people who don’t live near the coast and don’t go fishing,” he said. “It is difficult to imagine how many Americans depend on $18-$20 per pound red snapper filets for their daily protein. After all, red snapper makes up less than one-tenth of 1 percent of all the seafood landed in the United States.”
Louisiana is but one of the Gulf States seeing a rise in tourism led by culinary interest.
“It is encouraging to see our chefs and restaurateurs aligning with the commercial fishing interests to discuss these important issues as it relates to sustainable practices and access to the fishery,” explained Stan Harris, CEO of the Louisiana Restaurant Association and a GSI board member. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
“It is encouraging to see our chefs and restaurateurs aligning with the commercial fishing interests to discuss these important issues as it relates to sustainable practices and access to the fishery. As this is the sole source for our industry and consumers to enjoy fish and seafood from the Gulf of Mexico it is important that the Gulf Council hears from our side in this discussion,” explained Stan Harris, CEO of the Louisiana Restaurant Association and a GSI board member. “While I agree the quota system is flawed and could allow for consolidation that could potentially impact pricing, the effort to engage our chefs and restaurants is not intended to negatively impact the recreational fishing industry, but to ensure we both can work together to address concerns of all sides.”
GSI Supports Cautious Red Snapper Management
The Gulf Seafood Institute recognizes the importance of the red snapper fishery to both the recreational and commercial fisherman. It is encouraging government agencies to have a cautious regional management approach to the species to preserve the supply for consumers.
The commercial sector, under IFQ’s, pay three percent of the gross vessel price to pay for management. IFQ managed fisheries are the only fisheries paying a royalty to harvest the public resource. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
Congress and others governmental agencies need to continue to explore ways to better manage the fishery for the benefit of both parties. In addition, sustainability of the fishery must continue to be protected and improved data collection is needed to allow for accurate and timely scientific data that is imperative for fishery managers to make sound policy decisions.
“Red Snapper management is hotly contested because certain leadership in recreational organizations, like CCA, have a winner take all mentality,” said Krebs. “It is time to leave the contention behind and work together for an equitable solution while we all Share the Gulf.”
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