NOAA Fisheries has taken the first steps towards implementing a plan to stop red snapper overfishing in the South Atlantic after years of alleged inaction by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.
“NOAA Fisheries firmly believes that we must find ways to end overfishing and improve how the red snapper population in the South Atlantic is managed,” NOAA Fisheries said in a statement. “Currently, there are short commercial and recreational seasons, and low retention limits for red snapper.”
The council first received an overfishing notification in July 2021, requiring them to draft a conservation plan to stop it. However, to date the council has been unable to agree on a plan that meets federal regulations.
In cases where regional councils are unable to submit a management plan within a reasonable timeframe, NOAA Fisheries is required by law to intervene and propose its own solutions. In June, the agency issued a temporary rule limiting the recreational season to just a single day in July. The commercial season, which opened 8 July and was slated to continue through to the end of the calendar year, was closed early on 6 August after the 85,268-pound catch limit was reached.
NOAA Fisheries has faced multiple lawsuits from conservationists seeking a solution to the overfishing problem. On 22 August, NOAA Fisheries agreed to a settlement in D.C. District Court requiring the agency to finalize a new red snapper management plan by 6 June 2025.
At the South Atlantic Council’s September meeting, NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Administrator Andy Strelcheck alerted the members that the agency was preparing a secretarial amendment to end overfishing of red snapper.
“The secretarial amendment and supporting analyses will evaluate a range of alternative options for setting and managing red snapper catches at levels that end overfishing (slow the rate of red snapper being removed from the population) and support rebuilding this red snapper population,” NOAA Fisheries said in a statement. “At this time, management alternatives are in development.”
The agency plans to have both the secretarial amendment and environmental impact statement finalized before the start of the recreational and commercial fishing seasons in summer 2025.
Although the secretarial amendment is being prepared by NOAA Fisheries, the council and the broader public will still be able to provide feedback. NOAA Fisheries is accepting public comments on issues it should address in its environmental impact statement through 8 November. The council could also submit its own plan to NOAA Fisheries for approval.
Lawmakers in the U.S. Congress have already introduced legislation to block NOAA Fisheries from closing fishing in the South Atlantic red snapper fishery, although it has not been voted on by the House of Representatives yet. Last year, the U.S. House’s Natural Resources Committee voted to advance the Red Snapper Act, which would prevent the agency from implementing area closures until the completion of the Great Red Snapper Count. The count is an independent study commissioned to contest the government’s official stock assessment, which many fishers claim does not accurately reflect the population’s recovery.
“NOAA is supposed to be America’s science agency. But as long as NOAA Fisheries is content to use its discredited data system and highly questionable discard data, it can apparently make up any regulation it wants in response to a crisis that doesn’t exist,” Center for Sportfishing Policy President Jeff Angers said after the 2024 recreational season was cut short. “For whatever reason, NOAA seems intent on limiting public access to an abundant natural resource. Anglers should be extremely worried where this is heading.”
In October, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration announced USD 2 million (EUR 1.8 million) in spending on improving red snapper data collection in the Gulf of Mexico.
“We know climate change is impacting many fish species, and these effects are not fully understood,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said when the funding was initially announced. “With our partners at the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, we are working to improve state and federal recreational data collection so we can provide even more robust data and metrics to our fishing communities.”
