Coastal Conservation Association (CCA)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 12, 2005
CONTACT: Ted Venker, 1-800-201-FISH

Red Snapper Conservation Fight Continues

HOUSTON, TX – Thousands of recreational anglers from Texas to Florida have voiced their support of an effort by Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) to convince the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to enact emergency measures to save red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico.

The comment period ended July 11 on a petition demanding the Department of Commerce (DOC) enact measures to end overfishing of red snapper by the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fleet. The petition, filed by CCA, requested the implementation of measures such as bycatch quotas, area closures, seasonal closures and effort reduction measures on the shrimp fleet, to achieve significant bycatch reduction on the order of 60-80 percent.

Since CCA filed the petition in March, a flurry of activity has erupted over the future of red snapper. CCA has also filed suit over Amendment 22 to the Reef Fish Management Plan, known as the Red Snapper Rebuilding Plan, in United States District Court in Houston, while environmental groups filed a similar suit in New Orleans. CCA was notified last week that the case will be heard in Houston.

In his response to CCA’s petition, the Secretary of Commerce conceded that shrimp trawl bycatch is the largest source of red snapper mortality in the Gulf and that current efforts to reduce bycatch have fallen well short of targeted goals. The recently released Southeast Data, Assessment and Review (SEDAR) Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Advisory Report paints a grim overall picture of the stock.

“The SEDAR report confirms what CCA and the National Marine Fisheries Service already knew,” said David Cummins, CCA President. “Red snapper are overfished as a result of the failure of the agency to reduce the bycatch of juvenile red snapper by the shrimp fleet.”

The SEDAR Report found that the shrimp fishery in recent years has annually taken roughly 24-45 million red snapper, mainly from the western Gulf. Recreational and commercial fisheries combined which target red snapper have taken roughly four million of the fish annually. Further, the Report states current spawning potential is estimated to be less than 5 percent of unfished levels in both the eastern and western Gulf.

“No matter how you spin it, the future of red snapper is bleak. Now it is time for the federal government to take the next step, accept our petition and employ the emergency measures we have outlined to begin the process of reducing the impact of shrimp trawl bycatch,” said Fred Miller, chairman of CCA’s Government Relations Committee.

In the midst of the brewing storm over shrimp trawl bycatch, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council approved Amendment 13 to the Shrimp Fishery Management Plan in May. Rather than take that opportunity to implement meaningful bycatch reduction measures, the Council approved essentially a stall tactic focused on data collection, reporting and a moratorium on commercial shrimp vessel permits.

“It is telling that even the weak offerings of Amendment 13 were passed by the Gulf Council by a 9-to-8 vote,” said Miller. “The Council is incapable, either by inclination or membership composition, of coming to a legally supportable resolution of the shrimp bycatch conundrum. It is time for the Department of Commerce to step up to the plate and do something about shrimp bycatch. Failure to do so will return the issue to a process that cannot and will not solve it in a meaningful timeframe.”