CCA insists Council take on Gulf

CCA insists Council take on Gulf shrimp trawl bycatch

HOUSTON, TX – Coastal Conservation Association is insisting that the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council take action at its meeting next week to rein in shrimp trawl bycatch to avoid needlessly penalizing recreational anglers with lower red snapper catch limits.

“Shrimp trawl bycatch is far and away the single largest source of mortality for juvenile red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico, and until that is properly addressed this species will continue to be at risk,” said David Cummins, CCA president. “That end of the equation must be answered first.”

Convinced that meaningful measures to recover red snapper are dependent on significant reduction in shrimp trawl bycatch, CCA filed a lawsuit last summer over Amendment 22 to the Reef Fish Management Plan, also known as the Red Snapper Rebuilding Plan. CCA is seeking to achieve significant shrimp trawl bycatch reduction on the order of 60-80 percent through measures such as bycatch quotas, areas closed to shrimping, seasonal shrimping closures and meaningful reduction in shrimping effort.

“The future of red snapper is tied directly to reducing shrimp trawl bycatch. More than 80 percent of juvenile red snapper mortality is due to bycatch,” said Pat Murray, CCA Director of Conservation. “The directed fishery has stayed within its quotas and done everything the Council has asked us to do in the past, while the shrimp industry continues to decimate red snapper stocks. Penalizing recreational anglers again by lowering our catch limits is pointless. It is not logical for the Council to set total allowable catch (TAC) limits before factoring in meaningful bycatch reduction for the shrimp fleet.”

“The red snapper of the Gulf are an incredible resource,” said Dr. Russell Nelson, CCA Gulf Fisheries consultant. “Potentially, if a full recovery could be achieved, we might someday see TACs of 25 million pounds a year. But we must use every asset at our disposal to assure that NMFS and the Council are required to address shrimp bycatch effectively before further limiting our fishing for red snapper.”

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