September 8, 2022 — Commercial fishermen who are challenging a major shift of Gulf of Mexico red grouper quotas to the recreational sector have drawn the surprising support of charter boat operators, who argue the revised quotas would hurt their businesses as well.
On its face, the decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service to ratify the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s new allocation policy would give the charter fleet more fish too. But the change will bring other outcomes to hurt the charter sector, said captain Scott Hickman, operator of Circle H Outfitters and Charters in Galveston, Texas, and a board member of the Charter Fishermen’s Association.
“We’ve been down this road before,” said Hickman. “You set a precedent for taking quota from an accountable sector, and dropping it into a black hole.”
Announced by NMFS this spring, Amendment 53 to the Gulf reef fish plan would reduce the annual commercial allocation to 59.3 percent, down from 76 percent, and increase the recreational allocation from 24 percent to 40.7 percent.
The move is being challenged in federal district court by the Galveston, Texas-based Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance, the A.P. Bell Fish Company, of Cortez, Florida, and the Southern Offshore Fishing Association, a longliner group based in Madeira Beach, Florida.