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New Rules Improve Outlook For Gulf Fishing

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By PAMELA BAKER and WILLIAM TUCKER

Special to the Tribune

Published: September 18, 2008

Florida's seafood lovers and angling enthusiasts may not realize it, but change is under way that promises to brighten the future of the struggling multibillion dollar commercial and sport fishing industries. While destructive overfishing and ineffective regulations have long been the norm offshore, a new management model is demonstrating that the bleak economic and environmental performance of fisheries can be quickly turned around. And recently, the U.S. Congress mandated change that provides an opportunity to speed progress and make the Gulf Coast a leader in modern and prosperous fishing.

This claim of "good news" will surprise some people, especially those who find change to be difficult, or yearn for the days before crowded coastlines and high-tech fishing threatened the ocean's bounty.

But better times are emerging. In 2007, fishermen and regulators implemented a new Individual Fishing Quota plan for the Gulf's commercial red snapper fishery. This "catch share" plan is designed from the world's best run fisheries in Alaska, Canada and New Zealand.

It works by allocating portions of the science-based catch limit as secure and transferable harvest shares to individual fishermen. Rigorous tracking rules ensure that vessels comply with their limit, thus greatly reducing the risk of overfishing.

Even better, the rules allow fishermen to time their harvest with market demand and buy and sell shares with other vessels to expand their business or retire. Last year, the commercial snapper season was open year-round for the first time since 1990. The government reports that fishermen harvested under their limit, provided high-quality fish that earned 25 percent more money at the dock, and reduced their discarding of snapper by 70 percent.

The National Marine Fisheries Service can overhaul its proposal by taking two steps to give individuals and communities the incentives and tools they need to restore their fisheries. First, it should ensure that managers explore the lessons from commercial red snapper and other catch share fisheries. These tools are the most effective "Accountability Measures" to date and could help save many fisheries. They are demonstrated to keep harvests under the catch limit and reduce overfishing. And they succeed not by keeping people off the water, but by helping track fish and improve business practices.

Second, NMFS should require managers to assign each sector of a fishery its own catch limit and accountability measures to ensure compliance with the limit.

Florida's coastal fishing, seafood, and tourism industries should ask regulators to implement a rule that makes a clean break with the past and guides fisheries toward proven success.

Then, the Gulf Coast will be poised for a better future with abundant fisheries and prosperous coasts. The draft rule and instructions for commenting before Sept. 22 are at: www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2007/docs/NS1_proposed_revisi....

Pamela Baker is the Environmental Defense Fund's senior policy advisor for the Gulf of Mexico oceans program. William Tucker is a fisherman and president of the Fishermen's Advocacy Organization, based in Dunedin.

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