SEAFOOD.COM — February 7, 2014 — Yesterday the Gulf Fishery Management Council voted to take red snapper quota from the commercial harvest and give it to charter for hire businesses. The council then voted to rescind a plan that required charter captains fishing in federal waters to abide by federal rules, even when states kept longer seasons open in state waters.
The upshot is that NOAA is likely to refuse to accept at least some of the council action, which irresponsibly rewards the charter sector in a futile attempt to keep seasons open longer.
The analysis done by NMFS shows that this action – reserving 75% of all snapper quota over 9.12 million pounds for recreational fishermen, will only extend their season by a few days, and within five years they will be back to even shorter seasons.
The practical impact of the vote is that in 2015, with an 11 million pound quota, nealry 500,000 lbs. will be shifted to the recreational sector. Instead of maintaining the current 51% / 49% commercial recreational split, the commercial share will be reduced to 47%, and the recreational sector will increase to 53%. In other words, the commercial sector is losing 8% of their catch.
Uncontrolled increased effort will simply eat up the new recreational allocation – leaving the entire issue of the financial health of the charter fleet unresolved.
The vote in the Gulf council is a travesty, because they are taking a well managed fishery – that has been largely rebuilt due to the efforts of the commercial sector to stay within their quotas – and turning into an unregulated recreational free for all where increased effort will wash away any semblance of maintaining a healthy stock.
Making matters worse, they are taking food off the plates of Americans. The result of the reallocation, which would go into effect in 2015 if it stands, would take nearly 500,000 lbs of red snapper out of the commercial sector at a time when Gulf restaurants and tourists are clamoring for wild caught local fish.
The heart of the bargain stuck in managing our nation’s fisheries is that the commercial sector accepts restrictions and enforcement to rebuild stocks and keep them healthy, and in return gets public support for use of a common resource. The way they repay that public support is by making locally caught high value seafood available to American consumers.
When recreational groups try and take over resources exclusively for their own use, they violate this basic public trust – essentially saying only that tiny segment of the population that pays for charters or has their own boats can have access to the fish.
Paul Proudhomme put Southern fish cooking on the map with his blackened redfish, and Louisiana has become a huge culinary distention with a celebrated fish cuisine. Yet red drum is no longer commercially available, as it was designated only a game fish. Basically this cuisine got all dressed up to go national, and then got punched in the gut.
The same issue exists with red snapper, but it also is not a problem just in the Gulf. In New England, charter and recreational groups are trying to end commercial fishing for striped bass – wanting to take that prized fish off of local menus/
In Alaska – charter captains and recreational anchorage fishermen are trying to restrict the commercial catch of both sockeye and king salmon in Cook Inlet – again denying the consuming public the right to eat American fish.
Furthermore, the halibut sector has been locked in a commercial vs. recreational allocation fight for years.
Clearly the Gulf Council has violated the spirit of the Magnuson act with its sanctioned fish grab that will lead to overfishing and further restrictions on red snapper, plus more conflict between the feds and the states over the issue.
One of the national standards under Magnuson is that no council can discriminate against residents of different states – any allocation of privileges must be fair and equitable. By definition, reserving a national resource shared by both commercial and recreational fishermen to the recreational sector discriminates against the seafood consuming public in all states that don’t have easy access to the local charter fleets.
Historically there have always been conflicts over resource use and access. However once a commercial fishery is established with fishing rights based on historical experience, there is an easy way for the charter sector to gain more access: buy fish.
Where a well managed fishery has IFQ’s, such as is true with red snapper in the Gulf, the fairest solution is to allow charter captains to pay to increase their share, by buying quota from the commercial fleet. This addresses the issue of growth of new uses – i.e. more charters – in a manner that still prevents overfishing and ensures the continued sustainability of a resource.
Could Gulf red snapper get environmental certification if a lawless recreational sector continually violates quota guidelines? It is very unlikely, since the very essence of responsible fishing is to align the interests of the harvesters with the sustainability of the stock.
NOAA should not accept the vote on Amendment 28 in its present form, and send it back to the Council for reworking.
This opinion piece originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.