Gulf Restoration Network

March 2002

Volume 5, Issue 1

FISH TALES
Consideration of Red Grouper Rebuilding Plan Delayed Again
In a continuing saga, ac- cies which now places identified as overfished in
tion to establish a rebuild- responsibility for this plan the fall of 1999 by the Inside this issue:
ing plan for red grouper under the purview of the NMFS and the Gulf Coun-
has been delayed from National Marine Fisheries cil’s Reef Fish Stock As- Action to Assess by- 2
March to July 2002. Red Service (NMFS) with a sessment Panel (RFSAP), catch in the Gulf way
grouper, identified as required completion date a group of scientists from behind schedule, runs
overfished in October of July 2002. Based on around the Gulf that ad- afoul of recent legal
2000, has still not received concerns over compliance vises the Gulf Council on decisions
any protection from the with the National Envi- scientific matters. This Gulf Council Wont 3
federal government. The ronmental Policy Act identification was chal- Recognize Vermilion
Gulf of Mexico Fishery (NEPA), the NMFS does lenged by the Gulf Coun- Snapper, gray trigger-
fish as overfished
Management Council not believe the plan can be cil’s Scientific and Statis-
(Gulf Council) missed a completed any earlier than tical Committee (SSC), a
legally required one year the legal deadline of July. review panel composed of
deadline to submit a re- biologists, economists,
building plan for this spe- Red grouper was initially (Continued on page 4)
Special points of interest:

Gulf Council Misses Deadline to Submit Plan to • Red Grouper Must Wait
Until July 2002 for a re-
Rebuild Overfished Greater Amberjack building Plan

For the second time in less ruary 9, 2001. Under the to the National Marine • Gulf Council misses rebuild-
than six months, the Gulf Sustainable Fisheries Act Fisheries Service (NMFS). ing plan deadlines for red
of Mexico Fishery Man- of 1996, any species iden- If that deadline is missed, grouper, greater amberjack
agement Council (Gulf tified as overfished trig- the NMFS has nine
• Recent legal decisions in
Council) missed a months to complete
New England and the Pa-
legally required a rebuilding plan.
cific illustrate lack of compli-
deadline to submit a
ance with bycatch assess-
rebuilding plan for Greater amberjack,
ment in the Gulf region
an overexploited fish a member of the
population in the Gulf of Mexico • Gulf Council rejects findings
Gulf of Mexico. reef fish fishery, of its scientist, will not take
Greater amberjack, Greater Amberjack. Courtesy of the FWCC. are found gulf wide action to protect and re-
was identified as swimming above reefs store vermilion snapper and
“overfished”, meaning gers a one year deadline and other hard bottom gray triggerfish in the Gulf
below a level scientists for the Gulf Council to structures. Catches of
consider healthy, on Feb- submit a rebuilding plan greater amberjack aver-
Page 2

Recent Legal Rulings Highlight Failure of the Gulf Council to

Assess Bycatch in Our Region
Two recent court cases involving fish- What We Know About “Bycatch” in the Gulf of Mexico
eries management in the Pacific and
New England highlight a national Target Species Primary Fishing Gears Bycatch Problems
problem with local implications. The
Red Snapper Rod and reel, longline 50% of fish caught by the recrea-
problem is “bycatch” , the inadvertent tional sector are discarded; other
killing of marine life in the process of species of reef fish also captured
catching a target species. Recognizing
bycatch as a problem plaguing our Red Grouper Rod and reel, longline, fish Over 80% of fish caught by rec-
fisheries and the marine ecosystem, traps reational sector are discarded;
Congress spelled out specific require- 35% of longline catch is bycatch,
ments for assessing and minimizing 18% of this thrown back dead
this waste across the nation. Unfortu- Gag Grouper Rod and reel, longline 50% of fish caught by the recrea-
nately, adherence to this law is almost tional sector are discarded
nonexistence as the courts have found
in the Pacific and New England cases. Shrimp Otter trawl, skimmers Shrimp trawls take roughly 4
pounds of marine life for every 1
The Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996 pound of shrimp; juvenile over-
(SFA), amendments made to the fished red snapper taken
Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conserva- tions on the NMFS to establish a stan- fish populations, its clear that bycatch
tion and Management Act, spelled out dardized reporting methodology to must be assessed for all Gulf fisheries.
new obligations for federal fishery assess bycatch, the NMFS had done The red snapper and shrimp fishery
managers with regards to bycatch. nothing to acquire accurate bycatch provide perfect examples of why by-
Under the SFA the National Marine data on an overfished species, thereby catch reporting is so important. The
Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Gulf jeopardizing its recovery. Gulf shrimp fishery takes about four
of Mexico Fishery Management Coun- pounds of bycatch for every pound of
cil (Gulf Council) must (1) develop The second case decided in December shrimp caught. Some of these species
and implement a standardized bycatch 2001 in the U.S. District Court in taken as bycatch are the subject of fed-
reporting methodology to assess the Washington, D.C. found that the erally mandated rebuilding plans. De-
amount and type of bycatch in each NMFS did not (1) review and critique spite this, fishery managers best esti-
fishery and (2) minimize that bycatch existing bycatch data collection meth- mate of shrimp boats fishing in Gulf
to the extent practicable. If bycatch ods, (2) improve these data collection waters is between 3,000 and 7,000 ves-
could not be minimized than the mor- measures if necessary, and (3) adopt sels, making it extremely difficult to
tality of such bycatch must be mini- any new data collection measures to quantify bycatch. Furthermore, the
mized. Thus, Congress established a address known deficiencies. Accord- recreational red snapper fishery dis-
two tier system to first, collect infor- ingly, the court found that the NMFS cards about one fish for every fish
mation on bycatch if it is not available violated this provision of the law. kept. Considering that twenty percent
and then reduce it to the extent practi- of these discarded fish are assumed to
cable. These provisions were to be The same problems found in these two be dead, bycatch is a major problem.
completed by October 1998. cases exist in the Gulf of Mexico, per-
haps to an even larger degree. The The table above provides a very brief
Five years later, little to no work has Gulf Council and the NMFS have look at what we do know about by-
been done nationwide to collect the taken no serious steps to assess by- catch. Unfortunately, for the majority
bycatch information envisioned by the catch in our region. Those steps that of Gulf fisheries little concrete data
SFA. Two recent cases found that the have been taken were found to be in- exists on bycatch, making compliance
NMFS failed to assess bycatch prop- sufficient according to the case in New with the SFA critical if we are to man-
erly in both the Pacific and New Eng- England. age the Gulf’s fish species properly.
land areas. First, in August 2001, the
U.S. District Court in Northern Cali- Considering the bycatch problems in
fornia found that despite SFA obliga- the Gulf and their impact on rebuilding
Volume 5, Issue 1 Page 3

Gulf Council Passes on Needed Conservation Measures for

Vermilion Snapper, Grey Triggerfish
Ignoring advice from its scientists, the bag limit in 1997. situation as vermilion snapper. The
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Gulf Council decided that, even
Council voted to take no action on re- From 1998-2000, despite the though the best scientific information
cently identified overfished vermilion requirements of federal law and available shows that this species is
snapper and gray triggerfish. This latest explicit instruction by the overfished, it would take no action to
inaction sets the stage for a final ruling NMFS, the Gulf Council took no formulate a rebuilding plan. The
from the National Marine Fisheries Ser- action to address the Gulf Council believes that the data
vice (NMFS) as to whether they will for- “approaching and overfished available is not complete enough to
mally recognize these two species as condition” declared by the be considered reliable.
overfished, triggering the requirement for NMFS in its annual report to
a rebuilding plan to return these species Congress on the status of our While the GRN recognizes that the
to a healthy level. fisheries. Now, three years later, current assessment of the health of
the Gulf Council does not be- gray triggerfish is the first ever at-
Identified as “approaching an over- lieve that vermilion snapper is tempt, it was the Gulf Council that
fished” over the past three years overfished and will not formulate requested that this assessment be
(meaning that vermilion snapper will any regulations to rectify this completed based on concerns about
become overfished within two years if no situation. this species primarily in the eastern
corrective management action is taken), Gulf of Mexico. Accordingly, the
vermilion snapper have been the subject The GRN and a number of mem- results of the assessment that this
of Gulf Council mismanagement for al- ber groups recently requested species is overfished, is not out of
most a decade. Based on a historical re- that the NMFS officially desig- line with available information. The
view of the reports of the Gulf Council’s nate vermilion snapper as over- GRN will be working with our mem-
Reef Fish Stock Assessment Panel fished in the Gulf. This designa- ber groups to determine next steps on
(RFSAP), a group of scientists who ad- tion will require the Gulf Coun- this important issue.
vises the Gulf Council on the health of cil to begin immediate work on a
fish species, the Gulf Council has consis- plan to return this species to a
tently ignored the advice of its scientists healthy level. We hope to have a
since 1991. The only action taken by the final ruling from the NMFS in
Gulf Council in all of these years was the the near future.
implementation of a minimum size limit Vermilion snapper. Courtesy of the SAFMC.
and inclusion in an aggregate reef fish Gray triggerfish is in a similar

Greater Amberjack….
(Continued from page 1) fifty percent below a level scientists at the upcoming Gulf Council hear-
aged roughly 6 million pounds per consider healthy. Accordingly, pur- ing in March to determine next steps.
year from 1987-1994 but dropped suant to the Sustainable Fisheries Act
dramatically to an average of 2 mil- of 1996 (SFA), the NMFS officially The GRN will be monitoring this
lion pounds per year from 1995- declared the species “overfished’ on situation to ensure the law is fol-
2000. Landings occur primarily February 9, 2001, triggering the one lowed properly and that meaningful
along the west coast of Florida to year deadline for the Gulf Council to action is taken to rebuild the greater
about the Mississippi river. submit a rebuilding plan. Since this amberjack population in the Gulf of
date was missed the NMFS is now Mexico. Stay tuned for details on
A scientific assessment of the health responsible for development of the how you can help.
of this species found population size plan. This issued will be discussed
 This publication is the product of the GRN working on the following
Gulf Restoration Network
839 St. Charles Ave., Suite 309
issues of concern: overfishing, essential fish habitat, full implementa-
New Orleans , LA 70130 tion of the Sustainable Fisheries Act, and public education on the im-
portance of sustainable fisheries management.
Cynthia Sarthou, Executive Director
Chris Dorsett, Director for Fisheries The GRN would like to thank Pew Charitable Trusts, Rockefeller
Cynthia Goldberg, Director of LA/MS Grassroots Brothers, and the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation, for making
Programs our work possible.
Editor: Chris Dorsett

Phone: (504) 525-1528

Fax: (504) 525-0833
Email: : [email protected]

“Working to Protect and Preserve the

Gulf of Mexico”

Red Grouper…..
(Continued from page 1) of single species management and the By November of 2001, the Gulf
attorneys, etc., based on questions condition of groupers in the Gulf, the Council had missed the one year
over the use of a new method to Gulf Council moved to begin prepara- SFA deadline for submission of a
determine the health of red grou- tion of an amendment to the Reef Fish rebuilding plan, placing responsibil-
per. Based on their concerns, the Fishery Management Plan to compre- ity for its completion on the NMFS.
Gulf Council requested that the hensively manage all groupers in the The NMFS determined that an envi-
NMFS address the SSC’s conten- Gulf of Mexico in the summer of 1999. ronmental impact statement (EIS) is
tions and report back to the When red grouper was declared required under NEPA for the red
RFSAP. The NMFS completed “overfished”, the Gulf Council decided grouper rebuilding plan. The NMFS
this task and had the assessment to utilize this plan amendment to also feels the EIS cannot be completed
peer reviewed by independent ex- prepare a red grouper rebuilding plan. before July 2002, which is the end of
perts. After the independent ex- In addition based on a lawsuit filed by the nine month time period they have
perts agreed with the NMFS about several GRN member groups challeng- under the law to complete a rebuild-
the status of red grouper, the GRN ing compliance with the NEPA, the ing plan.
and our member groups the Ocean Gulf Council decided to utilize this
Conservancy, Environmental De- plan amendment to complete a com- Accordingly, over two years after it
fense, and Reefkeeper Interna- prehensive environmental impact as- was initially identified as overfished,
tional requested an immediate sessment for reef fish habitat in the red grouper has not received any in
finding of an “overfished” status Gulf of Mexico. Recognizing that this the water protection. In fact, catches
for this species to prevent any fur- habitat assessment would require much in the last three years have been
ther delays in formulating a re- longer than the time necessary to sub- much higher then the RFSAP recom-
building plan. Accordingly, red mit the red grouper rebuilding plan, the mended to help rebuild this species.
grouper was formally declared Gulf Council jettisoned the assessment Fortunately, the end of this saga is
overfished by the NMFS in Octo- and many other provisions of the reef nearing. Our goal now is to ensure a
ber of 2000. fish amendment, including protection good plan is produced. Stay tuned
for deepwater groupers (see last issue this summer on how you can help
After recognizing the shortcomings of Fish Tales for more details). protect red groupers.