OVERTIME OUTDOORS:
Call Thursday, April 4, Independence Day from the federal government for recreational anglers — specifically, red snapper fishermen — who fish offshore in the Gulf of Mexico below Louisiana.
It was a red letter day, for sure, when Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council members voted unanimously at their meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi, to give the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries the go-ahead to manage the red snapper fishery in state and federal waters starting with the 2020 private recreational red snapper season. Otherwise, Gulf anglers faced a return in 2020 to the system that gave us a three-day red snapper season just two years ago.
Amendment 50’s passage was a resounding triumph for many conservationists — individuals and groups. As a result, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission will make rules for the state’s red snapper fishery based on the findings and recommendations of the department, which also can close the season quickly, when needed, to prevent overfishing.
The LWFC has the authority to set seasons, bag and size limits, and other management regulations for private recreational red snapper fishing in federal waters (out 200 nautical miles).
Recreational anglers now have a larger voice in the harvest of red snapper, an extremely tasty and highly popular species with a thriving population in the western Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, starting a few decades ago, the fishery was managed for the entire Gulf.
“This is a big, big deal for anglers,” David Cresson said Tuesday afternoon.
The Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana executive director said CCA-Louisiana has been tackling the issue for a decade. The unanimous vote, he said this past week, rewarded the dedicated efforts of many people to prove the state can manage fish more efficiently than the federal government.
Earlier, Cresson and CCA-Louisiana gave credit where credit was due in a prepared statement lauding the state’s largest conservation organization’s efforts, LWFC members, LDWF staffers and, especially, state legislators like Sen. Bret Allain, who represents District 21 (St. Mary Parish and portions of Iberia, Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes) and Rep. Stuart Bishop, who represents District 43 (southern Lafayette, Broussard and Youngsville. Allain and Bishop were instrumental in getting the department’s LA Creel program started by the LDWF in an effort to prove to the feds Louisiana can manage red snapper in this part of the Gulf.
How effective has the state agency been? The LDWF worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries and the Gulf Council to provide Louisiana’s private recreational anglers with 42 days of red snapper fishing in federal waters in 2017 and 60 days in 2018, a significant increase from 2016 when the department began working on its plan.
Also, LDWF fought successfully at the Gulf Council meeting for Louisiana’s historical 19.1 percent of the private recreational red snapper quota, which will give the state an allocation of 816,439 pounds in 2019. Last season, Louisiana’s private anglers caught approximately 738,000 pounds.
Cresson thanked the LDWF and the LWFC for their leadership and partnership in the quest and also praised Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, who said on Independence Day, “This is a victory for our anglers. Very shortly, they will be able to spend more time fishing for red snapper on the water in our beautiful Sportsman’s Paradise.
“One of my goals is to have our state manage red snapper in both state and federal waters. I’m very thankful to our Wildlife and Fisheries leadership, our anglers, congressional delegation and fishing organizations who helped to make this happen.”
Jack Montoucet, secretary, LDWF, said, “This decision is the result of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ directive to me and the LDWF staff to get this done for our anglers. Now we will show that Louisiana can manage effectively and that we have all of the intangibles to make this work.”
Patrick Banks, assistant secretary of fisheries who led negotiations at the Gulf Council, said the old system of federal management often left Louisiana anglers at a disadvantage. Weather conditions usually are better in the eastern Gulf, which allows anglers in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi to have a greater chance of catching their quota than Louisiana anglers.
“Now we have a certain amount of fish reserved just for us. Our Wildlife and Fisheries Commission sets the season for our anglers to catch that set amount of fish and they can set that season whenever they want that best fits our anglers and ensures responsible harvest levels,” Banks said.
Reaching this pivotal point in fisheries management was years in the making, according to Patrick Banks, LDWF assistant secretary of fisheries. Efforts began at a June 2016 Gulf Council meeting in Florida, where LDWF guided the successful passage of a motion to begin work on a plan to establish state management of red snapper for the private recreational fishing sector, Banks said.
Louisiana is operating under its second year of an Exempted Fishing Permit, which authorizes activities otherwise prohibited by federal fishery regulations, for limited testing, data collection, exploratory fishing and other purposes, Banks said. Under this two-year pilot EFP study, the private recreational red snapper fishing season structure was delegated to LDWF, he said.
The EFP allowed LDWF to collect data from anglers on how they want to distribute their effort and whether electronic reporting can help decrease uncertainty around our harvest estimate according to Banks. Under the EFP, he said, the department was able to gather these data without impacting other states and without sacrifices from our participants.
A significant benefit of the EFP working in combination with LA Creel was that Louisiana private anglers had their own quota that included both state and federal waters, the assistant secretary said. Previously, NOAA estimated how long it would it would take for anglers throughout the gulf to harvest the quota based on prior years’ information. Those estimates were unable to take current conditions into account, leading to over-runs.
DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.