Saving Snapper

February 4, 2008

Release from: Tallahassee Democrat (Florida)

Fishing is to Florida what corn is to Kansas, a part of its image and its livelihood. Neither amber fields of grain nor oceans full of what, above water, we call seafood are immune from market and environmental regulations.

With the rise of interest in ethanol, corn crops are increasingly attractive to the Midwestern agriculture industry. Here in Florida the commercial fishing and restaurant industries have an obvious interest in a sustainable fishing economy, as do tourism's charter boat captains and recreational anglers who simply want to enjoy their sport.

How to ensure and manage fisheries in both state and federal waters is increasingly difficult, and Florida is again in the midst of a conflict regarding, specifically, perpetuation of the red snapper, one of the Gulf of Mexico's most available and therefore most popular fish.

In a meeting of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Panama City on Thursday, the Ocean Conservancy will argue that Florida must more vigorously help rebuild the population of red snapper. That means applying to state waters the same management plan implemented last June by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council for federally controlled Gulf waters. Under state governance are Gulf waters from shore to 9 nautical miles offshore.

For the 2008 season, the Ocean Conservancy reports, "the Council has set a 5-million pound total allowable catch limit for the red snapper commercial fishery, maintained the current two-fish bag limit for the recreational fishery and a season of approximately 150 days, and 74 percent reduction in shrimp trawl bycatch."

Two of five Gulf states, Mississippi and Louisiana, have complied with this; Florida has not, but it should, for the long-range sustainability of the fish.

The part of the argument that is tough to convey to critics is that there really are plenty of red snapper available and being caught. But the ones being caught are often very young fish, and in a species that live to more than 50 years of age, it's important to protect young fish with years of spawning potential. Catching smaller, younger fish is a serious threat to rebuilding this fish population, where the spawning population is now less than 5 percent of what it once was. But if the state complies with limits on federal waters, the overfishing is expected to have ended by 2010, and then the fish population could even support an increase in catch levels.

If the state doesn't adopt rules complementary to the Council's rules for federal waters, the federal rules might be tightened, including early closing of the season.

"Given the large percentage of red snapper caught by Florida anglers it is critical to the entire Gulf that they match the regulations set forth by the Gulf Council," said Chris Dorsett, Gulf of Mexico fish conservation director with the Conservancy. "With sound fisheries management, the Fish and Wildlife Commission have an opportunity to make Florida a leader in the Gulf."