Gulf Restoration Network

June 2007
Volume 10, Issue 2

FISH TALES
Red Snapper To Get Into the Black—Thanks to You!
VICTORY on Red Snapper Lawsuit and tools and other ways to get fish back Inside this issue:
Interim Measures! into the water in better shape when
they are caught accidentally were RED GAG GROUPER 2
At long last, one of the most contentious Gulf required to reduce bycatch mortality. ASSESMENT RE-DO
fish - red snapper - is getting some relief from WHAT’S MAGNUSON 3
years of over-exploitation, depletion and The Gulf of Mexico Fishery MEAN TO YOU?
mismanagement! Management Council is reviewing
SANCTUARY OF THE 3
similar regulations for the long term
SEASON: ALLIGATOR
GRN, the Ocean Conservancy and Earthjustice that will be finalized by NMFS later HARBOR RESERVE
filed a lawsuit in June 2006 challenging the most this year. Many thanks to those of
you that responded to our action COMMERCIAL 4
recent set of do-nothing regulations put in place GROUPER CLOSURE
by federal managers. alerts, attended meetings and sent in
comments...you made a difference!
In March 2007 the judge ruled in our favor,
finding that the rebuilding plan for red snapper

©2006 Ned DeLoach/Marine Life Images.com

was “inconsistent with the scientific data” and
had less than a 50% chance of successfully
rebuilding red snapper within the legally
allowable limit. The judges decision required that
an effective management plan for red snapper be
done and in force by December 2007!

Since then, The National Marine Fisheries

Service has enacted interim measures to get red
snapper on a rebuilding track sooner rather than
later. Some of the most important are: the total
annual allowed catch was reduced from 9.12
million pounds to 6.5 and circle hooks, venting
Red Snapper

Marine Fish Farming Hot Topic This Summer

For several years now, federal fish manag-
ers have been pushing the United States to
develop a large scale aquaculture industry
in open ocean waters. Known also as “fish
farming,” open water aquaculture is the
growing of fish in large cages, pens or
other forms of captivity out in the ocean.
Last year, the U.S. Senate declined to pass
national legislation establishing an open
water fish farming program, because the
proposed bill was too weak on environ-
mental standards, failing to consider
problems with pollution, and impacts to
wild fish, among other issues. This year,
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) decided to try
its luck with the U.S. House of Represen-
tatives, and provided a “new and
improved” bill that was introduced
on April 24th. So far there has been
no movement on this new National
Offshore Aquaculture Act, but there
are rumors a hearing on it will pop
up sometime during the summer.
(Continued on page 2)
Page 2 FISHTALES

RE-
RE-DO ON RED GROUPER ASSESSMENT
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), says its re- Plan. Now, both gag and red grouper will likely be included in
cent assessment on the status of red grouper had some prob- the next Reef Fishery Management Plan update using the
lems and needs to be reviewed. newly reviewed assessment.

Primarily, the concerns The previous stock assessment

were with the accuracy of of red grouper, completed ear-
estimated recreational lier this year found that red
catches and use of a dif- grouper was neither overfished
ferent approach than that (depleted) nor experiencing
for gag grouper, a related overfishing (over-exploited).
fish with some similar The most recent gag grouper
characteristics. assessment, finished in 2006,
concluded that the species is
NMFS says they will have overexploited by the current

Photo: Courtesy USGS

experts review the assess- fishing efforts targeting it,
ment and make any neces- though the information was
sary changes, then move insufficient to determine if the
forward with new man- population is at an overall de-
agement discussions as pleted level.
necessary.
Red grouper on Pulley Ridge, a deep-water reef off Florida Many involved with the fishery
Previously both red and admitted they felt gag grouper
gag grouper were to be discussed in a new amendment, num- was not as abundant as it should be and needs management
ber 30, to the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery Management attention.

Fish Farming in Gulf Heats Up — cont. from page 1

On a regional level, both the Gulf of tions with under 100k of fish annually, have been massive releases of captive
Mexico and South Atlantic (SA) Fishery so other regulations should be devel- fish, feed and other pollutants directly
Management Councils are developing oped soon for larger operations. The into Gulf of Mexico waters.
plans and policies on open water aqua- Florida standards include a complete
culture in their respective areas: The ban on use of non-native or genetically In addition, oil rigs are known to have
SA’s policy is fairly strict and protective altered fish, requirements for good feed sediments beneath them that have been
of existing natural resources, the Gulf’s management and have important criteria fouled with the dumping of drilling muds
policy is an actual plan to allow open for siting and maintenance of facilities. high in mercury before the practice was
water aquaculture. Both are slated to be banned. Using these specific areas to
grow fish may hold human health con-
finished by the end of 2007 and will be Rigs to Farms? cerns.
discussed at the summer Council meet- Another related issue came up in recent
ings. weeks with the Minerals Management Oil rigs are erected for certain purposes
Service (the primary agency that deals and when those purposes are completed,
State Level Action with oil and gas structures) taking com-
they should not be transitioned into other
The State of Florida wasn’t about to ments on their new Alternative Energy
uses that might cause serious long term
wait for national legislation or the Coun- and Alternate Use program. One of problems. There are open water net pens
cils to decide its fate with respect to their likely suggestions is to transition
old oil rigs into fish farms! and cages better designed to withstand
open ocean aquaculture. With fishing, storm activity and are better suited for use
boating, diving, swimming and wildlife in open ocean aquaculture, if it does de-
While recycling generally is a good
watching some of Florida’s most prized velop here in the Gulf.
thing, there are some concerns related
activities, the state recently finalized to re-use of oil rigs. For example, during
fairly good standards for fish farming the hurricanes of recent years, oil rigs With so much activity on open water
within its waters...from the shore to were destroyed, some even being carried aquaculture there are sure to be plenty of
about nine miles out on the Gulf side hundreds of miles to shore. Had off- opportunities for public input…so watch
and the shore to three miles on the East shore aquaculture existed on these rigs for action alerts and meeting notices!
side. The new rules only apply to opera- at the time of the storms, there would
Volume 10, Issue 2 Page 3

SANCTUARY OF THE SEASON: ALLIGATOR HARBOR

Just east of the Apalachicola
estuary, at the westernmost edge of
Florida’s Nature Coast, Alligator
Harbor consists of 14,000 acres of
Florida waterbottoms and includes

Map courtesy: Florida Department of Environmental Protection

seagrass meadows, salt marshes,
oyster reefs and beaches. The
preserve was created in 1969 by the
legislature, and has thrived in part
through the creation of local
partnerships.

One is with the University of

Located on the Florida Gulf coast 40 miles south of the
State capitol Tallahassee, Alligator Harbor Aquatic Preserve
has been called home to one of the largest feeding grounds
for the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, one of the rarest and most
endangered of all marine turtles.
Florida’s Fisheries and Aquatic
Sciences Department, which leads a
monthly water quality and nutrient
monitoring program, another is
with Florida State University’s
Coastal and Marine Laboratory,
which is in the process of
launching a biological diversity
study of the preserve, and another
is with the Alligator Point
Taxpayers Association, which volunteers for the Alligator
Point Turtle Patrol, beach cleanups, and bird surveys.
The habitat provided by the preserve’s seagrass beds and salt
marshes create an important nursery area for popular Gulf
fisheries such as red drum (redfish), tarpon, sea trout
(specks), flounder, pompano, jack, bluefish, and Spanish
mackerel.

WHAT DOES MAGNUSON REAUTHORIZATION MEAN?

As reported in the last Fish Tales, in
December 2006 Congress passed new
revisions to the Magnuson Stevens/
Sustainable Fisheries Act and Presi-
dent Bush signed the legislation in Jan
2007. Now, people are wondering
what does the new law do for Gulf
fish?
The primary new elements of the law
deal with the use of annual catch lim-
its and accountability measures to end
overfishing, provide for widespread
market-based fishery management
through limited access programs, and
calls for increased international coop-
eration.
That all sounds great, what does it ac- ing or killing too many fish and who isn’t
tually mean? getting their share…because we’ll know.
For starters, it means we need to figure Finally, new management methods, in-
out who is catching what and how tended to provide greater financial gains
much where. We are finally going to for some and initiative for better steward-
better count what we catch, and track ship, are coming our way. Thus far these
who catches it. This will enable man- have been highly controversial (such as
agers to use this information to set IFQs, ITQs and LAPPs—see “Getting in
realistic limitations to make sure too the SAVs” pg 4.) but will be making an
many fish aren’t taken out of the water appearance nonetheless in waters near
to impede reproduction,. OR we are you.
going to figure out a more effective
means to estimate that. One side effect In the end, the hope is for more, better
should also be less finger-pointing and managed fish, happier, economically se-
name calling (we hope) between the cure fishermen and a spirit of informed,
assorted commercial gear types and global cooperation to help better protect,
recreational anglers about who is catch- and sustainably use, our resources.
 Gulf Restoration Network
338 Baronne St. Suite 200
New Orleans, LA 70112
Cynthia Sarthou, Executive Director
Aaron Viles, Campaign Director
Marianne Cufone, Consultant on Fisheries Issues management.
Editor: Aaron Viles
Phone: (504) 525-1528
Fax: (504) 525-0833
Email: aaron@healthygulf.org
www.healthygulf.org
IFQ’s: Getting in the Submerged
Aquatic Vegetation
(e.g. Weeds)
An alphabet soup has developed around a variety of
fishing permit systems that allow participants to access
shares in the public’s fisheries:
IFQ: Individual Fishing Quota
ITQ: Individual Transferable Quota (same as an IFQ,
but you can transfer it to others)
LAPP: Limited Access Privilege Program. The same as
either an IFQ or ITQ, depending on how the plan is
designed, just a more politically acceptable name: it indi-
cates fishing is a privilege not a right.
How these programs work:: Fishery managers decided
how many of a particular type of fish can be caught an-
nually (the total annual catch – TAC) and then the TAC
is divided up into “shares” in the form of coupons.
These are issued to commercial fishermen to turn in as
they catch fish.
These programs are being presented as systems to track
how many fish are caught (from the number of coupons
turned in) and a means to allow fishermen more flexibil-
ity in where and when fish are caught. In the past, those
fishing had to race to get as much fish as possible before
the TAC was reached, potentially causing higher levels
of bycatch, because people headed to the closest spot to
catch fish, and the fish might be under the legal size
limit closer to shore.
With the implementation of ITQs, there is no longer a
race to fish and some problems may be reduced; those
fishing can take their time to find spots with larger, legal
sized fish, because the coupons ensure you a certain
amount of the TAC no matter what others are catching.
Stay ‘Caught’ Up on Gulf Fish Issues—Join the GRN’s E-Mail List @ www.healthygulf.org
This publication is the product of the GRN working
on the following issues of concern: overfishing,
essential fish habitat, full implementation of the
Sustainable Fisheries Act, and public education on
the importance of sustainable fisheries
The GRN would like to thank the Regional Marine
Conservation Project, the Elizabeth Ordway Dunn
Foundation, and the Curtis and Edith Munson
Foundation for making this work possible.
MEXICO BANS SHARK FINNING
While the imagery of Jaws terrifying a peaceful beach commu-
nity has become a cultural icon, the reality of who impacts
whom is completely different. Sharks kill an average of four
swimmers annually worldwide, while humans kill anywhere from
26-73 million sharks per year. Given sharks slow reproduction,
this escalating total could mean bad news for sharks.
The Asian demand for shark fin soup has been driving an uptick
in shark catches, and helped fuel an illegal black market. Here
in the Gulf, the Department of Commerce has already closed
the 2007 large coastal shark commercial fishery, estimated to be
121% over its quota of 62 metric tons.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Mexico, which has a large shark fishing
industry, has followed international leadership and banned the
practice of shark finning, or slicing off the shark fins for soup
and returning the shark to the water to die slowly.
COMMERCIAL GROUPER CLOSURE
NMFS is closing the commercial deep-water grouper fishery
in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico at 12:01 a.m., on
June 2, 2007. The deep-water grouper fishery includes misty
grouper, snowy grouper, yellowedge grouper, warsaw grou-
per, and speckled hind. The operator of a vessel with a valid
reef fish permit having deep-water grouper aboard must
have landed and bartered, traded, or sold such deep-water
grouper prior to 12:01 a.m., June 2, 2007.
The fishery will remain closed until January 1, 2008. During
the closure, if commercial quantities of reef fish are onboard,
a bag limit of reef fish is not allowed.
In the Gulf of Mexico, red snapper was recently put on an
ITQ plan. This year, based on their catch history, commercial
fishermen have been given a certain number of “shares” of red
snapper that they are able to use, sell or rent. The Gulf Council
is also now discussing ITQs (now called LAPPs) for the grou-
per complex.