Workshops to focus on recreational fisheries conservation, 
habitat and economic restoration in wake of oil spill

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and its marine sportfishing partners will hold an innovative series of workshops across Gulf of Mexico states this spring to identify opportunities to restore and enhance recreational fishing through recovery efforts associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The Gulf Recreational Fishing Restoration Workshops are a product of the TRCP’s collaboration with the American Sportfishing Association, Center for Coastal Conservation and Coastal Conservation Association, along with charter fishermen, marina owners, state and federal fisheries managers and recreational anglers.

The workshops will take place in all five Gulf states, beginning in St. Petersburg, Fla., on May 1 then moving to Orange Beach, Ala., on May 15; Gulfport, Miss., on May 16; Houston on May 20; and concluding in New Orleans on May 21.

After simmering at high temperature for many years, red snapper management in the Gulf of Mexico has finally boiled over. With the announcement of a 27-day season and the subsequent game of chicken between federal managers and non-compliant states, a series of actions may signify that at last things are beginning to move to a resolution of some kind.

It began with Rep. Jo Bonner of Alabama and his Gulf Fisheries Fairness Act, which is an innovative plan to completely remove federal oversight of waters less than 20 fathoms and hand it over to the states to manage independently. Such legislation is bold and includes a number of important concepts for properly managing this fishery.

Just last week, the governors of four Gulf states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida) sent a letter to Congressional leadership seeking state control over red snapper out to 200 miles through the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission. The legislation, which is still being drafted with input from those states, would loosely model the Atlantic Striped Bass Act and management by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The benefits of this legislation are that the states would manage every aspect of the red snapper fishery out to 200 miles, the current federal management plan would disappear, and it is based on a proven, successful model of fisheries management. The federal management system has deservedly had harsh critics, including us, so this plan’s inclusion of some enforcement oversight by the Secretary of Commerce is somewhat daunting. Alabama was noticeably absent from this letter for just that reason.

Close to 100 Terrebonne Parish school kids withstood rain and winds of an incoming cold front to help build Phase II of the Floating Islands Restoration Project at the Isle de Jean Charles boat launch in Pointe Aux Chenes on Friday.

The project was spearheaded by the Coastal Conservation Association’s Building Conservation Habitat Program and its partners: Shell Oil Company, Keep Terrebonne Beautiful, Martin Ecosystems, Terrebonne Parish Government, Terrebonne Parish Schools and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Kids ranging from eight to 13 years of age were on-hand for the project from three area schools, Point Aux Chenes Elementary, Bourg Elementary and Montegut Middle School as well as local 4H Club members. The kids planted two types of marsh grass – smooth cord and seashore paspalum –into 5-foot by 20-foot BioHaven(R) Floating Islands. The islands were assembled on-shore and were then moved to the water for installation. In total, the project resulted in 1,000 linear feet of new shoreline.

Letter to Congressional leadership calls for state-based management of troubled species

HOUSTON (4-17-13) – The governors of four Gulf states released a JOINT LETTER to the leadership of the U.S. House and Senate today that states current federal management of Gulf red snapper is evidence of a system that is “irretrievably broken,” and calls for passage of legislation that would replace it with a coordinated Gulf states partnership for red snapper management.

“The Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery has a historic and significant economic benefit to the Gulf coastal states and the nation. However, federal management conflicts impacting both the commercial and recreational sectors have created a situation that is negatively impacting the coastal economies and citizens of our states,” states the letter signed by Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, Gov. Rick Scott of Florida and Gov. Phil Bryant of Mississippi. “With a stock that is recovering steadily, our recreational anglers are being allowed to fish less and less, and there is no hint of willingness from NOAA Fisheries to deviate from this present, unsatisfactory course. As governors of Gulf states, we believe this confusing management is just the latest evidence of a federal management system that is irretrievably broken.”

The governors’ letter calls on Congress to establish a better fishery management approach for Gulf red snapper based on interstate management measures coordinated by the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, citing their belief that a coordinated Gulf states partnership would be more capable of delivering a robust fishery that is more accessible for their citizens.

In the wake of the announcement of a 27-day 2013 federal recreational red snapper season, we warned that the crisis would be used to justify all kinds of schemes and, unfortunately, that prediction was correct. On April 2, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) quietly opened a comment period for a pilot program that would let a select group of headboats take ownership of recreational red snapper quota to use as their own. It is another aggressive attempt to force a concept known as catch shares into the recreational sector. Catch shares literally give a portion of a fishery to a business entity for its own use and profit. Federal bureaucrats, among others, believe privatizing a public resource is justified in the pursuit of greater accountability.

While the states, other headboat businesses, and hundreds of thousands of recreational anglers deal with a 27-day season, this pilot program proposes to take a portion of the meager recreational quota and give it to a select group of about 20 boats to use as their own, whenever they want, however they want. It is the latest in a string of baffling decisions by NMFS that serve to ratchet down the public's access to a booming red snapper population.

Department also reminds anglers of required permits

March 21, 2013 - In an effort to better monitor the recreational catch of red snapper during the “Louisiana-only” season, LDWF biologists will be conducting creel surveys, specific to red snapper, beginning this Saturday, March 23.  Anglers may also see an increased presence of LDWF biologists at their local boat ramp, conducting dockside interviews.

Department Surveys

These surveys will be separate from the federally sponsored Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) surveys that anglers may have been a part of in the past.  These surveys will be short and aimed at better assessing the number of red snapper landed in Louisiana.