Saving Seafood

News for the Gulf of Mexico Region

New criteria for Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish and Red Drum management

June 29, 2022 — NOAA Fisheries approved new criteria to inform Gulf of Mexico reef fish and red drum management, changing Amendments 48 and 5 for the respective fishery management plans.

Earlier this year NOAA Fisheries requested comments on new criteria used to inform Gulf of Mexico reef fish and red drum management. On March 2022, announcing the request, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council recommended these criteria changes for two amendments, Amendment 48 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and Amendment 5 to the FMP for the Red Drum Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico (Amendments 48/5).

According to NOAA Fisheries, “Amendment 48 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and Amendment 5 to the FMP for the Red Drum Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico (Amendments 48/5) were developed to establish or modify maximum sustainable yield (MSY) proxies, overfishing and overfished determination criteria called maximum fishing mortality thresholds (MFMTs), and minimum stock size thresholds (MSSTs), respectively, and optimum yield (OY) for some reef fish species and red drum.”

Plans and regulations are reviewed annually

The agency adds that “Status determination criteria are the MSY, MFMT, and MSST and are measurable and objective values or proxies that are used to determine if overfishing has occurred, or if the stock or stock complex is overfished. Overfishing means too many fish are being harvested from a population and overfished means that the population is too low.” Follow the link to download a Status Determination Criteria Infographic published by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

GO FISH Advocates for Louisiana’s Commercial Fishing Industry

June 20, 2022 — Louisiana is an economic ecosystem of wetlands, waterways and generations that work them. A place where the livelihoods of commercial fishermen, seafood processors and restaurateurs all intertwine. Linking them all—from Lake Pontchartrain to the Atchafalaya Basin to the Gulf Coast—is a life source.

“Everything is tied to the water,” said Tracy Kuhns, President of the GO FISH Coalition, formed after the BP oil spill in 2010 as an advocate for commercial fishing. “It’s  just part of your everyday life. The way you live.”

Industry Advocates

These days, fishing for a living can be harder than normal, as evidenced by storms that continue to ravage the industry and reverse fortunes. Businesses have yet to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm. The aftermath still scars the state.

Its destruction compounded earlier damage from hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta. Occurring in 2020 and 2021, those four storms caused $579 million in losses, according to Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries.

Seven months after Ida, Kuhns reflects on the long-term impact, noting “the economic base is the natural resources down here.” One needs the other intact to survive, to prosper.

“Captain Mike and his wife Tracie have passion and dedication to preserve the seafood heritage of the Barateria-Jean Lafitte area,” said Ewell Smith, a member of the Gulf Seafood Foundation and Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition.

Read the full story at the Gulf Seafood Foundation

 

Red grouper could be precedent for new Gulf catch reallocations

June 17, 2022 — Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishermen expect to face off in court against the National Marine Fisheries Service later this summer. They’re challenging the agency’s recent reallocation of some of their red grouper Individual Fishing Quota to the recreational sector.

Fishermen have more at stake than the cut in their grouper quota: NMFS and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council are already forging ahead with serial reallocations of other fisheries. The lawsuit may be their best, if not only, chance to stop them.

“We’re 2 and 0 against the NMFS in the courts,” said Eric Brazer, deputy director of the Galveston, Texas-based Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance. Other plaintiffs in the suit include A.P. Bell Fish Company, of Cortez, Florida, and the Southern Offshore Fishing Association, a longliner group based in Madeira Beach, Florida.

The courts sided with commercial fishermen in 2014 and 2017 when they challenged the council and NMFS over actions to extend the recreational red snapper season and reallocate more quota to the sector.

“The council took action that harmed the commercial fishermen and rewarded the recreational fishermen. We told them it was not legal, they didn’t believe us. They approved the document, we took them to court, and we won,” said Brazer.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA seeks input on Gulf of Mexico aquaculture sites, including 3 off Florida

June 6, 2022 — When a Hawaii-based aquaculture business proposed a demonstration fish farm project in federal waters off of Sarasota County in 2019, residents along the Gulf Coast voiced concerns about potential environmental impacts — including its potential to exacerbate red tide blooms.

Now, the federal government is considering allowing commercial aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico — including areas offshore of Collier, Sarasota and Pinellas counties — and is seeking public input as it crafts an assessment of impacts from the sites.

The first of three virtual public meetings on the proposal is scheduled for June 8. Written comments will be accepted through Aug. 1.

Read the full story at the Sarasota Herald-Tribute

 

Menhaden crews rescue boaters in Gulf of Mexico

June 3, 2022 — Menhaden fishermen working in the Gulf of Mexico rescued six boaters, including two children, after their small craft capsized in the Mississippi Sound May 31.

Purse seine crews from the F/V Mississippi Sound and the F/V Frosty Morn, recovered two people from the water and four atop the overturned boat around 2 p.m.

Mississippi Sound captain Joel Deihl said the vessels responded to a Coast Guard broadcast about the boaters in distress and located them. After picking up the boaters the purse seine crews transferred them to the Coast Guard.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

America’s next wind powerhouse: The Gulf of Mexico?

May 31, 2022 — A home base of the oil and gas industry wants in on offshore wind.

The Gulf of Mexico has spent eight decades as one of the nation’s prime petroleum hubs, home to thousands of rigs, platforms and other structures that drill, store and ship fossil fuels. Now the Biden administration is reviewing 30 million acres of Gulf waters near Texas and Louisiana for potential wind turbines — a development that could dovetail with proposals to generate other clean energy sources, such as hydrogen.

Climate change isn’t the only reason to bring wind power to the Gulf, said former Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who unsuccessfully tried to launch the world’s largest offshore wind farm in the area nearly two decades ago — even prematurely proclaiming in 2006 that “the wind rush is on.”

“We still need alternative and renewable energy because [oil and gas] are a finite commodity,” Patterson said in an April interview. “We ain’t making anymore. Not fast enough anyway.”

Patterson, who calls himself a “drill, baby, drill” guy, added: “How long will the oil and gas last? I don’t know. Is it 50 years or 500 years? I don’t know. But at some point, it goes away.”

Patterson’s effort awarded two multimillion-dollar wind power leases off the Texas coast, but the projects never materialized after falling natural gas prices undermined their economics. Instead, the wind industry remained onshore to the vast open stretches of west Texas and the state’s Panhandle.

Challenges to potential Gulf wind projects persist, including the region’s frequent hurricanes and billions of migratory birds. The area’s typical wind speeds are also lower than those of the Atlantic Coast, the biggest haven for U.S. offshore wind projects.

Read the full story at Politico

Coast Guard Searches for Poachers From Mexico Stealing Fish From U.S.

May 24, 2022 — At Hooked on Seafood, red snapper fetches a premium price. For fishermen, the tasty fruit of the Gulf of Mexico is like striking gold.

“Red snapper is the hottest commodity in the U.S., here in this border,” Hooked on Seafood owner Chris Johnson said.

But its high demand attracts schools of poachers from across the border.

“They’re taking our money out of our waters and selling it right back to us, and we’re paying to do it every day,” Johnson continued.

He’s a fishmonger and fisherman on Texas’ South Padre Island. He bellows a decades-long lament — illegal fishing operations from Mexico zip through the boundary waters poaching red snapper, shark, and shrimp by the thousands.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Gulf Coast commercial fishermen file lawsuit over new red grouper quotas

May 23, 2022 — The federal government will soon impose new limits on the amount of red grouper that commercial fishers can catch in the Gulf of Mexico and local business owners say that will impact the industry and their customers.

“It will definitely cost you more today. And will probably cost you more tomorrow because there’ll be less allocation,” said Frank Chivas, owner of Baystar Restaurant Group, which operates 12 restaurants in the greater Tampa Bay region.

Karen Bell, owner of A.P. Bell Fishing Company in Cortez agrees that the price for grouper is likely to rise.

“It’s limiting what we’re able to sell to the public,” she said. “When the supply is reduced, the price goes up because there’s less of it available.”

Earlier this month, the government announced an amendment to the National Marine Fisheries Service management plan. The quota for recreational fishing would rise from 24 percent to 40.7 percent, while the commercial share would decline from 76 percent to 59.3 percent.

Bell has signed on to a federal lawsuit challenging the reallocation of the red grouper harvest.

“I don’t dislike the recreational sector,” she said. “In fact, we pack bait for them and I think it’s important that they have quality time on the water just like we do but to shift it to give it to someone else when we provide it to the non-fishing public, that’s a hard pill to swallow.”

Read the full story at WUSF Public Media

Commercial fishermen concerned recreational fishing is leading to overfishing

May 13, 2022 — Cobia, Lane Snapper, Greater Amberjack, Gag Grouper, and Gulf of Mexico Jacks Complex — these are all fish you can catch out in the Gulf of Mexico. Many of you have probably eaten, any, or all these fish, but they’re also being overfished, or close to it, according to NOAA, and its annual report on American fisheries.

This report has some commercial fisherman concerned about their own livelihood, and what they say is the lack of oversight for recreational fishing.

“There are plenty of fish out here to be caught,” said Captain Matt Sexton for the Small Shellfishing vessel. “Everyone should have equal chance to catch fish out here, but there are a lot of rules and regulations that are going on that are not fair to the commercial fishermen.”

Those same concerns were repeated by boat captains readying their boats for their next trip.

Read the full story at Fox 4