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August 26, 2015
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August 29, 2015
The board that recommends federal fisheries rules has okayed a bigger share of the red snapper catch to recreational fishermen, pending approval by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, at a meeting last week in New Orleans, voted to change the current nearly 50-50 split to 51.5 percent for anglers and 48.5 percent for commercial fishermen.
Scientific data presented at the three-day meeting indicate that recreational fishermen were catching fewer red snapper than had been previously thought.
The move – if approved – will do little to ease tensions between federal fishing authorities and Gulf of Mexico states, which have resisted and in some ways outright defied the federal 10-day season for the fish.
Local congressmen including Garrett Graves, R-Baton Rouge and Steve Boustany, R-Lafayette have favored creation of a regional board to specifically oversee management of red snapper, a prized item on restaurant tables as well as in ice chests of anglers.
“The Gulf Coast has no choice but to consider new management methods for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico,” Boustany has said. “Over the last few years it has become obvious federal management of red snapper in the Gulf has been a disaster, with dates and regulations constantly changing, sometimes even after seasons have already opened.”
Disagreement over snapper
management has sparked a declaration by Louisiana wildlife officials that the state’s territorial limit is nine miles, rather than the three miles recognized by the federal government, and an open season on the fish far beyond the 10-day federal season.
Louisiana is free to set its own rules in state waters. But few snapper thrive in waters as close to shore as the state’s federally recognized three mile limit.
The claimed nine mile limit technically gives anglers an edge by removing state restrictions on possession of the fish when the federal season is closed. But it does not shield anglers from facing federal prosecution for possession or taking of red snapper outside the three miles out of federal season.
The season, declared operational by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham, will close at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 8th. It has been open since March 20.
Barham said he chose the date because the state would have met its “historic and projected share of the total Gulf of Mexico private angler red snapper harvest” by then, of 745,000 pounds.
Louisiana’s separate season, which federal officials have found contentious, is necessitated by what Barham and other officials have called “imprecise, untimely estimates of recreational red snapper landings from the Marine Recreational Information Program.”
A new system has been developed to record recreational landings.
“In Louisiana, our anglers and staff are committed to providing the best data possible on our fisheries. Because of this, we’re able to be fully accountable for the amount of red snapper our anglers harvest and responsibly manage our recreational fishing seasons,” Barham said. “Most of all, we’re able to maximize our anglers’ opportunities to get out on the water and fish red snapper, providing our private anglers 172 red snapper fishing days during this state season.”
An angler poses with his prize of the day – a nice red snapper that he took from the Gulf of Mexico’s waters just south of Grand Isle. The debate regarding snapper season limits continues, and is a non-stop nuisance to anglers, who wish for permanent, long-term solutions.
