The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation recently submitted comments in response to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) proposed rule amending the South Atlantic red snapper Fishery Management Plan. This anticipated rulemaking comes on the heels of an October 2024 scoping notice and a June 2024 emergency rule that limited the 2024 recreational South Atlantic red snapper season to one day with a harvest limit of one fish.
Changes to red snapper management in the South Atlantic are desperately needed, but the timing of this rulemaking is concerning. Ongoing data collection efforts will, and already have, shed new light on the status of the South Atlantic red snapper stock. Fortunately, NMFS has concluded that red snapper are no longer being “overfished” in the South Atlantic, but NMFS still labels the fishery as “rebuilding.” We’ve asked NMFS to consider more accurate and robust data – including state-collected data – and better data collection programs to make more-informed decisions, as required by law, before it finalizes this rulemaking.
South Atlantic red snapper are in a perpetual cycle of inaccurate data and subsequent misguided management. Current data collection methods utilized by NMFS are unable to accurately estimate recreational dead discards (released fish that don’t survive). By all accounts, recreational anglers are reporting the most robust red snapper stock in recent history, and any anomaly in the number of dead discards is the result of a robust stock of red snapper available to catch, mostly as by-catch for fisherman targeting other species, such as grouper. NMFS’ own data collection model overestimates dead discards by 30-40% due to the high number of landings – again, an indication of a healthy stock. (*Editor’s Note: Shortly after this article was published, SAF was contacted by a spokesperson from NOAA Fisheries to clarify their research. The spokesperson indicated that the data overestimates the number of anglers, not the catch or discards, by 30-40%.)
We also raised concerns about the on-going management strategies used by NMFS to accomplish management goals, including the June 2024 emergency rulemaking. This proposed rule does improve access for recreational fishermen to the red snapper fishery, but there is a catch. NMFS takes a “rob Peter to pay Paul” approach in this proposed rule. It introduces the so-called snapper-grouper “discard reduction season,” which NMFS claims will reduce red snapper dead discards and increase the recreational-fishing-season length. But this proposed “season” is no more than a red herring for a recreational fishing closure for 55 species in the South Atlantic snapper-grouper fishery management unit (FMU). Thus, NMFS has proposed closing recreational fishing for the snapper-grouper FMU from December–February along one-third of Florida’s Atlantic coast. This section of Florida’s coast is the most popular recreational snapper-grouper fishery in the country, if not the world.
Additionally, NMFS has proposed the winter fishing closure without fully considering the broad economic impact it will have on coastal communities and small businesses dependent on the recreational fishery. NMFS’ omission of relevant and required economic impact data in its proposal is glaring. To begin, available economic data from NMFS is severely lacking; state data – specifically from Florida – is the most robust in describing recreational angler effort and spending. But even the most robust data significantly underestimates the already-overlooked economic impacts that the proposed rule will have on Florida’s Atlantic coast.
NMFS’ economic analysis failed to acknowledge the hundreds of small businesses that rely on recreational fishing and boating patronage. By omitting the economic impacts of recreational anglers, NMFS seriously erred in analyzing the financial harm of the proposed rule on small entities. When viewed in the costs and benefits of a winter closure and additional summer opportunities, the available economic data does not support NMFS’s decision.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance will continue to track this issue and proposed rulemaking, and we’re willing and prepared to protect the interests of our members in the South Atlantic red snapper recreational fishery, whatever that may look like.
Make sure you share this alert with your family and friends. Sportsmen need be aware that fishing is not safe either. Animal extremists are looking to destroy everything that we value, and we cannot afford to let that happen. Ask your family and friends to join you and the Sportsmen’s Alliance in the fight to protect our lifestyle and values for today, tomorrow and the future.
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