A new state management plan would remove Gulf Red Snapper from the federal Fisheries Management Plan and from the Gulf Council’s authority. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
by Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News Editor
Marine Resource Agency Directors from all five Gulf States recently held a closed meeting in New Orleans to craft a management framework removing the red snapper fishery from the control of the federal government and placing the fishery directly under state control.
(L-R) Robin Riechers, Director of Coastal Fisheries for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; Jamie Miller, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources; Jessica McCawley , Director of the Division of Marine Fisheries Management for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; and Chris Blankenship, the Director of Marine Resources Division for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Robin Riechers, Director of Coastal Fisheries for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; Jamie Miller, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources; Jessica McCawley , Director of the Division of Marine Fisheries Management for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; Randy Pausina, the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Fisheries Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries; and Chris Blankenship, the Director of Marine Resources Division for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, decided on the formation of a new regional management authority for Red Snapper without input from Gulf Red Snapper charter-for-hire or commercial sectors.
According to Randy Pausina of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the new Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority plan removes red snapper from the federal government completely – commercially and recreationally. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
According to Randy Pausina of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the new Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority (GSRSMA) plan removes red snapper from the federal government completely – commercially and recreationally. It also removes the popular fish from the federal Fisheries Management Plan and from the Gulf Council’s authority.
“We would then put a management plan together through this authority, which would be the five state directors, and give stock assessments, set up our management scheme, set up our monitoring and our season framework. Then bless it, get it out there and start managing red snapper,” explained Pausina on the theory of the new state managed fishery.
Opposition From Gulf Fishery Groups
A statement by the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance said this action by the five states’ representatives was a shot across the bow of commercial fishermen in the Gulf. The newly devised a plan to take over red snapper management would eliminate the existing commercial quota system that has been responsible for the rebuilding the once-decimated Gulf of Mexico red snapper stock.
“There is now no question in our minds that our state directors do not represent the best interests of commercial fishermen,” said Buddy Guindon, Executive Director of the Galveston, TX based organization.
“There is now no question in our minds that our state directors do not represent the best interests of commercial fishermen,” said Buddy Guindon, Executive Director of the Galveston, TX based organization, and owner of Katie’s Seafood Market. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
According Guindon, the plan would destabilize commercial fishing, hurt conservation and undermine sustainability of Gulf Red Snapper. “This will hurt hardworking commercial fishermen and the American public that demand and deserve fresh, sustainably harvested red snapper,” he said.
He explained that the management responsibility, currently held by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), would be turned over to a yet-to-be-developed group consisting of five individuals, one from each Gulf State, that propose to operate outside of U.S. federal fisheries laws and sustainability policies.
The proposedd GSRSMA partnership would allow each Gulf State to manage their own waters out to 200 nautical miles, and would be in charge of collecting the science and data to use for this management. Funding for this program would be required from existing federal programs, which currently provide no funding for a red snapper fishery study.
Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter has introduced legislation implementing a similar state management plan. Photo: U.S. Senate
Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter has introduced legislation implementing a similar state management plan. In a press release he said he was happy the States worked together to formulate a management plan he believes they could all live with.
“I’ve always said that states are much more capable of managing the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico than the federal government, so it is encouraging to see all five Gulf states unanimously agree on a framework to do exactly that,” Vitter said. “I will continue working toward allowing states more control over this important fishery, while also promoting increased transparency and accountability within the federal Regional Fishery Management Councils.”
Bob Jones, the Southeastern Fisheries Association Executive Director, said “the five states want to decide our fate behind closed doors. It has raised a number of red flags, including the clandestine New Orleans locked door meeting.” Photo: Southeastern Fisheries Association
Southeastern Fisheries Association, an organization representing more than 300 companies and thousands of seafood employees and allied trades, has requested that Congress oppose Senator Vitter’s bill because it would gut the Magnuson-Stevens Act that regulates all U.S. fisheries. Bob Jones, the organization’s Executive Director, said “the five states want to decide our fate behind closed doors. It has raised a number of red flags, including the clandestine New Orleans locked door meeting.”
“The power play currently being orchestrated through Senator Vitter’s office by a Texas angler’s club and a couple of state fish agency directors are familiar to us,” Jones told Gulf Seafood News. “Senator Vitter’s proposal to give five un-elected people the complete authority to make red snapper then all reef fish game fish after three years is un-American and rips the heart out of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The precedent would resonate nationwide. Senator Vitter’s office might not realize it is being told how to dance and how to sing.”
Gulf Seafood Institute’s Concerns
As Congress moves to address the challenges facing the recreational red snapper fishing community in the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf Seafood Institute (GSI) expressed a number of concerns with proposed legislation effectively granting the five Gulf States exclusive management authority over red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico.
“While simply extending state water boundaries might seem a viable solution, there are a host of unintended consequences and harmful impacts to Americans’ ability to access red snapper that Congress must address prior to moving forward on these proposals,” said Margaret Henderson, the organization’s executive director. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
“While simply extending state water boundaries might seem a viable solution, there are a host of unintended consequences and harmful impacts to Americans’ ability to access red snapper that Congress must address prior to moving forward on these proposals,” said Margaret Henderson, the organization’s executive director, after recent meetings with Gulf Coast Senators and Representatives. “An area of primary concern to the Gulf seafood community remains the push to extend state water boundaries of the five Gulf States out to nine miles, or more, for the management of red snapper and other species. It is important that state authority be extended only for purposes of managing the private angling community and that the extension not interfere with the successful management of the commercial red snapper fishery or the federally-permitted charter-for-hire component.”
According to Captain Gary Jarvis of Destin’s Back Down 2, and President of the Destin Charter Boat Association, the threat of actions or rules by a state commission could destroy the federally permitted charter-for hire fleet. “The Gulf Council has made provisions for the federally-permitted Charter for Hire fleet to exist as a separate user group. There is no such protection or law in any coastal state constitution or state law concerning fisheries or user groups,” said Jarvis.
According to Captain Gary Jarvis of Destin’s Back Down 2, and President of the Destin Charter Boat Association, the threat of actions or rules by a state commission could destroy the federally permitted charter-for hire fleet. Photo: Back Down 2
“The present federal moratorium permits would be rendered worthless if the 200 mile exclusive economic zone comes under state control,” he said about the proposed legislation. “More than two thousands state water guides, and untold numbers of new entrants, could fish what little access the state commissions would allow the charter for hire sector to have. This would destroy historical fishing companies’ ability to remain viable and force professional fishermen to be relegated to being private boat hired guides. The charter for hire industry would implode. We continue to support the efforts led by Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Alabama’s Congressman Bradley Byrne for an electronic log book program for the Gulf charter-for-hire fleet.”
In a letter to Gulf Congressmen, GSI reminded legislators that the charter-for-hire and commercial sectors comprise approximately 70% of the total red snapper fishery.
“These two sectors represent thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue annually,” said Henderson. “According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), commercial red snapper fishing in the Gulf, which has been managed separately and sustainably by NMFS since 2007, directly provides more than 1,600 jobs. Jobs that would be imperiled under a state management regime.”
“American consumers across the country depend on a robust commercial fishing community to provide them with red snapper. Restaurants, retailers, processors and others along the seafood supply chain need the certainty that federal management provides to ensure long-term access to this iconic fish,” she said.
“We have significant concern that the GSRSMA will probably lead to further restrictions on commercial shrimping,”said GSI Alabama board member Chris Nelson. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
“This plan to eliminate the commercial IFQ that has been working well for more than half a decade is going to destroy my business, as well as the hundreds of other red snapper businesses in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Galveston fisherman KP Burnett. “We’ve invested millions of dollars into building something sustainable, and we deliver tens of millions of dollars’ worth of red snapper to the American seafood consumer each year.”
For GSI, another concern with the state management of all Gulf Red Snapper is the unintended impact to the shrimp community in terms of their red snapper bycatch program.
“We have significant concern that the GSRSMA will probably lead to further restrictions on commercial shrimping. Although bycatch is now an insignificant contributor to overall red snapper mortality, it is a factor nonetheless, and therefore would be subject to regulation within each State’s “Plan”. Additionally, many States have significant shrimping gear and licensing restrictions within state waters. We are concerned that extension of State fisheries jurisdiction would also extend those restrictions – which would be extremely injurious to the offshore shrimp industry Gulf wide,” said Chris Nelson, an Alabama GSI board member and vice president of Alabama’s Bon Secour Fisheries.
The GSRSMA Plan offered by Pausina and other state members has no provision to address the largest underlying concern of the red snapper fishery – effective catch monitoring of the private recreational angling sector.
“Although politically distasteful, this issue of recreational real time electronic reporting must be addressed to ensure the red snapper stock does not undergo overfishing in the future. “said Alabama GSI member Captain Troy Frady. Photo: Distraction Charters
“Although politically distasteful, this issue of recreational real time electronic reporting must be addressed to ensure the red snapper stock does not undergo overfishing in the future. “said Alabama GSI member Captain Troy Frady of Orange Beach, AL Distraction Charters. “Private angling proponents want to reap the benefits of past sacrifices, which have led to the availability of snapper. They have provided little leadership in this conservation effort. GSI is concerned that state management of all red snapper would threaten federal sustainability standards currently required by the Magnuson Stevens Act. These National Standard guidelines are imperative for both preservation of the stock as well as utilization of the species.”
GSI has offered Congress a possible compromise. Alternative legislation that repeals Sec. 407(d) of the Magnuson Stevens Act and extends state water boundaries only to nine miles for the purpose of managing the private angling, non-federally permitted, recreational red snapper fishery in the Gulf.
“While GSI prefers to maintain the status quo of federal management for all Gulf red snapper, it is clear Congress is determined to address ongoing challenges facing private anglers in the Gulf,” said Harlon Pearce, GSI board chair. “If the five Gulf states and their private angling communities prefer state management of the red snapper private angling community, GSI would not oppose this concept at this time. However, it is critical that any legislation clearly preserve federal management of the commercial and federally permitted charter-for-hire communities in order to protect access to Gulf red snapper for all Americans.”
Shane Cantrell, a Galveston charter-for-hire captain, worries that a Gulf States take over of the red snapper fishery would jeopardize access by the non-boat owning public. Photo: Galveston Sea Ventures
Shane Cantrell, a Galveston charter-for-hire captain, worries that a Gulf States take over of the red snapper fishery would jeopardize access by the non-boat owning public.
“The snapper fishery is primarily in federal waters and the charter-for-hire fleet has been taught by years of experience that the states do not have their best interest in mind,” said the Galveston Sea Ventures captain. “This is a waste of tax payer money and a prime example at attempts of government overreach bypassing the stakeholders of the fishery.”
“The commercial industry and the federally permitted charter-for-hire comprise a majority of the Gulf Red Snapper fishery,” said Gulf Seafood Institute’s Florida board member David Krebs, owner or Florida’s Ariel Seafood. “It is time to come together and highlight concerns with this state recreational plan. In my opinion we cannot let the wolf guard the henhouse, especially without oversight and verification. I can’t imagine any current commercial user of the red snapper resource supporting this plan.”
Visitor Comments