COURT FORCES RED SNAPPER INTO THE BLACK

It finally happened. We won recognition that stronger protections are needed for red snapper! After slogging through the lengthy and politically charged U.S. fishery management process for years (personally, for 8, and GRN has been involved since just after its establishment in 1994) trying to get fish managers to simply follow the law and make rules to help save red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico - this is really great news.

In a Summary Judgment ruling (for non legal types, this means that the law and facts were so clear on this it did not need a trial) released late afternoon on March 12th, a federal judge told the primary agency tasked with managing our U.S. fish, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), that they failed to follow the law in conserving and managing Gulf of Mexico red snapper and that a long term rebuilding plan needs to be done within the next 9 months!

Red snapper has been known to be severely depleted since the late 1980’s. Red snapper’s target recovery date (the time by which the population should be back to a healthy level) was originally the year 2000. Seven years ago. Then it got moved back to 2007 (yes, this year), then it was changed to 2019, then 2032. Now, who knows? We haven’t even started a real rebuilding plan! Consequently, studies show red snapper down to 3% of its historical population. Yikes. Tofu anyone?

Sadly, it took a lawsuit to stop the agency’s denial and political waffling and get us back on the road to recovery.

I’ve been asked “what exactly will this lawsuit do?” Primarily, it tells fish managers that they need to put into place rules that help rebuild depleted fish in a timely manner. Also, that bycatch - a fish that is caught unintentionally, while trying to catch something else, or one that is under the legal size or out of season and can not be kept – needs to be reduced, because large amounts of bycatch can cause a fish population to be depleted unnecessarily. Seems like common sense (oh and by the way it’s the law) but for some reason it simply did not get done for red snapper in nearly 20 years.

I look forward to seeing the final regulations now in 9 months time and can make peace at last with this issue. Yeah to all of us that worked so hard on this. I’m sure Gulf of Mexico red snapper are collectively grateful for the sincere and persistent efforts.

Marianne Cufone is the GRN's Fisheries Consultant, based in Tampa Florida.