On Jan. 1 the U.S. Department of Commerce – the federal agency that controls fishing regulations – announced a six-month ban on fishing for snapper and grouper. This ban will put thousands of fishermen out of work. Ironically it was the same day the White House convened a summit on how to reduce job unemployment.
Many of these men will not be fishing for the next six months due to a recent decision by the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (SAFMC) to close the snapper and grouper fishery due to “over fishing.”
These men, who are usually upbeat and jovial, are anything but these days. The scope of the new laws affecting them is having wide reaching consequences. They sense that outside forces are at work in their lives and they are caught in a life or death battle for their right to fish for a living.
The SAFMC is one of eight councils in the country managing commercial and recreational fishing. They manage the area 3 to 200 miles offshore, from North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, including the Florida Keys. The council consists of 13 board members who implement bag limits, size limits, trip limits, commercial quotas and spawning season closures to prevent over fishing.