The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council concluded its meeting in Key West, Florida, U.S.A. on Thursday, 21 June by passing a plan to protect more than 300 square miles of deep sea corals in the region from bottom-tending fishing gear.
The measure now moves to the National Marine Fisheries Service for its review, and if the agency approves, a 60-day comment period will ensue before any final action would take place.
The initiative was endorsed by Oceana, which said in a press release that it has worked for more than 10 years to locate coral reefs that are threatened by such gear as trawls and dredges.
Alison Johnson, the conservation group’s Southeast U.S. campaign manager, called the vote a positive step forward and said the group will work with the FMC to protect more coral habitats in the area.
“Deep-sea corals are some of the oldest animals on Earth, living for thousands of years and providing essential functions for marine wildlife like protection from predators and nurseries for young fish,” she said. “These areas also benefit fisheries, providing habitat for many commercially and recreationally valuable types of fish such as snapper and grouper.”
Commercial fishing interests offered mixed reviews of the plan approved by the FMC. In a statement to SeafoodSource, the Southern Shrimp Alliance said its members fish in sandy areas and seek to avoid coral reefs that damage their gear.
“The Southern Shrimp Alliance supports legitimate efforts to protect coral,” the group’s statement read. “It worked extensively through the Shrimp Advisory Panel, which makes recommendations to the Gulf Council, to ensure that the boundaries areas protect the coral without affecting traditional shrimp fishing grounds. The Shrimp AP helped guide the amendment to resolution.”
The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, which works on behalf of fishermen and other stakeholders in the region, said it appreciated the work by council members in developing the measure. However, in its statement to the council, the group said it could not support a measure that added regulations at this time.
“The Shareholders’ Alliance acknowledges and understands the value that corals and complex coral habitats provide for healthy fish populations which, in turn, support healthy fishing businesses,” it said. “The Shareholders’ Alliance also supports the preservation of historical commercial fishing access, which is not mutually exclusive from our first point. We believe that corals and commercial fishermen can coexist, and look to the decades worth of scientific and fishery data to demonstrate this.”
