March 12, 2015 — For the first time ever, all five Gulf states have banded together to create a management framework that, if ultimately approved by Congress, would finally remove the red snapper fishery from the control of the federal government.
Randy Pausina, head of fisheries for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said the cover letter for the plan was being wrapped up late Wednesday afternoon and details of the framework were being sent to each Gulf state’s congressional delegation on Thursday.
“In a nutshell, it removes red snapper from the federal government completely – commercially and recreationally,” Pausina said. “And it removes it from the Fisheries Management Plan and from the Gulf Council’s authority and puts it over into this new group that we’re going to form.
“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. That’s really it.”
Read the full story from the Louisiana Sportsman