And The Grouper Saga Continues
Florida grouper prices are on the rise, as everyone knows, for a number of reasons, one of which is the dwindling supply of the fish in the Gulf. Studies show that gag grouper (also called black grouper on some menus) are being fished at unsustainable levels, so the feds are stepping in to curb that:
Federal regulators took preliminary steps Tuesday to reduce gag grouper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico by 45 percent, a severe cutback that could cripple commercial fisherman and the charter boat industry.Fishing regulations are always so tricky. On the one hand, we don't want fishermen to go out of business; on the other hand, if something isn't done, they're all going to be out of business anyway when there are no grouper left to fish at all. It makes sense to impose restrictions for a few years to allow the fish population to regroup.The proposed restrictions would close down recreational grouper fishing for three months in the winter, just when tourists arrive.
Commercial fisherman would face a quota on gag for the first time, with limits tight enough to shut down the entire grouper fleet every year by October or so -- forcing restaurants and consumers to rely on imports.
The cuts would spill over to other grouper species as well, because grouper swim together, and it's impossible to protect one species without inadvertently cracking down on others.
"This will cost the state of Florida $300-million in direct expenditures,'" said Dennis O'Hern, director of a recreational advocacy group called the Fishermen's Rights Alliance.
With a bag limit of only one gag and only nine months to fish for any kind of grouper, anglers will not sink $20,000 or $30,000 into offshore boats 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.
"This is going to kill us," said Tarpon Springs charter boat captain Ed Walker. Migratory fish like king mackerel, cobia and tarpon hang out in warmer southern waters during the winter, he said. Red snapper, another popular offshore bottom fish, is already under tight restriction because of dwindling stocks.
"Essentially they have left us nothing to fish for during the peak tourist season," Walker said.
Here are the nuts-and-bolts of the proposals:
Recreational anglers could not bottom fish for grouper from Jan. 15 through April 15, which spans the peaks of both the red and gag grouper spawning seasons.According to the article, that new quota is a 45 percent cut. Which is a lot. Biologists estimate that the quota will force fishermen to stop fishing for gag grouper in October. We know that this puts a kink in winter tourists' fishing plans, but we'll set that issue aside. What we don't understand is the problem of restaurants having to resort to imports or fake grouper. We all accept the fact that we can't get fresh stone crab claws year-round; why not adopt a similar attitude towards grouper? Given the dwindling fish supply, we might have to start thinking of fish in terms of seasons, so as to allow them time to reproduce.During other months, recreational anglers would be limited to three grouper per person, per trip, down from the current "bag limit" of five. Only one of those grouper could be a gag.
Commercial fisherman would face a new gag quota of 1.2-million pounds in 2008, which would rise slightly in subsequent years as the stock rebuilds.
New rules will kill us, grouper fishers say [Saint Petersburg Times]
Photo: Flickr, because we cannot resist a good grouper photo
