Conservationists Continue the Call
for Proper Red Snapper Management 

HOUSTON, TX - In the latest move in the battle for the future of red snapper, Coastal Conservation Association has called on the government to thoroughly explore all the options being proposed to manage red snapper and present the findings to the public before the management plan is crafted. 

“Shrimp trawl bycatch is far and away the single largest source of mortality for juvenile red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico and until that is properly addressed, this species will continue to be at risk,” said David Cummins, CCA president. “Concurrently with our legal efforts to reduce bycatch, CCA wants to make sure that the short- and long-term implications of all the management measures being considered are researched and understood. It is critical that science be allowed to dictate the future of red snapper.”

Convinced that current management efforts to recover red snapper stocks are destined to fail, CCA filed a lawsuit last summer over Amendment 22 to the Reef Fish Management Plan, known as the Red Snapper Rebuilding Plan. The lawsuit seeks to achieve significant shrimp trawl bycatch reduction on the order of 60-80 percent through increased conservation measures such as bycatch quotas, area closures, seasonal closures and meaningful effort reduction.

“This stock has been devastated by shrimp trawl bycatch and history indicates the government would rather divert attention from that than deal with it. Without significant reduction in bycatch, all these other measures will be for nothing,” said Fred Miller, CCA Government Relations Committee chairman.

CCA has maintained that commercial and recreational fishers have adhered to their quotas, seasons and bag limits, while the shrimp industry has essentially wasted all those efforts.

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