Tag Archives: Rep. Garret Graves R-Baton Rouge

Red snapper dispute continued at Wednesday meeting

red snapperThe war of words continued Wednesday during an all-day meeting in Baton Rouge designed to educate members of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission on red snapper management. A surrogate of Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, presented a letter declaring states would not be responsible for research funding under HR 3094, a bill authored by Graves and Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, that would transfer management authority to Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. That directly contradicted charges made by Charlie Melancon, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, that the bill became an unfunded mandate when Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, tacked an amendment to it. “Amending things to death is how you kill a bill,” Melancon told the crowd of industry leaders and interested anglers Wednesday. “What was done to (HR 3094) was an attempt to kill the bill.” But Paul Sawyer, Graves’ chief of staff, presented a letter, signed by Bishop, stating that his amendment merely banned the transfer of funds to the states for fisheries research because that research would continue to be conducted by NOAA Fisheries. Read the story here 12:31

Are you as sick of Red Snapper Crap in the Reauthorization as I am?

I’m reading this article about Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge resurrecting his Red Snapper bill that was flushed during the House vote of HR1335. It appears that political pandering is the reason. The recreational people have a beef about getting shorted in the number of days they can fish, but to look at the allocation percentage, or the year round commercial fishery as the reason, is wrong. This issue is another NOAA created crisis. Read the article here 18:41