KeepAmericaFishing

KeepAmericaFishing's™ Position

When Congress reauthorized the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the primary law governing federal marine fisheries management, in 2006 it did so with the intention of ending overfishing – not ending fishing.

However, NMFS is implementing the statute in a way that is unnecessarily shutting down sustainable recreational fisheries, primarily by:

• Applying annual catch limits (ACLs) to each individual stock of fish, including many that do not have accurate, up-to-date stock assessments; and
• Shutting down entire multispecies fisheries, including healthy and valuable recreational stocks, in order to rebuild weaker stocks.

Given the inability of NMFS to reasonably meet the MSA’s 2010 and 2011 statutory deadlines, something must be done legislatively to resolve this looming fisheries management train wreck. In 2010, legislation was introduced in both the House and Senate to address the crisis in federal marine fisheries.

While did not pass during the 111th Congress, KeepAmericaFishing and others in the recreational fishing community worked with Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) to introduce similar legislation in the 112th Congress – the Fishery Science Improvement Act (H.R. 2304). This legislation will guide federal fisheries management towards a more science-based approach and prevent NOAA Fisheries from setting arbitrary and overly-restrictive catch levels on numerous important recreational fisheries. H.R. 2304 provides a timely path for NOAA Fisheries to manage all of America's marine fish stocks based on sound scientific data. For more information, view the Fishery Science Improvement Act fact sheet.

Background

Important amendments made to the MSA during its 2006 reauthorization were intended to drive NMFS towards more effective marine fisheries management and stock rebuilding. The reauthorization of MSA included key provisions to end overfishing and to set ACLs and accountability measures (AMs) for all stocks by 2011. These requirements were predicated on two critical assumptions:

• NMFS would invest in proper fisheries management, including up-to-date and accurate stock assessments.
• NMFS would invest in a method to capture catch data on which to base management decisions and anticipate potential problems in the fishery.

Neither of these assumptions was met.

This challenge is most acute in the Southeast. The South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico are home to a multitude of complex fisheries and have historically received disproportionately low funding for science and data collection given the number of fish stocks and anglers in the region.

Now that the deadline to end overfishing has passed, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) and Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (GMFMC) are now resorting to drastic measures to ensure overfishing does not occur.

Specific Fishery Issues

Comprehensive Annual Catch Limits (ACLs) – Both the SAFMC and GMFMC recently approved ACL proposals for a multitude of important recreational fisheries, which could severely limit or possibly close these fisheries to recreational fishing, despite a lack of scientific data. Because MSA requires that ACLs be developed for all fisheries, the Councils' regulations were created and approved on species such as mahi mahi, wahoo and dozens of species in the snapper-grouper complex that have no up-to-date stock assessments, and for which the only data to work off of is landings. The Councils' decision-making process was driven by the December 31, 2011 deadline for ACLs and accountability measures in the 2006 MSA reauthorization, which the sportfishing community believes requires Congressional action to amend.

Red Snapper – Even though the fishery continues to rebuild and catch rates are the highest reported in decades, NMFS says that red snapper in the South Atlantic are being overfished and undergoing overfishing. While the same is occurring in the Gulf, that fishery is in better shape than in the South Atlantic and able to sustain limited recreational harvest. Because red snapper are considered severely overfished and are subject to bycatch when fishing the larger snapper-grouper complex, Amendment 17A to the South Atlantic snapper-grouper fishery management plan was introduced in 2010 by the SAFMC. This amendment proposed a nearly 5,000 square mile area closure off the coast of southeastern Georgia and northern Florida where fishing for all species in the snapper-grouper management complex would be prohibited. Fortunately, a new assessment on South Atlantic red snapper was completed in December 2010 which indicated that the stock was healthier than originally projected and the bottom closure proposal was tabled. The directed red snapper fishery remains closed.

Black Sea Bass - In February 2011, the SAFMC closed the recreational black sea bass fishery in the South Atlantic through June 1 based on data that says recreational anglers exceeded their quota. In order to reduce the potential for the season to be closed early again, the SAFMC has proposed to reduce the bag limit from 15 fish per person per day to 5 fish per person per day. The last full benchmark assessment for black sea bass was conducted in 2001 and was simply updated in 2005. Based on those reports, the SAFMC adopted a management plan in 2006 that used a constant ACL strategy, even though the fishery is rebuilding and black sea bass abundance is increasing. As the stock rebuilds, anglers are encountering black sea bass more often and therefore are over their quota by up to 30 percent. Black sea bass were scheduled to undergo another full benchmark assessment in 2010, but the uproar over red snapper delayed it until 2011.

Deep Water Snapper Grouper – In August, 2011, the SAFMC approved Regulatory Amendment 11 to the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan to eliminate a current restriction on possession or harvest of some deep water snapper grouper species in waters greater than 240 feet in depth, which covers over half of the waters under management by the SAFMC. The closure was implemented in January, 2011, in an effort to address overfishing of speckled hind and warsaw grouper. The Council approved the amendment after considering public testimony on the economic impacts of the restriction along with new data indicating the closure may not effectively minimize bycatch.

Gag Grouper – While the GMFMC continues to develop long-term management alternatives for gag grouper to address overfishing, interim federal rules were put in effect that prohibited the recreational harvest of gag grouper in Gulf federal waters through the end of 2011.