Red Snapper Reallocation Limps to Conclusion

**Red Snapper Reallocation Limps to Conclusion**

The process to reallocate Gulf red snapper has been a frustrating exercise for recreational anglers. What started with great promise years ago is nearing the finish line as a woefully inadequate conclusion. Rather than conduct a proper reallocation process that examined economic and demographic changes since the fishery was last allocated in 1991, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council defaulted into shifting a mere 2.5 percent of the allocation to the recreational sector as a result of simply fixing errors in the federal government’s own recreational data collection systems.

**Amendment 28** – Red Snapper Reallocation is not “reallocation” at all. It represents a simple recalibration of data, and falls far short of a proper reallocation process. Nevertheless, the commercial red snapper sector has already filed a lawsuit to prevent even this minimal shift from being implemented.

The Gulf Council has approved **Amendment 28** and submitted it to the National Marine Fisheries Service for review and implementation, and the final comment period closes after Monday, Feb. 22. Coastal Conservation Association has commented many times and the final comments on this disappointing amendment may be found [HERE.][1]

We have asked our members to weigh-in on the reallocation process on numerous occasions and we greatly appreciate the thousands of thoughtful comments you have provided to federal managers. Given the lack of any structure, time-frame or formalized process that the federal government has in place for reallocating marine resources, this may very well be the last opportunity anyone has to comment on red snapper allocations. Your comments may be filed online by clicking on this link provided by the Gulf Council – [HERE.][2]

Recreational anglers did their part and tried to work within the system on Amendment 28, but were failed again by an unresponsive federal fisheries management system. CCA remains committed to shifting management of the entire Gulf red snapper fishery to the [Gulf states,][3] which have proven to be far more capable and responsive to the needs of all stakeholders.

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[1]: http://www.joincca.org/articles/776
[2]: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2013-0146-0799
[3]: http://www.joincca.org/articles/713