Red Snapper Regulation

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**Red Snapper Action Alert  **

Red Snapper is an extremely valuable Texas natural resource and the lifeblood of the Gulf of Mexico recreational and charter fishing industry.  Its importance to you as an angler and to Texas coastal communities’ tourism, boating and related industries is estimated to exceed $1.7 billion annually. Unreasonable restrictions which National Marine Fisheries has placed on this fishery (and even more unreasonable restrictions they are proposing) are having a devastating impact on coastal fishing and coastal economies.    A very real danger exists that hundreds of thousands of Texans will be effectively excluded from our offshore fishing resources due to these unreasonable regulations and efforts by NMFS to force Texas to adopt these same regulations.     

The crisis we face is the result of two factors; anti-fishing environmental groups and elitist fishing organizations pursuing a policy that would sharply limit many Texan’s access to marine fisheries, and an inflexible national fisheries law that penalizes anglers even when good rebuilding progress is being made.  RFA spear-headed an effort with members of the 110^th Congress to draft a science-based revision to Magnuson Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act that unfortunately died when that session ended.  We are now organizing an all out grass-roots movement to encourage all five Gulf state Governors and their Congressional delegations to support such a revision in the 111^th Congress. 

We were saddened by the recent loss of Texas Parks & Wildlife Commissioner John Parker, who had worked tirelessly to help us outline a plan to move this issue forward. Before he died, Commissioner Parker briefed Governor Perry on this issue and the Governor agreed to raise the issue with other Gulf States Governors.  Now, our job is to let all the Gulf Governors hear from the fishing communities at large that action is needed by them and state Congressional delegations to revise the Magnuson Act.   

We are asking that you write a brief letter to Governor Perry stating the importance to Texas sportsmen of getting flexibility added to the Magnuson Act, and that you do the same with your U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senators.  If you act now we’re confident our collective voices will be heard throughout the Gulf and in Washington D.C.   Governor Perry’s, Senator Hutchison’s and Senator Cornyn’s mailing and email addresses are shown below.   You can Google your U.S. Representative’s addresses. We urge you to take these actions NOW to help preserve Texan’s access to our Gulf fisheries.                                           

Click HERE to identify your U.S. House (Congressional) Representative.

Snapper Rules Catch Hobby Fishermen - Click Here
An article by Mikel Stapleton as published in the 4/02/07 edition of Galveston County's The Daily News

Lawsuit filed by CCA, Ocean Conservancy and Gulf Restoration Network. Click Here
The unfortunate outcome of this lawsuit Click Here 
This lawsuit proved to be devastating to recreational fishing interests.

To Measure the Validity of the Current N.M.F.S.  Red Snapper Data  Click Here

Red Snapper Rule Could Kill Fishing  Click Here
An article by RFA / TEXAS Board Member Charlie Everts, as published in the 1/26/07 edition of the Galveston County's  The Daily News.

 To view an interesting editorial by Drs. Shipp & Minton in the Jan 13, 2007 edition of Alabama's Press Register  Click Here

Texas Great Barrier Reef Project  Click Here
 

12/06 TF&G Article re TGBR Project Click Here
 

Letter from  to Rep Ron Paul - To  Secretary Gutierrez, US Department of Commerce Click Here

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Red Snapper Alert  

IMPORTANT: 
 

Critical Decisions Made by Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Council Will Decimate Red Snapper.
 

Click here to view the Federal Register Notice for Comments From the Public, regarding the red snapper IFQ plan.

***** Please submit your comments through the direct link on this notice. *****

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The Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Council has forwarded to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, a Rule that would allow Individual Fishing Quota’s for the Commercial Red Snapper Industry. RFA Texas understands the Commercial Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Fishery is currently supporting a huge ILLEGAL TAKE to the tune of twenty million or so pounds with the current ten day commercial season. If the commercial sector is allowed to fish thirty days, the fishery will crash very quickly due to even more Illegal Commercial Fishing. 

 The time to act is now ! 

Please fax the letter linked below, to Secretary Gutierrez, to stop the IFQ’s and halt a reduction in the Recreational Total Allowable Catch. As it stands now, we the recreational sector, are looking at a reduction to 7,000,000 pounds and a four month season with a few weekends thrown in. 

Please click on this downloadable letter, print it out, sign and date it, and include your address.  Fax your letters to (202) 482-2741 There is no time for snail mail. If you do not have access to a fax machine, we suggest you use the services of one of the businesses offering fax service such as Kinkos.

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Please see "Snapper Studies Flawed", an article from  the December, 2005 issue of Texas Fish and Game Magazine, further down this page.

Click Below to View:

Just how accurate is the Red Snapper Data currently in use?  Click Here for a real eye - opener.

 

A letter regarding Red Snapper Management, from Texas Senator Cornyn and a response from William T. Hogarth, NOAA.
 

The Jan - Feb 2006 Edition of "Gulf Fishery News" Be sure to scroll down and check out page 6.
(Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader ®)
 

 12/15/ 05  RFA Press Release:  RFA Exploring Innovative Management for Red Snapper.

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 12/22/05 letter from  RFA National - Executive Director, James A. Donofrio, Outlining  RFA's Proposal Regarding Red Snapper Regulations.

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Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council, Jan. 2006 Meeting Schedule.

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"Texas Offshore Fishing Coalition To Meet." As published in the Jan 1, 2006 edition of Galveston County The Daily News.

Here is the Deal

The current Federal Red Snapper Regulations are unfair to recreational fishing interests, and are devastating our fishery.

RFA Texas has long understood that Regulatory Discards in both the Commercial and Recreational Red Snapper Fisheries is a major part of the problem. We conducted a release mortality study. This study concluded that there is a 70 to 80 percent release mortality in the Red Snapper Fishery in Federal Waters.  National Marine Fisheries Service has long been aware of these studies. Why they have chosen to ignore the Regulatory Discards is beyond our comprehension. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (see below) plainly states that Regulatory Discards should be reduced as much as practical. This is a good chance for N.M.F.S. to rule in accordance with the Magnuson Act.  We have always understood that if we kept the first five Red Snapper in Federal Waters, we would save three times the Total Allowable Catch. At 9 million pounds, that would be 27 million pounds of Red Snapper left to spawn. This would be a “True Conservation Move”.

RFA Texas also supports a separate Federal Regulatory Zone for Texas, since our fish are caught at much greater depth than in the Eastern Gulf. The increased release mortality rate of fish caught in our deeper waters eliminates catch and release as a viable and practical conservation alternative. N.M.F.S. seems to want to ignore this fact. There is talk of lowering the Total Allowable Catch for the upcoming Red Snapper Season to a mere 7 million pounds. RFA Texas feels this is totally unjustified. This reduction would devastate Coastal Fishing Communities. Snapper is the only winter offshore species available to Texans. The Eastern Gulf has many species available during winter months which are simply not available to Texas Anglers. 

NMFS should ask Recreational Anglers to input their catches via e-mail. There should be websites set up to receive the data in real time. This would be a "Common Sense Approach". This data would be far more accurate than the current outdated data collection method. Recreational Anglers data input would take the guesswork out of the model. The catches are based on a total guess under the current system. The Recreational for Hire sector has had to keep logs for years. Recreational Anglers are seldom credited with bad weather days in the model. If Recreational Anglers truly understood the faulty data collection systems they would be irate. Incidentally, RFA Texas has asked RFA National to petition NMFS to extend the Recreational Fishing Season due to the hurricane down time, just as the Commercials have asked for themselves. We expect a response soon. 

RFA Texas will be offering a letter on these proposals to be entered into the record at the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council meeting to be held January 10,  11, and 12, 2006, at the Omni Hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas. We have posted a downloadable letter on this page, to be signed, with your name and address.  Individual letters will be very powerful. We will have a strong campaign running the entire Texas Coast to insure we get a large number of letters. We are wanting 10,000 plus letters along with 500 plus RFA members to sign up for public testimony on the Red Snapper issue.  

We are pleased to state that recreational angling interests in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, South Padre Island, and Port Aransas are pushing hard to help us achieve our goal. Texas anglers are  really excited about finding a solution. The phone is ringing constantly at RFA Texas with offers of support. Once we have gone on the record with our proposal, RFA National can then lobby the Secretary of Commerce to act on this “Common Sense Plan”.  In the long run we feel the tremendous reduction in Regulatory Discards would be large enough to open the Western Gulf of Mexico up to a year around fishery once again. 

We have heard of a proposed plan for catch and release only, in our Red Snapper Fishery by another national fishing conservation organization. With a 70 to 80 percent release mortality rate, any move toward a catch and release Red Snapper fishery in the Western Gulf of Mexico would be insanity.

RFA Texas would also like to see Texas Parks and Wildlife jump on the Artificial Reef Program, as the States in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico have done. Alabama in particular has done a great job on artificial reefs. Texas could benefit from an Artificial Reef Program in State waters. RFA Texas will be pushing for Grant Funding to implement the artificial reef programs. RFA Texas has long understood that a proactive move to improve fisheries is always the best move.

Highlights of Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act

TITLE III -- NATIONAL FISHERY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

SEC. 301. NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR FISHERY 16 U.S.C. 1851

CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT

(a) IN GENERAL.--Any fishery management plan prepared, and any regulation promulgated to implement any such plan, pursuant to this title shall be consistent with the following national standards for fishery conservation and management:


(1) Conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery for the United States fishing industry.

(2) Conservation and management measures shall be based upon the best scientific information available.

(3) To the extent practicable, an individual stock of fish shall be managed as a unit throughout its range, and interrelated stocks of fish shall be managed as a unit or in close coordination.

(4) Conservation and management measures shall not discriminate between residents of different States. If it becomes necessary to allocate or assign fishing privileges among various United States fishermen, such allocation shall be (A) fair and equitable to all such fishermen; (B) reasonably calculated to promote conservation; and (C) carried out in such manner that no particular individual, corporation, or other entity acquires an excessive share of such privileges.

(5) Conservation and management measures shall, where practicable, consider efficiency in the utilization of fishery resources; except that no such measure shall have economic allocation as its sole purpose.

(6) Conservation and management measures shall take into account and allow for variations among, and contingencies in, fisheries, fishery resources, and catches.

(7) Conservation and management measures shall, where practicable, minimize costs and avoid unnecessary duplication.

(8) Conservation and management measures shall, consistent with the conservation requirements of this Act (including the prevention of overfishing and rebuilding of overfished stocks), take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities in order to (A) provide for the sustained participation of such communities, and (B) to the extent practicable, minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities.

(9) Conservation and management measures shall, to the extent practicable, (A) minimize bycatch and (B) to the extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of such bycatch.

(10) Conservation and management measures shall, to the extent practicable, promote the safety of human life at sea.


(b) GUIDELINES.-- The Secretary shall establish advisory guidelines (which shall not have the force and effect of law), based on the national standards, to assist in the development of fishery management plans.

Click below to view the Complete:

Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act


Part 1

Part 2
 

Article From December 2005 Issue of  Texas Fish and Game Magazine

  ©  Copyright TF&G 2005 - (Reproduced with permission of TF&G Magazine).

Note: After this article was submitted, additional data has caused RFA / TEXAS to revise our position, and we now support retention of the first FIVE fish caught.

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