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| Photo: Glen Balinger |
We’ve taken another trip around the sun. The most distinctive feature of the
new year for federal fisheries management is that we start fresh; our annual
catch limits reset and we begin harvesting anew. As of 12:01 AM January 1,
zero pounds of fish were harvested and our 2016 annual catch limits are at the
starting line. Lets take a look back at last year to gain some perspective on
what this reset really means.
harvested from a stock or group of species that make up a stock complex, in a
calendar year. For many of our “most wanted” fish species, once the annual
catch limit is harvested, the fishery must be closed. In 2015, red grouper
fishing was fantastic. Because they were so easy to catch, the recreational sector
harvested nearly its entire annual catch limit by early fall, and the season
had to be closed for the rest of the year. Similarly, amberjack, which has a
conservative annual catch limit because the species is overfished and under a
rebuilding plan, was closed to commercial fishermen in July and to recreational
fishermen in September when each sector harvested its annual catch limit.
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| Photo: Mike Jennings |
If we harvest more than the annual catch limit in a given
year then we have to pay back the over harvest in the following fishing year or,
prevent overharvest from happening again. This is exactly why the recreational gray
triggerfish season closed so early last year. In 2014 the recreational harvest
of gray triggerfish far exceeded the annual catch limit. To account for the
overage, the excess catch was subtracted from the 2015 annual catch limit. This
left the recreational sector with 54,307 pounds to harvest and forced the
federal fishing season closure in early February.
annual catch limit. In some cases the stock annual catch limit is subdivided to
create separate commercial and recreational annual catch limits. This ensures
that if one sector exceeds its annual catch limit then that sector will be responsible
for the consequences (as long as the sector overage doesn’t cause the entire
stock annual catch limit to be exceeded.)This year, red snapper experienced
two interesting shifts in the subdivision of the stock annual catch limit.
First, the Council shifted the allocation among commercial and recreational
sectors. Fifty one percent of the red snapper allocation was harvested
commercially with the remaining 49% going to the recreational sector. In August
of 2015, the Council decided to increase the recreational allocation to 51.5%
and allocate the remaining 48.5% to the commercial sector (this rule has not
yet been implemented, but is expected to become final in 2016). Second, the Council decided to subdivide
the recreational allocation among two sub-sectors of the recreational fishery.
For-hire red snapper anglers (charters and headboats) were allocated 42.3% of
the recreational annual catch limit, and private recreational anglers were
allocated 57.7%.
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| Photo: Mark Miller |
Moving ahead to our upcoming fishing year with fresh,
unharvested annual catch limits. According to the 2015 landings data we have
so far, it looks like, with a few exceptions, we did a pretty good job of
staying within our harvest limits. This means few species will have adjusted
annual catch limits to compensate for last year’s overages.
exceeded, and that sector will have to pay back its overage this year. Fortunately,
the overage was less than 3%, so it will be a small reduction. Similarly, the
tilefish stock annual catch limit was exceeded by nearly 3% and will be reduced
by the same amount for the 2016 fishing year.
another significant overage, which isn’t surprising because the 2015 adjusted annual
catch limit was so low. As a result, this year’s annual catch limit will be
adjusted to account to that overage, so we can expect another abbreviated
recreational gray triggerfish season in 2016.
and allocations for our most popular fish in the Gulf of Mexico for 2016.
All of us at the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
look forward to the 2016 fishing year. Many of our fish stocks are improving and we’re working together to find management solutions that allow us to sustainably manage our Gulf fisheries while providing the best commercial and recreational fishing opportunities possible.