Red Snapper Crisis

surfman

NOAA steers Gulf red snapper into another crisis

For immediate release 

When the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meets this week, anglers in Mississippi and Alabama are likely to be stunned at the outcome of yet another man-made crisis in red snapper management. On the table is a proposal to reduce the annual catch limit for recreational anglers fishing from their own boats by a staggering 52% in Mississippi and 62% in Alabama. If it passes, the result will be a dramatically shorter red snapper season for offshore anglers in those states beginning in 2021.

 

Why this is happening is a testament to an agency in desperate need of new direction.

 

For the past several years, the Gulf Coast states have been managing their private recreational anglers in the red snapper fishery with their own state-based harvest data systems. That shift in management came after anglers and managers alike lost all faith in the data coming out of the federal Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). Under MRIP, angler seasons had dwindled to just three-days despite what appeared to be a booming red snapper population. The Gulf states were convinced they could do a better job and set about designing their own data systems, which are far more robust and timely than MRIP. State managers have mostly stayed within their assigned snapper quotas and are even able to take into account factors like weather events and wave heights to lengthen or shorten their seasons. By any metric, state management has been a success, with better data, longer seasons and higher angler satisfaction.

 

However, NOAA Fisheries – the agency charged with managing the nation’s marine fisheries – announced last year that the state recreational data must be recalibrated back into the MRIP data “currency” for management. The new data was ordered to go through a hazy mathematical conversion to produce harvest results in the old MRIP numbers. In other words, the states abandoned a broken system, built a better one, and now are being told to return to the broken system. The result, NOAA Fisheries says, is that Alabama and Mississippi are wildly overfishing their quota.

 

At the same time, preliminary results of the Great Red Snapper Count have been released. This effort at a true assessment of the Gulf red snapper population came about after anglers, managers and Congress lost all faith in the data coming out of the federal stock assessment process. Primarily through the efforts of Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Congress dedicated $10 million for an independent, two-year project. A team of 21 investigators from 11 institutions around the region scoured the Gulf and found a red snapper population at least three times larger than NOAA Fisheries thought. This is a stunning failure for an agency supposedly dedicated to managing our fisheries.

 

The full results of the Count are currently under review and have not been fully released yet. The agency could eventually plug the new gift-wrapped numbers into its decrepit management system and salvage a season for Mississippi and Alabama. Or the Council could pull a rabbit out of its hat this week with a stop-gap temporary measure to address this latest absurdity. But Congress and the public should not allow the agency to waste this valuable new information plugging holes in a failed system.

 

Despite the best efforts of Congress and the Gulf states, anglers are likely to bear the brunt of yet another federal-agency-created crisis in red snapper. With the new state data systems and a ground-breaking independent assessment of the red snapper population in hand, the tools are in place to chart an innovative future for this troubled fishery. With its apparent unwillingness to move forward rather than backward, it seems that NOAA Fisheries is just not the agency to lead us there.

Mackeral Snatcher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9evQ3_vVq8

conchydong

Having both commercial fished and recreational fished I understand sort of why NMFC is more interested in commercial fishing  than recreational fishing. Having said that I don’t believe we should be exporting as much of our catch as we are. Many Americans who do not fish but enjoy seafood should have the opportunity to purchase domestic seafood at a reasonable price. The small commercial fisherman has to pay someone who bought up all the catch shares and makes it not worthwhile to fish for red snapper. IMO the catch share program sucks. The whole system needs to be reworked And yes the recreationals should have more of an open season.

drgibby

conchydong said:

Having both commercial fished and recreational fished I understand sort of why NMFC is more interested in commercial fishing  than recreational fishing. Having said that I don’t believe we should be exporting as much of our catch as we are. Many Americans who do not fish but enjoy seafood should have the opportunity to purchase domestic seafood at a reasonable price. The small commercial fisherman has to pay someone who bought up all the catch shares and makes it not worthwhile to fish for red snapper. IMO the catch share program sucks. The whole system needs to be reworked And yes the recreationals should have more of an open season.

AMEN!

pottydoc

If it’s snapper or grouper, there isn’t any such thing as a reasonable price. And it’s not the commercial fishermen who are getting those big dollars. Prime beef can be had for what are and grouper cost. 

ANUMBER1

so the new state built systems show that Alabama and Mississippi overfished their TAC..

I fail to see a problem?

conchydong

pottydoc said:

If it’s snapper or grouper, there isn’t any such thing as a reasonable price. And it’s not the commercial fishermen who are getting those big dollars. Prime beef can be had for what are and grouper cost. 

Art I don’t know what percentage of ARS or grouper are exported but the general rule of supply and demand is that if there was a greater supply in the domestic market prices probably would get lower for the consumer.  I understand that it’s not always the fisherman that’s making the profit the middleman and exporters that drive prices up. It’s sad when you look at red grouper fillets going for almost $20 a pound in some markets.

ANUMBER1

red grouper prices this summer were aprox $4/lb (maybe $5 in the right market).

40'% yield on a fish (with fish house overhead factored in) then $20/lb fillets isn't so far fetched

CaptJ

When you factor in the American snapper boats fishing in Mexico and Central America it's hard to come up with a real TAC number. Had an interesting conversation at the fish house last week. They could sell more domestic fish down here if they were available. Seems that the hook and line guys are having a hard time competing. But what do I know?? My friends make far more money catching and selling bait than finfish.

ANUMBER1

CaptJ said:

When you factor in the American snapper boats fishing in Mexico and Central America it's hard to come up with a real TAC number. Had an interesting conversation at the fish house last week. They could sell more domestic fish down here if they were available. Seems that the hook and line guys are having a hard time competing. But what do I know?? My friends make far more money catching and selling bait than finfish.

just asking, why fish in Central America when one can load the wagon 60 miles offshore (citrus county) unless it's to bypass IFQ's?
So many snapper from 70' out (Tampa to Ala) it's hard to catch anything else.

I can't see any bandit boats doing that, just not feasible..

What fish house are you talking to?

pottydoc

ANUMBER1 said:

so the new state built systems show that Alabama and Mississippi overfished their TAC..

I fail to see a problem?

According to NOAA. Using their counting system, which everyone knows is terrible. Their problem is that they want to be in charge of the fish everywhere, even in State waters. So no surprise that they say the States overfished. 

surfman

NOAA still manages the entire gulf of Mexico as one fishery, the fish they take in Texas would affect our ability to take fish, at least with the state system we have a tad bit more going for us but, again NOAA still adds up the total and can stop us if that is reached. Pretty ridiculous. Alabama and Mississippi have great red snapper fisheries mainly due tot he efforts of their fishermen putting out artificial reefs and of course oil rigs. Probably more red snapper than ever before.

CaptJ

ANUMBER1 said:

CaptJ said:

When you factor in the American snapper boats fishing in Mexico and Central America it's hard to come up with a real TAC number. Had an interesting conversation at the fish house last week. They could sell more domestic fish down here if they were available. Seems that the hook and line guys are having a hard time competing. But what do I know?? My friends make far more money catching and selling bait than finfish.

just asking, why fish in Central America when one can load the wagon 60 miles offshore (citrus county) unless it's to bypass IFQ's?
So many snapper from 70' out (Tampa to Ala) it's hard to catch anything else.

I can't see any bandit boats doing that, just not feasible..

What fish house are you talking to?

Two in the Keys and one in Miami. Happen to know a person involved in three boats fishing the Caribbean, and one running traps in the Bahamas. They don't worry about limits and ship a lot of product to the States. They don't have to worry about tracking, IFQ's, or just about anything that the domestic fleet does. Also, do you have any idea of how much Kingfish, Wahoo, Sword, Grouper and Mackerel is shipped in (frozen & fresh) to the States? You might be surprised. And you might be surprised to know that the Chinese have paid for fish houses in Trinidad, St. Lucia, and elsewhere in the Caribbean and South America. Where do you think those fillets and loins end up? I know first hand because I've been doing business down there for the last 37 years. Not even going to mention crabs and lobsters.