Critical to the economy in coastal communities — especially in Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas — are the commercial fisheries that supply restaurants and put food on the family dinner table.
Sadly, these seaside fishing communities are struggling under well-intentioned but ineffective fishery management programs — including fish size limits and short fishing seasons — that have failed to recover fish populations and forced fishermen out of business.
Our region’s fishery managers are exploring solutions to reverse this downward spiral, but Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., has championed a federal budget amendment that has roadblocked this progress. Currently, federal fisheries law called the Magnuson-Stevens Act charges regional fishery management councils, made up of local stakeholders in each regional fishery, with the authority to set and oversee management of these resources. Jones’ amendment works against this by taking some of the best fishery management tools off the table and allowing Washington insiders to make fishery management decisions that are better made by experienced local fishermen, fishery managers and scientists.
Unfortunately, if this roadblock persists and change is delayed, things will get worse for our commercial fishermen. In many areas, severe fish population declines have led to long-term closures: Vermillion snapper, one of the most valuable species for Georgia’s commercial fishermen, was open for fishing just 176 days this past year; black sea bass closed after 143 days; and golden tilefish after 101 days. Red snapper never opened at all. This year promises more of the same.
Such closures also can cripple coastal areas that rely on fishing and related industries for economic stability. When local fish stocks are no longer available, markets and restaurants in Atlanta and Savannah must replace fresh, local seafood with imported products.
To restore sustainability, federal fishery managers in our Southeast region and across the nation have turned to new management systems called catch shares, or individual fishing quotas, or IFQs. One of the first of these, in fact, was implemented in the Southeast for wreckfish during the early 1990s, and a new program is being developed for golden crab with broad industry support.
Catch shares work by dividing a sustainable, scientifically set amount of the fish allocated for commercial harvest, among individual fishermen as “shares.” Fishermen can create business plans, take the time to make needed repairs, avoid fishing in dangerous weather and manage their businesses to be more profitable. Such systems also give commercial fishermen an incentive to preserve and grow their investment — fish populations — and often restore fisheries much more quickly than traditional management would.
For example, in the Gulf of Mexico — where a red snapper catch share program has been in place since 2007 — red snapper fishing immediately expanded from 52 days to year-round and is helping fish populations rebound. In contrast, our region’s red snapper fishery is shut down completely.
Federal fishery management councils in each region hold the critical and challenging responsibility of preserving the health of our nation’s fisheries.
These councils need every tool available to them to restore sustainability and economic stability to our coastal communities and commercial fisheries. Catch shares won’t work for every fishery, but it should be up to the local fishermen and policymakers to decide.
Susan Shipman of St. Simons Island was director of the Coastal Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources from 2002 to 2009 and previously chief of Marine Fisheries.
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