Saving Seafood

Why Texas gets 9 miles of off-shore territory but Louisiana gets 3 — and how it could change

December 2, 2024 — U.S. Rep. Garret Graves intends to sprint toward the finish line for the 118th Congress, which convenes Monday and disbands in a month, by pushing an issue he has been working since he was a Capitol Hill staffer 20 years ago.

“This has been an ongoing effort for me, for many years, to give Louisiana parity,” Graves said.

Graves, a Baton Rouge Republican who steps down when the 119th Congress assumes office on Jan. 3, teamed with Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, on a bill that would give Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama the same offshore sovereignty as Texas and Florida — moving the boundary line from three nautical miles to nine — thereby allowing Louisiana control of more energy exploration and fishing rights.

Graves said last week in announcing the Offshore Parity Act of 2024, “I’m not sure who was negotiating for us generations ago, but that is just ridiculous.”

History, rather than bonehead negotiators, played a greater role in setting state sovereignty over offshore waters.

Read the full story at NOLA.com

Nine charged in multi-state illegal catfish operation in US

September 13, 2024 — Nine individuals are facing charges concerning illegal commercial catfish activity in multiple U.S. states, including Kentucky and Alabama.

In a Facebook post, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife wrote that game warden Cody Fox and other law enforcement officials, including the division’s Special Investigations Unit, began investigating illegal commercial catfishing activity at the state’s Barren River Lake and Green Valley Pay Lake in early 2024.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

ALABAMA: Alabama’s Britt, Tuberville advocating for illegal red snapper fishing bill

August 15, 2024 — U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) recently recognized the progress of a bill aimed to protect Alabama’s red snapper industry, relevant news for the No. 2 red snapper fishing spot in the Gulf, according to FishingBooker.

The Senate Commerce Committee has advanced the Illegal Red Snapper Enforcement Act, a bill sponsored by Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and co-sponsored by Britt and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), which would strengthen enforcement against illegal fishing activities.

In an article published earlier this year, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach were named the second-best red snapper fishing destination in the Gulf of Mexico for 2024 by FishingBooker, one of the country’s largest platforms for booking fishing trips. The area, known as the “Red Snapper Capital of the World,” boasts the largest artificial reef system in the U.S., drawing anglers to its productive waters during Alabama’s red snapper season, which opened May 24 and runs every Friday through Monday until the private angler quota is projected to be met.

Read the full article at Gulf Coast Media

Alabama senators’ red snapper legislation moves forward

August 9, 2024 — Backers of red snapper legislation advancing in the United States Senate say it could protect the United States market from illegal Mexican fishing – though its approach relies on technology that has yet to be developed.

In fact, a bill backed by three Republican senators — Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, along with Ted Cruz of Texas — is a call for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to figure out the methodology needed to create nationality field test kits for red snapper. It sets a two-year deadline.

If enacted, the legislation would give the under secretary of commerce for standards & technology and the director of the NIST, a position currently held by Laurie Locascio, a two-year deadline. It calls for the under secretary to work with the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to develop a “joint standard of methodology based on chemical analysis for identifying the country of origin of red snapper.”

By the two-year deadline, the under secretary would be required to submit a report that sums up the methods developed as well as “a plan for operationalizing the methodology.” That’s clarified elsewhere as “a field kit that can be easily carried by one individual,” involves minimal processing time, and its otherwise suited to the needs of law enforcement officers in the field.

Read the full article at AL

ALABAMA: Alabama governor signs seafood labeling bill into law

May 20, 2024 — Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has signed a bill into law requiring grocery store delis and restaurants in the U.S. state to label whether seafood being served is imported or domestically produced.

Introduced earlier in the year by Alabama State Representative Chip Brown (R-Hollinger’s Island), the law also requires those establishments to designate whether seafood is wild-caught or farm-raised.

Read the full article at the SeafoodSource

ALABAMA: Seafood labeling to provide some relief Alabama shrimpers say, but more needed

May 12, 2024 — Restaurants and grocery stores will have to label their seafood as imported or domestic, after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill requiring it into law Friday.

“This is as bad as it’s ever been. We need help,” Kerry Mitchell, secretary of the Alabama Commercial Fishermen Association, a newly formed nonprofit advocating for fishermen in the area. “I’m happy that the government is talking about it…legislators are finally helping us.”

HB66, sponsored by State Rep. Chip Brown (R-Hollinger’s Island), requires food service establishments, like restaurants, grocery stores and delis, to label seafood as “imported,” or note the product’s country of origin. Domestic seafood can be labeled with the state of origin, U.S.A. or United States of America.

In addition, the law requires food service establishments to distinguish between “wild fish” and “farm-raised fish,” but only for fish and shrimp. These labels must be displayed conspicuously, for example on the product itself, attached to a menu or displayed on a sign. Establishments that violate these rules will be fined after the first offense.

The goal of the bill is to bring awareness to consumers about the origin of their seafood and provide relief to Alabama’s fisherman, who have been struggling with low dock prices of shrimp due to the influx of imports. Currently, foreign shrimp accounts for 94% of the U.S. market, Caine O’Rear, communications director for Mobile Baykeeper, said.

Last year, the Bayou La Batre City Council—the epicenter of Alabama’s seafood industry—declared a disaster, requesting help from Ivey for the seafood industry. “Shrimp dumping,” where foreign, typically farm-raised shrimp floods the market, causing dock prices to drop had driven the industry to the point of near-collapse.

“I’ve never seen shrimp prices this low, ever,” Amanda Schjott, a resident of the area whose husband has worked in shrimping since he was a teenager, told the Mobile Press-Register in August. “It’s a dying industry, and they’re killing it even faster.”

Brown says that the hope is that demand for domestic seafood, and particularly Alabama seafood, will increase as a result. Consumers will be more aware of the kind of seafood they’re getting, he says, and in turn, they’ll ask for the local kind.

Read the full article at AL.com

ALABAMA: Proposed Alabama bill would require restaurants, stores to display seafood origin

February 6, 2024 — A lawmaker in the U.S. state of Alabama has introduced a bill that would require grocery stores and restaurants to show where seafood sold in their stores came from.

“The seafood industry is essential to the economy throughout Alabama’s Gulf Coast region, and with foreign-caught products flooding the U.S. market, we must take every step to both support it and protect it,” State Representative Chip Brown (R-Hollingers Island) said, according to the Alabama Daily News. “By requiring disclosure of the country of origin for seafood, we can encourage the use of products caught in Alabama while ensuring that consumers are better informed about the food they consume.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Now is the time to create a robust aquaculture industry to ensure food security and support our economy

January 18, 2024 — America’s seafood industry has long been a vital contributor to our economy, with the seafood supply chain supporting more than 1.8 million jobs nationwide, but you may be surprised to learn that the U.S. currently imports far more seafood than it produces. This Congress, our colleagues have the power to change that by joining with us to support the expansion of offshore aquaculture.

Here in the U.S., the farming of fish and other aquatic species, also known as aquaculture, is a thriving industry in many states — including our home states of Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, and Mississippi and is being done in a responsible and environmentally friendly manner. Offshore aquaculture has an important role to play in the open ocean for producing sustainable protein that supplements our wild-capture fisheries and strengthens our working waterfronts and coastal economies.

With nearly half of all seafood consumed globally coming from fish farms, marine aquaculture produces many of the seafood that we eat and enjoy, including shellfish like oysters, clams, and mussels, as well as fish such as salmon, black sea bass and yellowtail, as well as seaweeds. But the lack of a clear and efficient permitting process for offshore aquaculture here in the U.S. has hindered the full potential of an American industry because it deters investment in offshore waters. Many investors simply take their capital overseas — bringing the jobs and revenue it produces with them, which is why we have joined together to propose a legislative solution to correct his problem and position the U.S. as a leader in sustainable seafood production.

Read the full article at The Hill

Red snapper frustrations boil over in Alabama as feds place strict limits on 2023 season

March 13, 2023 — In coastal Alabama, red snapper fishing lures in millions of dollars in economic impact to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

Tourists, who spend their vacations on the beaches, will often seek a charter boat captain and plunk down the cash to sail off for hours of deep-sea fishing in pursuit of red snapper.

But salty questions are being raised this year over Alabama’s reduced haul of the fish from last year. And the reduced aggregate weight of red snapper caught in 2022 resulted in the federal government slashing the state’s quota for red snapper fishing this year by such a considerable figure that some officials believe the 2023 season might have to end before summer vacations are over.

The latest dispute is part of a decades-long battle over the science behind red snapper assessments. It’s a scientific battle waged between federal and state bureaucrats that shows no signs of letting up any time soon.

“We need the federal government to get out of the way so all types of anglers can enjoy an abundant red snapper season,” said U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Mobile.

Some environmental groups are worried Alabama is overfishing its waters.

Meredith Moore, director of the fish conservation program at Ocean Conservancy, said 2022′s total pounds of red snapper caught in Alabama — at 463,892 pounds — was far lower than the previous two years. Recreational anglers caught up to 1.1 million pounds of red snapper in 2020.

“The local impacts to Alabama’s red snapper population are clear,” Moore said. “In 2022, despite the fishing season being open through the end of December, anglers weren’t able to catch anywhere close to as many fish as in the two previous years – a serious sign that fishing effort has been too high, and the local stock of red snapper has been depleted.”

Read the full article at AL.com