May 4, 2022 — At the Star Fish Company fish market in Cortez in Manatee County, the price for a pound of red grouper is $24.95 – which may seem a bit pricey, but could be a bargain in the near future.
Karen Bell owns the market and is president of her family’s business, A.P. Bell Fish Company. It’s a commercial fishing company that’s been around for more than 80 years.
NOAA Fisheries recently announced it is reducing the number of fish that commercial fishermen can bring in, due to the increasing number of fish recreational fishermen are harvesting.
Bell says that new limit will no doubt impact the price of the fish.
“What this does is push prices even higher,” Bell said. “Grouper already is a really high-end product and the prices are crazy high.”
Andy Strelcheck, the regional administrator for NOAA, knows the decision to limit catches is not popular with everyone.
“This has been a very controversial action,” said Strelcheck. “The commercial harvest is being reduced by approximately 20 percent from the previous catch levels. Today, ironically, we just published another rule that will increase red grouper catch levels if that rule goes through.”