Tag Archives: Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance
Florida Fish and Wildlife Hosts Commercial Fishing Industry Summit
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) hosted Florida’s first Commercial Fishing Industry Summit in St. Augustine on May 21 and 22. According to FWC, the goal of the summit was to gather representatives from the industry to help develop a vision for the commercial fishing industry for the next five to 10 years. Partnering organizations included Florida Stone Crabber’s Association, Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida, Beacon Fisheries, Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, Kathi’s Krabs, Organized Fishermen of Florida, Lampl Herbert Consultants, Southeastern Fisheries Association, Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association, and the Southern Offshore Fishing Association, Inc. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:46
Reallocation: coming to a dock near you?
Ever since quota transfers in “shared fisheries” have been made so easy to justify (see the Massachusetts justification for the recent reallocation of fluke, bluefish and black sea bass at https://tinyurl.com/yckkr6vm), such transfers each year are going to cost us hundreds of tons of product and tens of millions of dollars of business. And as long as one-third of the voting members of the eight regional fishery management councils and three commissions either work for or run the state agencies that are funded in very large part by Wallop-Breaux revenues (see my most recent piece on Wallop-Breaux funding at https://fisherynation.com/
Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance Supports Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Red Grouper Quotas
Commercial fishermen and members of the Gulf of Mexico seafood industry have filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of a recent decision by NOAA Fisheries to reallocate red grouper quota to recreational fishermen at the expense of the commercial fishery. The Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance supports the efforts by the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, Southern Offshore Fishing Association, and A.P. Bell Fish Company to challenge this decision, in an effort to restore a fair allocation for commercial fishermen. The lawsuit, filed late on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenges recent red grouper allocations approved by NOAA as part of Amendment 53 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico. >click to read< 16:16
Fishing industry unimpressed with Biden Harris’s NOAA/NMFS climate crisis notions. (Offshore Wind Farms, either!)
President Biden ordered NOAA to collect information from a wide range of groups on increasing the resilience of fisheries as part of his plan to address climate change and to protect 30% of U.S. ocean areas by the year 2030. The NOAA directive is included in the sweeping executive order Biden signed his first week in office that made “the climate crisis” a centerpiece of his presidency. “Fisheries, protected resources, habitats and ecosystem are being affected by climate change,” acting NOAA Fisheries chief Paul Doremus said at the beginning of yesterday’s conference call. >click to read< 07:55
Is the United States ready for offshore aquaculture?
Harlon Pearce walks muck-booted past processors gutting wild drum and red snapper to showcase a half-full new 5,000-square-foot (500-square-meter) freezer he hopes will someday house a fresh boom of marine fish. Harlon’s LA Fish sits just across the railroad tracks from the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, perfectly positioned to ship fish out of Louisiana. As president of the New Orleans–based Gulf Seafood Institute, seafood supplier Pearce is a big fish himself in these parts, connected to fishermen, federal agencies, restaurateurs and even the oil industry. He knows better than anyone that wild fisheries alone can’t supply U.S. consumers’ growing demand for fish. Which is why he’s doing his best to bring everyone to the table to achieve one goal: farming the Gulf of Mexico. click here to read the story 16:31
Zurik: Snapper barons slam FOX 8 probe, but Trump admin. may think otherwise
An alliance of fishermen who make millions off a public resource wants us to retract all our stories from our “Hooked Up” series. The series showed how 50 fishermen can make $23 million a year from red snapper, and many never even drop a line in the water. The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance and its executive director, Buddy Guindon, sent us a 23-page letter, calling our stories sloppy and biased. Many of the complaints focus on statements made by subjects we interviewed for our stories. They include 20 separate citations of comments in our series by Congressman Garret Graves of Louisiana.,, Graves says he’s heard from congressmen from all over the country since our five-part series was broadcast. He thinks now is the time to change the system.,,,While the group of 50 fishermen have been unhappy with our reports, we’ve heard from dozens of others with positive comments, like a Florida commercial fisherman who wrote, “Your report hit home with all our concerns in regards to how unfair the small commercial fishermen are being treated and wrongly represented.”Read the story here 12:32
Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance spokesman blasts NMFS over Red Snapper reallocation
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has announced a decision to re-allocate quota in favor of recreational fishermen, much to the dismay of commercial catchers. According to the rule published on the Federal Register on April 28, the recreational sector will get 51.5% of the quota, not their usual 49%. Eric Brazer, Jr., deputy director of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, lambasted NMFS for the move. “Despite overwhelming opposition from the public, scientists, environmentalists, seafood supply chain, and our legal representative, not to mention unanimous opposition from the commercial red snapper industry, NMFS has decided to take red snapper allocation away from commercial fisherman and give it to the recreational sector that has overfished its allocation for nearly a quarter century,”,, Read the rest here 12:55
Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance fights NOAA over aqua farms
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) decision to approve industrial offshore fish farming last month in federally protected waters in the Gulf of Mexico is a strong concern in a “delicate and restricted estuarine system,” according to a leading non-profit fisherman’s organization. Eric Brazer, deputy director at the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, told the Louisiana Record that there are strong concerns with constructing an aquaculture facility of unprecedented size. The suit alleges that in a bid to push offshore fish farming forward without a new law permitting it, and get around Congress, NOAA created a permitting scheme through the Gulf Council by exceeding its authority to regulate fishing under the MSA. Read the rest here 09:44
Center for Food Safety lawsuit challenge’s NOAA’s push for aquaculture in offshore U.S. waters
Center for Food Safety has filed a new lawsuit challenging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) new federal regulations permitting, for the first time, industrial aquaculture offshore in U.S. federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The plaintiff coalition CFS is representing in the case make up a broad array of significant interests in the Gulf of Mexico, including commercial, economic, recreational, and conservation groups. Read the rest here 09:09
Gulf Fishermen Sue Feds Over Red Snapper Quota Rule
In anticipation of clawing back red snapper quotas from Gulf Coast commercial fishers, feds have “frozen” red snapper fishing altogether, a group of fishermen claim in court. Following the proposal of a Republican-supported bill last fall with strong support from recreational fishermen that would have wrested control of red snapper regulations from the feds and placed it in the hands of individual states, the federal agencies in charge of regulation moved instead to grant recreational fishermen higher quotas for fish they are allowed to catch. Read the article here 15:40
Commercial Fishermen Unified Against Gulf Red Snapper Takeover
Commercial fishermen throughout the United States have stood up and opposed the plan by the Gulf of Mexico state managers to take over red snapper management and eliminate the commercial quota system. “It’s incredible the response we’ve gotten,” said Buddy Guindon, Executive Director of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance based in Galveston, TX. “From Alaska to Maine, California to South Carolina, our brother and sister commercial fishermen have united ,,, Read the rest here 09:30
Transferring red-snapper control to states is adored and despised – the current mess created by federal mismanagement.
“There is now no question in our minds that our state directors do not represent the best interests of commercial fishermen. They fight us at every turn, trying to destabilize our business plans and promote half-baked ideas that hurt conservation and undermine sustainability. This scam will hurt hardworking commercial fishermen and the American public that wants to eat fresh, sustainably harvested red snapper.” — Buddy Guindon, executive director of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, Read the rest here photo 16:33
Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance filed lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C
Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance nervous – Gulf snapper quota reallocation could set national precedent
An upcoming decision on quota allocation between recreational and commercial fishermen will be vital in setting a precedent for fisheries management all over the US, said sources on all sides of the ongoing red snapper fishery disc
ussions in the Gulf of Mexico. Read more here
