US Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, formally approved the plan last week. (Photo: NOAA/FL-Seafod/FIS)

Red snapper, grouper bans to go into effect in December

A permanent federal ban on red snapper in the South Atlantic Ocean and another on snapper and grouper off the coast of north Florida could take effect next month. Federal officials claim the regulations are imperative to save red snapper. 

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke formally approved that plan last week, but the Department of Commerce (DOC) must still finalise a set of rules before it can apply the new restrictions. 

A temporary fishing ban on red snapper went into effect in January due to findings by a federal study which stated that the species is suffering from overfishing in the South Atlantic. To protect red snapper from being caught as bycatch, the new regulations would extend the ban to more than 70 other snapper or grouper species off the coast of north and central Florida and span some 4,800 sqmi.

Recreational and commercial fishers both oppose the new regulations. They argue that the red snapper population is healthy and thus restrictions will only serve to ravage the fishing industry in northeast Florida and southeast Georgia, Florida Times-Union reports. 

The plan is expected to cost area fishers millions of dollars in lost landings -- in snapper as well as grouper, sea bass and dozens of species usually caught through bottom fishing.

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A recreational fishing organisation has a federal lawsuit pending, reports Orlando Sentinel.

"Once this takes effect, you can say goodbye to the local fishing fleet," noted Russell Hudson, president of Directed Sustainable Fisheries Inc and a lobbyist for commercial fishers. "There will not be a whole lot of fishermen left standing."

A complete ban on catching red snapper implemented as a temporary measure last year would remain in effect in a 200-nautical mi area off the whole Southeast coast.  

Some opponents complained the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC), which created the plan, designed it to spare interests in other states in the southeast.

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“It’s probably one of the most political decisions ever made. … It ended up mostly in Florida because we don’t have the political clout [on the council],” argued Bob Jones, executive director of the Southeastern Fisheries Association in Tallahassee, Florida.

 In contrast, a green group lauded the imminent restrictions and declared them indispensable to save red snapper.

"This plan puts South Atlantic red snapper on the right track for recovery, and it is long overdue," said Holly Binns, manager of the Pew Environment Group's Campaign to End Overfishing in the Southeast. "This iconic species has been fished at unsustainable rates for decades, and this decisive action is required now to save it."

Although how long the bans will last is unknown, the plan could remain in force for 35 years, which is how long it would take the red snapper population to recover.

Related articles:

- Council votes to ban snapper and grouper fishing 
- Legislation proposed to protect Florida fishing jobs 

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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