Reeling in 2016 and Baiting the Hook for 2017

Photo: Abby Webster

Once again, we find ourselves at the end of one year and the beginning of another.  In the fisheries world, this means that we get to re-set our annual catch limits and start harvesting anew.  For many of our “most wanted” species the fishing season re-opens and will remain open until the 2017 annual catch limits are met.  Let’s take a moment to reflect on this year’s harvest and then take a glimpse ahead to the 2017 fishing year and beyond.

This year we experienced quota closures for three of the fish we manage; red snapper, gray triggerfish, and greater amberjack.  Not surprisingly, all three of these species are considered to be overfished, and are currently in rebuilding plans.

This year’s recreational red snapper season opened on June 1 and closed on June 11^th for private anglers, and on July 16^th for federal for-hire anglers. The commercial season for red snapper didn’t close this year, nor is it likely to do so in the future, because the commercial red snapper fishery is managed under an Individual Fishing Quota program, rather than through traditional seasons.

Both gray triggerfish and greater amberjack closed to recreational fishing on June 1 for the regularly scheduled closure, and never re-opened because the recreational annual catch limits for both species had already been met. The commercial season for greater amberjack closed on July 17^th after the commercial annual catch limit was harvested. The commercial gray triggerfish season remained open for the duration of 2016 because the commercial annual catch limit is not projected to be met.

You may be asking yourself why we are having trouble managing these three species to ensure ample fishing opportunity, especially since you’re seeing more of them now than you have in recent years, or possibly ever.

Photo: Clinton Fewell

Red snapper, greater amberjack, and gray triggerfish are all rebuilding.  The stocks are rebounding, but still require conservative catch limits.  A result of a rebuilding program is that as a stock gets healthier and more abundant, fish become easier to catch.  As catch rates increase fishermen tend to fish more often and new fishermen enter the fishery.  In addition, some stocks even expand their range as they rebuild so more fishermen across the coast are able to access to them.  Once a shortened fishing season is announced, fishing effort can intensify as some fishermen fish harder during the open days.  Consequently, annual catch limits are often harvested more quickly.

This issue is compounded further in rebuilding stocks that are managed with a payback accountability measure.  If an annual catch limit is exceeded, then the following year’s annual catch limit must be reduced to account for the overage; further reducing the annual catch limit from the previous year.

This is exactly the cycle we are stuck in for gray triggerfish.  In fact, there will be no recreational gray triggerfish season in 2017 because the recreational harvest for 2016 is estimated to double the annual catch limit.  The resulting payback has left the 2017 recreational sector with an annual catch limit too low to allow for any season at all.

So, when do we expect these stocks to rebuild?  As of 1999, the federal law that oversees fisheries management in the United States, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, mandates that we rebuild overfished stocks within 10 years unless the biology of the stock, other environmental conditions, or international agreements dictates otherwise.

Red snapper has been in a rebuilding plan since the development of the first Gulf reef fish management plan amendment in 1990.  This stock is an exception to the 10-year rebuilding timeline because red snapper are such a long-lived fish.  The rebuilding timeline is set at the time it would take to rebuild the stock in the absence of fishing mortality (estimated 12 years) plus one mean generation time (estimated 19.6 years). The rebuilding plan was established in 2000 and is expected to rebuild the stock by 2032.

Photo: Alex Bender

The greater amberjack rebuilding plan was initiated in 2003.  A 2014 stock assessment determined that the stock continued to be overfished so, the Council set new annual catch limits and increased in the minimum size limit for recreational anglers from 30 to 34 inches fork length. The stock is expected to rebuild by 2019 and the Council expects to receive the results of a stock assessment update this year.

Gray triggerfish has been overfished since 2006.  A 2011 stock assessment indicated that the stock was not rebuilding quickly enough to make the 10-year rebuilding timeline, so the Council revised the gray triggerfish rebuilding plan. The Council decreased annual catch limits and closed commercial and recreational sectors during the spawning season in an attempt to rebuild by 2017.  A 2015, a stock assessment indicated that the gray triggerfish is not rebuilding on schedule and continues to be overfished despite efforts to rebuild.

The Council is currently working on Reef Fish Amendment 46, which considers extending the rebuilding timeline for gray triggerfish.  The Council’s current preferred alternative is to maintain the current  annual catch limits and annual catch targets.  The Council is also looking at modifying the closed season, bag limit, and increasing the minimum size limit.

As you can expect, 2017 will bring another year of tough limits for red snapper, greater amberjack, and gray triggerfish.  Our stocks continue to improve and we continue to work towards finding management solutions that will provide the best recreational and commercial fishing opportunities possible.

Of course, we do manage numerous other fish.  This chart showing unadjusted 2017 annual catch limits and allocations for our most popular fish in the Gulf of Mexico should lend some insight into the coming fishing year.  

Similarly, this recreational season calendar will show you which species you can target throughout the year. (Here is a PDF version to print)

We continue to ask for your help and perspective as we make tough fishery management decisions.  Please visit the thermometer page on our website to learn what issues we are currently addressing and submit your comments: http://gulfcouncil.org/fishery_management_plans/scoping-thru-implementation.php

As always, you’re welcome to contact us directly at gulfcouncil@gulfcouncil.org with any thoughts, questions, or concerns you may have.

October 2016 Council Meeting Preview

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meets next week at the IP Resort Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi. You’re welcome to join us or watch a live broadcast of the meeting.

Public comment will be held on Wednesday, October 19 from 2:15 - 5:00 pm. If you can’t testify in person, visit our proposed amendments page to learn about the different issues we’re currently working on and submit your comments.

The meeting agenda and briefing materials will help you prepare for the meeting. The following is a quick look at some of the hot topics the Council will address next week.

Photo: James Burge

Mackerel

The Council plans to take final action of Framework Action 5 which considers eliminating restrictions unique to commercial king and Spanish mackerel permit holders. Currently, vessels with commercial permits for king or Spanish mackerel may not retain a recreational bag limit when the applicable commercial mackerel season is closed. However, dually permitted vessels with both Federal for-hire pelagic permits and commercial permits can retain a recreational bag limit if operating as a for-hire vessel. The Council is considering removing this restriction since this restriction doesn’t occur in any other fishery.

Click here to view the document

Click here to watch the video

Click here to submit online comment

The Council will review a public hearing draft of Coastal Migratory Pelagic Amendment 29, which considers allocation sharing strategies between recreational and commercial sectors and associated accountability measures for Gulf migratory group king mackerel. The Council expects to host public hearings on this amendment in late fall.

Click here to view the document

Click here to submit comments

Gray Triggerfish

Photo: Jim Green

The Council will review the most recent draft of Amendment 46, which considers modifying the gray triggerfish rebuilding plan.  A recent stock assessment indicated that the gray triggerfish stock continues to be overfished and the Council’s scientific advisors revised the acceptable biological catch levels. Along with determining new catch levels for the stock, the Council will consider changes to the recreational bag limits, size limits, and closed season; and commercial closed season and trip limit.

Click here to view the document

Click here to submit comments

Red Snapper Management for Federally Permitted Charter Vessels

The Council will discuss the latest draft of Reef Fish Amendment 41, which considers creating a red snapper management plan for federally permitted for-hire vessels fishing under the for-hire component of the recreational red snapper allocation.

Click here to view the document

Click here to submit comments

Photo: Mary Othello Jackson

Reef Fish Management For Headboats 

The Council will discuss a revised draft of Reef Fish Amendment 42 which considers creating a management plan for federally permitted headboats fishing for reef fish in the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, the Council will discuss the criteria participants must meet to vote in the referendum to determine if a proposed allocation-based program will be accepted.

Click here to view the document

Click here to submit comments

Modifications to the Commercial Individual Fishing Quota Programs

The Council will review the latest draft of Amendment 36A which includes actions for hail-in requirements, inactivated shareholder accounts, and mid-year quota changes.

Click here to view the document

Photo: Emily Muehlstein

Data Collection

The Council is considering modifying the frequency and mechanism of data reporting, requiring trip notification, and discuss hardware/software requirements and the potential for location tracking. The Council will hear recommendations from the Data Collection Technical Committee, Ad Hoc Red Snapper Charter For-Hire Advisory Panel, Reef Fish Advisory Panel and review a summary of public comments on the amendment that considers making modifications to Charter Vessel and Headboat Reporting Requirements.

Click here to view the document
Click here to submit comments

Meet The Council - Dr. Tom Frazer

Photo Credit: University of Florida

Do you ever wonder who makes fishery management decisions in the Gulf? The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council uses the best scientific information available and balances competing interests to make fishery management recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce. Each member of the Council is appointed to serve because they possess intimate knowledge and experience of some aspect of the fishery. Our newest Council member, Dr. Tom Frazer, the Director of the School of Natural Resources and Environment for the University of Florida, certainly fits the bill.

Tom’s extensive passion for marine fisheries began in the waves off the coast of Southern California. As a surfer, Tom’s passion for the ocean developed at an early age. He spent countless hours contemplating the beauty and complexity of the ocean while waiting to catch the next wave. Tom also grew-up an avid fisherman, targeting mostly largemouth bass from freshwater lakes and occasionally catching tuna on saltwater trips.

When it came time to choose his career path, Tom decided to turn his passions into a career. He attended Humboldt State University, the only school in California to offer a degree program in marine fisheries. While there, he spent his free days honing his fishing skills in search of steelhead and salmon and spearfishing for ling cod. By night, he worked as a fishery biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to monitor the Indian gill-net fishery on the Klamath River.

Tom then moved to Florida and began working as a biologist for the University of Florida where he focused on manipulating artificial reef structures to enhance productivity and maximize their ecological benefits. He also earned his Master’s degree in fisheries and aquatic sciences, while continuing his work with Gulf species including stone crabs, sea bass and triggerfish.

Photo Credit: Florida Sea Grant

Tom returned to California to earn his doctoral degree and studied the effects of climate change on ice dynamics and the ecology of larval krill in the Antarctic. According to Tom: “My graduate studies really opened my eyes to the issue of scale as it relates to environmental matters,” and thus motivated him to return to the Gulf after completing his Ph.D., to figure out what factors influence fisheries productivity in the Gulf of Mexico.

Upon his return to Florida, Tom discovered that some very basic information about primary production (the bottom of the food chain) was lacking for large parts of the Gulf region. In an effort to better understand the drivers of primary production and a healthy ocean ecosystem,  he designed and implemented a water quality sampling program along the central Gulf coast of peninsular Florida.

Over the years, Tom researched and worked his way to the top of the food chain at the University of Florida’s School of Natural Resources and Environment where he currently serves as Director. His recent research activities are focused on coral reef ecosystems.  He has spent the last several years working specifically with invasive lionfish in an effort to provide information that will help limit impacts on key fishery species and other living marine resources.

Dr. Frazer answered some questions to give us insight into his perspective as the newest manager of our Gulf fishery:

Photo Credit: Florida Sea Grant

What motivates you to serve on the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council? “I’m incredibly excited to serve on the Council and hope to play a key role in ensuring that knowledge generated as part of the scientific process is effectively translated into reasonable and logical management measures that ensure the health of the ecosystem and sustain our fishing communities.”

What is the most important issue in the fishery today? “One of the biggest issues we’re facing at the moment is uncertainty in fisheries data and how it’s dealt with. If we can find ways to reduce uncertainty in our fisheries independent data as well as our harvest data, then we can manage fishery resources in the Gulf with more confidence.

Another issue we face is a decline in fishing opportunities. I would like to explore novel solutions that maximize access to the resource without compromising sustainability.  I think that we are all in this for the long haul.”

Can you share a favorite fishing moment with us? ”Well….I’ve fallen off a boat more than a few times in my life, but only intentionally followed a rod into the water once and ONLY to learn that a large shark was attached to the business end of the gear.  Probably shouldn’t have done that, but I still have the rod!”