A new National Marine Fisheries Service report indicates that the quota, or catch share, system has helped to reverse the pattern of overfishing the popular species in the Gulf of Mexico.
Buddy Guindon, who owns Katie’s Seafood Market in Galveston and operates three commercial fishing boats, said the system is the best he has seen in his 35 years in the Gulf.
At first, the concept of individual shares so worried Guindon that he sold one of his two seafood markets as a pre-emptive move. Two years later, Guindon said he is catching half the fish but making more money. The new system allows him to reduce expenses because his boats can take longer and more fuel-efficient trips while increasing revenue by fishing when the Gulf is safe and dockside prices are high.
At the same time, he said, he is reducing the amount of “by-catch” — fish caught and shoveled overboard when anglers don’t have permits to land and sell them. The federal report shows similar results throughout the Gulf, with commercial anglers commanding more per pound for red snapper while lowering the by-catch by 70 percent.
The system has worked well enough that the Gulf Council announced this week that similar programs would begin for grouper and tilefish in January.
Read the complete story at The Houston Chronicle.