Fighting for our American red snapper
Last year we faced the shortest American red snapper season in history, that is until 2013. The Gulf Council meets 4/15 - 4/18 in Gulfport Mississippi to finalize the 2013 season. They will meet without a new ARS stock assessment. Per Rep. Joe Bonner, six term Alabama Congressman:
"There was some hope a positive assessment would add days to the current season or at a minimum provide us with a supplemental fall season. Both appear to be lost now thanks to mismanagement by federal regulators." Congressman Bonner has brought the delay of the new red snapper benchmark stock assessment to the attention of Ms. Rebecca Blank, Acting Secretary of Commerce. Ms. Blank has pledged to look into the situation.
Dr. Robert Shipp, three-time chair of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, noted researcher and professor of Marine Sciences at the University of South Alabama, testified before the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee that the current management of reef species in the Gulf of Mexico is failing – both the fish and the fishermen. Dr. Shipp voiced support for the concept of increasing the five Gulf states’ fishery management authority to place more control over reef fish in the hands of the states rather than the federal government.
Gulf Fisheries Fairness Act:
Rep. Steve Southerland ll, Florida second Congressional District:
WASHINGTON, D.C. --U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, II joined colleague Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL) in introducing legislation to extend state water boundaries for Florida and the Gulf Coast region, providing exclusive management of reef fish to Gulf States struggling with shrinking access to an already restricted fishery. “With a two-fish-per-day limit and a red snapper season set at 27 days and shrinking, Florida’s fishermen face unacceptably severe challenges that are forcing them off the water,” Southerland said. “Our legislation – the Gulf Fisheries Fairness Act – casts a life preserver to fishermen and coastal economies struggling to stay afloat amid crippling federal regulations that fail to reflect the successes of a fishery built upon the sacrifices of the Gulf’s commercial and recreational fishermen. Our legislation stands tall on the 10th Amendment, fighting back against the ever-tightening grip of Washington overregulation.” The Gulf Fisheries Fairness Act resets state water boundaries for reef fish management in the Gulf to a depth of 20 fathoms (120 feet) or nine nautical miles, which could reach offshore as many as 60 miles. Florida’s current boundary is set at nine miles.
Abandoned Gulf Oil Rigs:
Rep. Bonner... "I am continuing to press the U.S. Department of the Interior to halt its bizarre policy of literally blowing up abandoned Gulf oil rigs, killing thousands of Red Snapper and other species in the process."
"These abandoned rigs have become productive artificial reefs, attracting large numbers of Red Snapper and other marine life. Not only is the Interior Department’s practice of destroying this habitat detrimental to Gulf ecology, but it demonstrates a hypocrisy of big government, with one federal agency severely limiting fishing for Red Snapper while another indiscriminately kills the very same fish and destroys habitat essential to its stock."
"I have personally spoken with and written to Interior Secretary Salazar and met with Interior Department officials to voice my strong objection to their “Idle Iron” policy of blowing up abandoned Gulf oil rigs. As Dr. Shipp testified before the House last week, “Far better would be to dismantle these structures, lay them on their sides on the bottom, as is done in the ‘rigs to reefs’ program off Louisiana.”
"If the federal government does not cease its destructive and counterproductive policy of blowing up thousands of pounds of Red Snapper, then a legislative solution will have to be pursued. I am talking with other Gulf lawmakers about legislation to address this problem. Last Congress, I cosponsored the “Rigs to Reefs Act” to allow abandoned Gulf oil rigs to be safely converted to artificial reefs for the benefit of both marine life and our seafood."
We in this country live under a Republic form of government. That means we elect those whom we wish to represent our best interest. When experts like Dr. Shipp, researcher & professor of Marine Sciences, testifies that the current management of reef species in the Gulf of Mexico is failing both the fish and the fishermen, this is in the best interest of no one.
Rep. Jo Bonner, Rep. Steve Southerland are to be commended for their very strong support of the people they represent. They are, 'Fighting for our American red snapper.
Bob Harbison Native Florida Sportsman
Active member Florida Outdoor Writers Association
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