Court ruling that NMFS allowed recreational overfishing of red snapper for years likely to shorten season
SEAFOOD.COM NEWS April 10, 2014 -
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is expected to consider a proposal Thursday mandating an 11-day red snapper season this summer in federal waters.
The council’s Reef Fish Committee on Tuesday approved an emergency rule setting a shorter recreational snapper season in the wake of a federal court ruling two weeks ago that found that the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act regarding red snapper catch quotas.
Commercial fishermen and associated businesses claimed in a lawsuit that regulators failed to stop “persistent overharvesting by the recreational fishing sector” resulting in a decline of red snapper stocks in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a news release issued by the plaintiffs.
The court’s decision added that overages in the recreational sector have been routine over six of the last seven years while the commercial sector has complied with its catch limit every year.
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