August 30, 2022 — Shareholders’ Alliance is making sure that their voice is heard following a red snapper quota increase announced by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.
The Council issued a news release last week about the final action on a framework action to modify red snapper catch limits. They said that they chose to decrease the overfishing limit and increase the acceptable biological catch, annual catch limits, and annual catch targets. The total annual catch limit is currently at 15,100,000 pounds and the newly recommended limit is 16,310,000 pounds. For the commercial annual catch limit, the current is 7,701,000 pounds and the newly recommended is 8,318,100 pounds.
“When the Gulf of Mexico Fishery management Council met in Corpus Christi last week, commercial and charter fishermen from Texas to Florida packed the meeting room and were unified around a single message – we are seeing warning signs that red snapper have started to decline,” said the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance. “Their ask was simple: please don’t increase the red snapper quota right now.”
According to the Council, the recommended catch limits are based on recommendations from the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee and new catch advice generated using updated estimates of absolute abundance of red snapper derived from the Great Red Snapper Count (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas) and by LGL Ecological Associates, Inc. (Louisiana). The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance says that the council ignored “emotional testimony” from more than 40 small fishing business owners whose livelihoods and communities depend on healthy red snapper stocks.