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Fishing bans could raise price of grouper
BY JIM WAYMER • FLORIDA TODAY • September 23, 2008

Don’t expect to keep a gag, black or red grouper if you hook one in federal waters during the first quarter next year.

You can keep them in the unlikely chance you catch one within about 3 1/2 miles of shore and aren’t a commercial or charter fisherman.

The South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council has recommended the federal government ban recreational and commercial harvest of gag, black and red grouper from January to April, key spawning months for those species.

The council approved the four-month closure by an 8-to-5 vote late last week during its regular meeting in Charleston, SC.

The grouper closure in the Atlantic would apply to commercial and recreational fishing with any type of gear.

The temporary rule awaits approval of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

If approved, the closure would only apply to next year. But another rule the council approved last week would make the four-month closure an annual event, and would include several other grouper species.

The council put the interim closure in place for gag, black and red grouper until the permanent rule — which would make the four-month closure happen every year — goes through a public comment process.

The pending permanent rule also includes scamp, red hind, rock hind, yellowmouth grouper, tiger grouper, yellowfin grouper, graysby, and coney.

Gag, black and red grouper were chosen for the closure first because biologists consider them among the most vulnerable grouper species to fishing pressure. They tend to be the most popular to catch and to eat.

So staring Jan. 1, the average fishermen will have to throw back gag, black and red grouper if they catch them between January and April in federal waters.

For fishermen who have federal commercial or charter vessel and headboat permits for South Atlantic snapper and grouper species, the closure applies whether or not the fish is caught in state or federal waters.

The council wants Florida, South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina make the same grouper closure apply within state waters.

But Florida, for one, has opposed the four-month closure in the Atlantic.

“We just feel like in this economy and with the information we have, that’s just too onerous on Florida fishermen at this time,” said Lee Schlesinger, spokesman for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

State waters in Florida extend three nautical miles out (about 3 1/2 statute miles) in the Atlantic and nine nautical miles (10.4 statute miles) in the Gulf of Mexico. Federal waters stretch from those borders out to 200 nautical miles (about 230 statute miles).

Also last week, the council halved the bag limit from two gag or black grouper combined — which count toward a total limit of five grouper — to one gag or black grouper combined.

For red grouper, they set the limit to a maximum of three fish within the five-grouper limit.

The council also set a limit of 352,940 pounds for gag for commercial fishermen.

The council makes recommendations to the marine fisheries service about how to manage fish in several southeastern states, from North Carolina to East Florida and Key West.

The council also is considering closing red snapper to fishing for a year in the South Atlantic, or possibly longer, because recent stock assessments have shown it to be overfished.

But the council last week delayed a decision about red snapper until December. It also removed vermillion snapper from the temporary closure rule based on a recent stock assessment showing the species’ numbers improving.

“The review indicates that the stock may be better than originally thought, so the management measures may be less restrictive for vermillion snapper,” said Kim Iverson, spokewoman for the South Atlantic Fisheries Council.

Vermillion snapper, often sold as red snapper, is more common along the Gulf Coast and North Florida.

Contact Waymer at 242-3663 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com.