Federal regulators begin grouper crackdown
ST. PETERSBURG — Federal regulators took first steps today to reduce gag grouper fishing by 45 percent, a deep cutback that would shut fishing down for recreational angles for several months, severly damage the charter boat industry during tourist season and possibly remove fresh Florida grouper from restaurant menus for several months a year.
These were recommendations of the Reef Fish Committee of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, which sets rules for federal waters, where most grouper are caught. The public will get a chance to comment Wednesday before the full council votes on the plan. Though the full council may tweak the committee’s recommendations, options are limited because federal biologists have determined that gag stocks in the Gulf are in trouble.
Here is a rundown of the proposed regulations:
For recreational anglers, all grouper fishing would shut down between January 15 and April 15 in federal waters, which begin nine miles off-shore. Currently there is a one-month shutdown Feb 15 to March 15 during the height of the gag grouper spawn.
Recreational anglers could keep three legal-sized grouper per person, per trip, but no more than one could be a gag. Current bag limits allow for five grouper, but no more than one red grouper. All five can be gag, the preferred target of recreational anglers.
"This will cost the State of Florida $300-million in direct expenditures,”’ said Dennis O’Hern, director of the Fishermen’s Rights Alliance." With a bag limit of only one gag , people will not sink $20,000 or $30,000 into an offshore boat and spend hundreds of dollars in fuel to go bottom fishing, O’Hern said. Tourists will not spend $1,000 to hire a charter boat.
Federal law requires the council to end overfishing of gag, said Roy Crabtree, Southeaster Region administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service.
"It will impact some fishermen, no question,” Crabtree said. "But the long-term results of all these measures is that we will have an economic gain if the stocks rebound.”
NMFS will request the State of Florida impose the same regulations in state waters, Crabtree said. If the state refuses, then further restrictions might be necessary in federal waters to compensate.
The council also imposed a new restriction on charter boat captains licensed to fish in federal water: If federal and state rules differ, charter boats must follow the more stringent rules, which means no grouper fishing anywhere during the proposed three-month closure, even if Florida takes a less restrictive approach for state waters.
The proposed changes would impose a gag quota on commercial fishermen for the first time. They would be limited to 1.2-million pounds in 2008, with slight increases in later years. From 1998 through 2005, the Gulf fleet averaged about 2-million pounds a year. On restaurant menus and seafood counters, gag are usually mislabeled "black grouper,” and are generally more prized than the red grouper, which makes up the bulk of the commercial catch.
The fleet has faced a red-grouper quota for several years, as well as an overall quota for "shallow water grouper,” which include red, gag, scamp and other less common species. The new rules would add an individual quota on gag and make it very tight — a 45 percent reduction of what the fleet catches in typical years.
Grouper species swim together. Anglers can’t catch one species without also catching another. Regulators typically shut down all grouper fishing once any of the quotas are met. One problem with a gag quota that is 45 percent less than the fleet usually catches is that a gag shutdown would also force a red grouper shutdown well before the red grouper quota is met, and red grouper makes up the bulk of the commercial market.
To soften that blow, the council decided to ease into gag quota closures. Under the proposed rules, gag fishing would begin to be restricted once 80 percent of the quota is met. At that point, only 10 percent of a boat’s grouper haul could be gag. When the catch hits 100 per cent of the quota, then all shallow-water grouper fishing would be closed for the rest of the year.
If the grouper bite is good, as it was in 2004 and 2005, then the gag quota would force a shutdown in October, according to federal estimates. Diners would have to look for imports for their grouper sandwiches. In poor fishing years, like 2006 and 2007, the fleet would make it through the year without a closure.
Probably the hardest hit sector will be the charter fishing industry. The winter tourist season can make up a huge part of a charter captain’s business. Red snapper are already restricted and migrating fish like mackeral, cobia and tarpon are mostly in warmer water to the south. Without grouper, there are few offshore targets, said charter captain Ed Walker.
"Essentially they have left us nothing to fish for during the peak tourist season,” Walker said. "This is going to kill us.”
The full council meets again Wednesday. The public may comment on the proposed gag restrictions and other matters from 1:30 to 4:30. If the council tentatively adopts the committee recommendations in full, or tweaks them, the public can still submit written comment until the council meets again in April for a final vote.
The council meeting continues Wednesday and Thursday at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, 12600 Roosevelt Boulevard, St. Petersburg.
–Stephen Nohlgren, Times staff writer, can be reached at 727-893-8442 or at nohlgren@sptimes.com