Tag Archives: snapper-grouper fishery
Catch share threat is back
As we enter 2017, the biggest threat to commercial and recreational fishermen in the South Atlantic is back: private ownership of the snapper-grouper fishery through a catch share program. Fishery stakeholders have year after year overwhelmingly rejected any form of catch shares. Most recently, 97 percent of the comments on the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s long-range snapper-grouper management plan opposed catch shares — a plan the council promised would be “stakeholder-driven.” Yet, SAFMC Vice Chair Charlie Phillips has revealed that he, SAFMC member Chris Conklin and former SAFMC member Jack Cox, all commercial snapper-grouper fleet owners and dealers, are leading an effort to get a voluntary “pilot” catch share program in place this year using an “Exempted Fishing Permit,” which is a back door way to avoid the normal fishery regulation approval process. In a recent article in the Charleston, SC Post & Courier, Vice Chair Phillips touts that the permit would “allow them to catch all year.” The article also reveals that the Seafood Harvesters of America, which has been funded with over $300,000 from the radical Environmental Defense Fund, is supporting the EFP application. The Seafood Harvesters represent some of the biggest catch share owners in the nation. Read the post here 11:06
NMFS Implements Management Measures to End Overfishing of Blueline Tilefish in the South Atlantic
NOAA Fisheries NMFS is implementing management measures in Amendment 32 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (Amendment 32). The final rule publishes in the Federal Register, and is effective, on March 30, 2015. A commercial trip limit of 100 pounds gutted weight is included. Read the notice here 16:57
South Atlantic Fishery Council credibility is at stake
Last year, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council made a big splash,,, The phrase “catch shares” is nowhere to be found in the document. Instead creative code-speak is used to describe the strategy throughout the document: “sector share management system,” “individual quota management system,” We’re shocked and disappointed to see the SAFMC depart so dramatically from the stakeholder-driven,,, Read the rest here 11:41
Tell the SAFMC how you want the snapper-grouper fishery managed!
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is developing a long-term “vision” for managing the snapper grouper fishery. Next week, beginning in South Carolina, the fishery council will begin a series of “port meetings” to seek input from commercial and recreational snapper-grouper fishermen, dealers, chefs and others who have a stake in the fishery as to how the fishery should be managed long-term. Read [email protected] 20:51
