An eight month closure of gag grouper, a premier offshore species for west Florida anglers, is on the verge of becoming law for the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, under the supervision of National Marine Fisheries Service, sets the rules for fish caught in federal waters.
A January, 2006 Gag grouper stock assessment indicated that the gag stock was in trouble. The assessment itself was declared ‘unreliable’ during its final review. That same assessment has been re-run several times, building on the flawed, unreliable foundation set in the original assessment.
“Flawed data and outdated science are causing unnecessary closures that result in lost jobs, lost economic activity and the loss of our very right to fish” said Dennis O’Hern, Executive Director of the Fishing Rights Alliance.
The latest generation of the unreliable assessment is triggering an 8 month gag closure. The numbers used to generate the need for an eight month closure were developed behind closed doors and are not available to the public.
The Gulf Council is taking public comments on the gag issue, as well as two other major proposed sets of laws, over ht next two weeks. Anglers are very upset that the documents upon which their comments are being accepted have only been available since last week. The public was not notified when the documents were made available, leaving anglers confused and disengaged. “These documents should be available to the public at least two weeks in advance of the hearings to allow the public time to read, review, research and develop comments on”, said Fishing Rights Alliance’s O’Hern. The documents for the May 2nd (Monday) hearing were not made available until Friday, April 30 after 1 PM. “This is an outrage and highlights the Council’s treatment of public input” O’Hern commented.
Three separate hearings, one each for Annual Catch Limits, Gag Grouper and Spiny Lobster are scheduled within eight days of each other in St. Petersburg. Back to back meetings are scheduled in Fort Myers. In Mississippi and Louisiana, hearing locations were changed with little notice. O’Hern is concerned that this will further discourage public input. The Gulf Council has spent over one hundred thousand dollars on ‘outreach and education’ in the past year, yet they appear unconcerned with the lack of time the public has to read and understand the proposed rules. All hearings are from 6-9 PM.
More information is available on the Fishing Rights Alliance website at http://www.theFRA.org
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