A brand new day in red snapper fishing is on the starboard horizon for Gulf Coast fishermen.
After years of erroneous data keeping fishing vessels in their ports for far too many days out of the year, Louisiana has joined its coastal cohorts in saying, “No more.”
That’s because all five Gulf states have unanimously agreed on a new framework for cooperative, state-based management of Gulf red snapper. In other words, the days of recreational fishermen only being able to enjoy a nine-day federal snapper season, like in 2014, could be a thing of the past.
We like to call it common sense fisheries management.
“A change has been a long time coming. We want to thank the state directors for pulling together to create a viable solution for fixing red snapper management,” said LDWF Secretary Robert Barham.
The framework has been submitted to the congressional delegations of the five Gulf states for their consideration for future legislation. The hope is that a congressman will pull the framework into a bill and put it through the normal legislative process.
If approved, the alternative management strategy would remove red snapper from federal authority and instead place responsibility in the hands of a new, independent body called the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority. It would be comprised of the principle marine fisheries managers from each Gulf state.
Each state would be responsible for all management of red snapper in their respective state and adjacent federal waters. GSRSMA would approve each state’s management plan, coordinate population assessments, provide consistent accountability measures and direct federal funding for research, assessment and management.
Local leaders and fishermen feel a shakeup is necessary because data show that the Gulf red snapper population is rebuilding, but the recreational red snapper season continues to get shorter and shorter, culminating with the shortest season ever in 2014. Doesn’t really seem to make sense, does it?
“The system stinks. It isn’t flexible, and it’s slow. It doesn’t make sense,” said LDWF Assistant Secretary Randy Pausina.
The inconsistencies come from federal managers setting fishing season length using imprecise estimates of recreational red snapper landings from the Marine Recreational Information Program. The faulty data results in inaccurate fishing quota estimates and, in turn, one-size-fits-all overly restrictive seasons. Worse yet, MRIP data is often not available to managers until after the fishing season has closed, removing any possibility of flexible, responsive management.
As an alternative, Louisiana and other Gulf states are confident they can provide precise landings estimates and more frequent stock assessments. This better-sourced data could allow the state to set adjustable, tailored management measures that address local needs as well as Gulf-wide conservation goals. The current federal framework prohibits this possibility.
Here in Louisiana, we have implemented LA Creel, an initiative started in January 2014 which estimates recreational harvest through surveys and interviews at various public fishing areas throughout the state. In its first year, LA Creel surveyors interviewed 28,032 individual anglers on 11,614 recreational fishing trips, recording stats on 103,283 harvested finfish. That’s 23 times more fish and 49 times more vessel trips than the federal MRIP survey.
“If this framework comes to fruition, Louisiana is very well positioned to hit the ground running due to our anglers’ active participation in our recreational creel survey, LA Creel, and associated support for a saltwater license fee increase,” said Pausina.
“What we want to be able to prove to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and the feds is that we can count fish with the best of them,” said LDWF Fisheries Biologist Joey Shepard.
That has been done, and then some, with our LA Creel survey.
In just a short time of implementing it, we have found that recreational snapper landings are far different than National Marine Fisheries estimates.
“The way that they set the red snapper season is they use data from the previous year’s catch rates to project how many days to open the federal season,” Shepard explained. “Weather or anything else causes real issues with that method, so we actually had an in-season monitoring program developed. We could tell you from day to day how many snapper Louisiana actually had landed. Now they’re actually using our data to estimate Louisiana’s harvest, and we still feel that in-season monitoring is the best way to get good estimates.”
By submitting this new management proposal together, the Gulf states demonstrated that they place great value in working in partnership and collaboration to ensure a robust, sustainable and accessible red snapper fishery in the Gulf. The Gulf states will continue to reach out to their congressional delegations to discuss the proposal and request support for the GSRSMA and the benefits it could provide to fishing communities throughout the Gulf.
The proposal comes on the heels of years of disagreements between interested parties and even members of the Gulf Council regarding the best course of action.
“Right away I said this one size fits all approach doesn’t work,” said Pausina, who has a seat or designated representative on the Council for the past seven years. “You have all these constituents across the country who want to fish at different times of the year or different sizes of snapper. But the Council has to vote on a specific regulation, so whoever has the most votes gets what they want. It might not be good for my state, but it’s good for their state.”
Nearly five years ago, the idea for common sense, flexible fisheries management came about.
“We developed some ideas and drafted a framework, and Joey [Shepard] and I would pitch it at Council meetings. We kept going in there and talking about this, and it eventually took on a life of its own and became an amendment to the reef fish plan,” Pausina explained.
According to Shepard, a more flexible season gives fisheries management officials the ability to make real-time, in-season decisions which could maximize the harvest Louisiana fishermen are able to take.
“What we’re looking for is flexibility,” Shepard explained. “We don’t want any more than what we would normally catch, give us an allocation, and then let us manage it. If we managed the recreational fishery we could set every other weekend all year, which would help marinas since there would be an ongoing season. We feel it would be a lot better if we had that flexibility rather than the current one-shoe-fits-all scheme, and that’s what we are fighting for.”
That flexibility would lead to a boost in business for marinas, bait shops, bars, restaurants and anything else in close proximity.
The amendment gives the states some level of flexibility, but not to the degree Pausina and others would like.
That’s where GSRSMA comes in – a unified attempt to get the U.S. Congress involved. Prior to this proposal, there would be multiple bills at a single point time, all with different approaches to try and solve the same problem.
“Five states would look at a bill and say, ‘I like this piece or I don’t like this part,’ but we couldn’t agree on the whole document,” Pausina said. “So we decided to get the five state directors together to draw a framework and send to Congress that basically says, ‘Congress, if you’re going to draft a bill, read this and do it this way. This is what we can all agree on and can support.’”
Shepard said whether it goes through Congress or not, at least the proposal should tell congressmen that something is wrong with the system.
