The following statement was released by Meredith Moore, director of the Fish Conservation Program, regarding NOAA Fisheries’ final rule to bring management of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico into compliance with federal law:

“This rule finally addresses serious design flaws in the fishery management system that allowed too much fishing from private anglers and put the rebuilding of red snapper in jeopardy for everyone who fishes. The calibration process co-developed by NOAA Fisheries, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, and the Gulf states – often referred to as a “common currency” –  will allow managers to bring disparate state and federal data systems together so they can understand how many red snapper are being caught across the whole Gulf of Mexico.

“Implementation of today’s final rule is a critical step to ensure management complies with the law, supports all fishing sectors fairly, and rebuilds Gulf red snapper.”

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Meredith Moore is available for interviews upon request.

NOTES TO EDITOR:

• For six years, the state management system in the Gulf of Mexico has allowed anglers to exceed sustainable fishing limits for red snapper, causing overfishing and jeopardizing the health of this fishery that is still rebuilding from historic overfishing. Calibration of state recreational data is the critical first step to addressing the illegal mismanagement of red snapper over the past six years.
• Managers have long known they needed to address a lack of calibration among catch monitoring systems across the five states and establish a process to bring disparate state and federal data systems together so they could understand how many fish were being caught across the whole Gulf of Mexico. At a meeting in April 2021, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council voted to implement calibration in January 2023.
• The final rule published in the Federal Register by NOAA Fisheries today implements this Council action. Calibrations are needed to bring the management system into compliance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
• Amendment 50A-F, known as “state management” and finalized in 2020, provided greater authority to Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, allowing those states to manage recreational fishing of red snapper in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico adjacent to their state waters. Under state management, the states are using their own surveys to monitor catch.
• Because each state’s survey is tailored to the characteristics of each state and its anglers, the surveys and the estimates they produce are not directly comparable to one another or to established sustainable quotas. Using what scientists know about the differences among survey collection methods, calibrations were created by NOAA Fisheries (in collaboration with the states) to make the landings estimates among the surveys comparable to a standard unit of reporting, or a “common currency”. These calibrations have been approved for use in management by the scientific advisors to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, the Scientific and Statistical Committee.
• A recently released transition plan developed by state and federal scientists outlines a number of improvements and studies that should be implemented with participation of all the Gulf States to provide more cohesive catch accounting for Gulf red snapper for the long term. According to this transition plan, “Calibrations between the available recreational red snapper surveys is required for fishery managers to implement sound catch limits and achieve sustainable fishery goals.”
• There are troubling signs that the red snapper population is declining, which may negatively affect private recreational, commercial, and for-hire fishing opportunities in the future. Both recent longline survey data and for-hire catch rates suggest declining catch rates. In addition, credible accounts from fishermen in the region indicate that the level of private recreational overages occurring in the Gulf are starting to reverse progress made toward rebuilding the stock.
• The Gulf of Mexico red snapper is a commercially and recreationally important fish stock to the region. The stock was put into a rebuilding plan after overfishing drove it to just 3% of its historic levels. Red snapper is more than halfway through its 27-year rebuilding plan, and it is critical for Gulf fishermen and communities to meet the deadline of having a healthy stock by 2032.
• The 2023 red snapper fishing season for recreational anglers is slated to begin in late May or early June in the Gulf.

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