Vern Evans
On Jan. 14, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration proposed an amendment to its Fishery Management Plan for the South Atlantic Ocean. The proposal, known as Amendment 59, would prohibit fishing for snapper and many other reef fishes along much of Florida’s Atlantic Coast for three months out of the year.
NOAA Fisheries says the closure, which would run from December through February, is necessary to prevent overfishing, restore red snapper stocks, and provide for more harvest opportunity during the summer months. But the proposal has saltwater anglers and their supporters in an uproar. They say the Fed’s “drastic action” is unnecessary and could cripple Florida’s coastal communities.
Those anglers — along with national fishing groups, federal lawmakers, and at least one state wildlife commissioner — have blasted Amendment 59 over the last week. They see the proposal as another example of federal overreach and say it’s totally unnecessary given the current state of red snapper populations.
This final point has been the source of much debate in the South Atlantic, where snapper fishing has been severely curtailed by federal fishery managers in recent years. The Feds say these closures have been critical in rebuilding overfished red snapper stocks. Anglers, meanwhile, have argued that the species is no longer overfished, and that NOAA’s overbearing restrictions have been based based off bad data.
“If this proposal were to occur, it will crush fishing along [Florida’s] northeast coast,” Jacksonville-based tackle shop owner Dave Workman tells Outdoor Life. “No one would fish during the closure and it’s an asinine idea that would cause a lot of economic pain that’s completely unnecessary.”
What the Proposal Would Entail
Amendment 59 would prohibit all recreational bottomfishing from December through February in federally controlled waters from the Florida-Georgia state line south to Cape Canaveral. The closure would affect an area that extends from three miles off the coast out to 200 miles.
NOAA describes the proposal as a bottomfishing closure for 55 species, including snapper, grouper, jacks, sea bass, hogfish, triggerfish, and other reef-dwellers. But the American Sportfishing Association points out that the three-month closure would affect all hook-and-line fishing, including trolling.
In a summary of its proposal, NOAA says the annual closure would “prevent overfishing of red snapper” and support rebuilding objectives by preventing recreational anglers from catching and killing red snapper during the winter months. The federal agency says a three-month closure would decrease the number of dead, discarded snapper by at least 24 percent. NOAA also claims that the closure would increase the overall yield of red snapper and allow the Feds to establish an extended harvest season of five to nine days. This would be a major increase from the one-day harvest season that was allowed in the South Atlantic last year.
Florida anglers, however, claim that red snapper stocks are in excellent shape, and that they’re no longer being overfished in the South Atlantic. They say the Fed’s proposal to extend a harvest season as a result of the closure is a bad tradeoff.
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“A three-month bottomfishing closure for 55 species of reef fish in exchange for 5-9 days of red snapper season is not a good trade,” ASA southeast fisheries policy director Martha Guyas said in a press release last week. “Given NOAA Fisheries’ recognition that red snapper is no longer overfished or undergoing overfishing, an increase in the recreational season is definitely warranted. However, it is absurd to simultaneously propose drastic closures.”
Guyas added that she was deeply disappointed in the proposal, which could negatively affect many of the coastal economies that rely on recreational fishing. The Coastal Conservation Association has also come out strongly against Amendment 59, saying the proposal “drops [a] solution in search of a problem” and is proof that the current federal management system is broken.
What Anglers and Lawmakers Are Saying About It
“Both our tackle stores would take a major financial hit from [this] proposal,” tackle shop owner Dave Workman says.
The same could be said for charter captains in the region, along with the countless recreational anglers from around the country who flock to the northeast Florida coast every winter. These potential effects weren’t lost on Rodney Barreto, who serves as chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and who went on the record against Amendment 59 in a statement issued earlier this week.
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“In the South Atlantic, Florida’s red snapper is managed by the federal government and [fishing] has been limited to a couple of days for the past decade,” Barreto said. “Rather than try to lift up the fishery and community, President Biden dropped the hammer on it on his way out of office … This amendment is a non-starter for the state of Florida.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis echoed Barreto’s feelings about the outgoing presidential administration’s “last-ditch attempt” to enact a closure. DeSantis said in a Facebook post that the proposal “shows how out-of-touch the federal government is with the reality on the water with red snapper.”
The loudest rejection of the Feds’ proposal came on Jan. 16, when Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL-05) introduced the bipartisan Red Snapper Act along with Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL-09) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). The bill, which has 16 additional cosponsors in the House, would stop NOAA from enacting fishery closures in the South Atlantic until the South Atlantic Great Red Snapper Count study is complete and the data from that study is integrated into the stock assessment.
“We’ve made great strides in Florida to ensure our natural resources are preserved and protected for years to come, including rebuilding the red snapper population,” Scott said of his support for the legislation. “I’m proud to work with Congressman Rutherford on the Red Snapper Act to support our state’s commercial and recreational fishing industry and ensure their success isn’t limited by federal government’s outdated data and regulations.”
NOAA is accepting public comment on Amendment 59 until Mar. 17. The agency will also host several public hearings in the coming months. The next public meeting will be held Feb. 24 in Jacksonville’s Airport Crown Plaza.
“Every angler needs to voice their concern about this serious overreach by federal fisheries folks to repair bottomfish population problems that don’t exist,” Workman says.
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