Why It Matters: While recreational access to the Gulf of America red snapper fishery has been solved through state-based management, a growing popularity among anglers for other species like deep-water groupers warrants securing recognized access to those fisheries as well. At last week’s Gulf Council meeting, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) was in attendance advocating for doing just that and to also retain an important requirement for tools to ensure anglers are effectively releasing deep-caught fish to be caught another day.
Highlights
- The Gulf Council approved the CSF-supported 10.21% allocation of the deep-water grouper complex for the recreational sector.
- The requirement to have a venting tool or descending device rigged and ready will soon expire, but at the urging of CSF, Coastal Conservation Association, American Sportfishing Association, and others in the recreational community, the Council plans to make the requirement permanent.
Last week, the Gulf Council (Council) took a major step in recognizing the growing popularity of recreational fishing for deep-water grouper species by voting to establish a recreational quota for the first time. The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation applauds the decision and has been urging the Council to recognize the growing popularity of recreational bottom fishing in deep water. The deep-water grouper complex is comprised of warsaw grouper, snowy grouper, yellowedge grouper, and speckled hind, and has historically been managed with a single commercial annual catch limit for the complex.
Until now, the recreational sector had been fishing on an “unspecified” allocation, which was essentially a 3.5% buffer between the commercial quota allocation and the annual catch limit (ACL). Like many recreational fisheries, the federal recreational data collection program, known as MRIP, has been struggling to provide any reliable estimates of recreational effort on the complex. However, deep water recreational fishing has been occurring for over a decade and, as new technologies allow recreational anglers to more efficiently access these fisheries, the recreational component of the fishery will only continue to grow. The popularity of these fisheries among recreational anglers warranted the 10.21% allocation of the ACL that the Council approved for the sector.
Additionally, CSF and others in the recreational community strongly urged the Council to permanently implement the requirements of the DESCEND Act, which is set to expire in January of 2026. Anglers fishing for reef fish in the Gulf of America are currently required to have a venting tool or descending device rigged and ready, providing a mechanism for anglers to send fish back to the depths from which they are caught and ensuring that they can be caught another day. While the lack of addressing the looming expiration of this requirement through the normal council process as Congress intended with the sunset has been frustrating for the recreational community, the Council voted to bring an abbreviated framework amendment to permanently implement the requirement to the November meeting.
CSF attended last week’s meeting where we advocated for these actions, among others. CSF is committed to ensuring we have appropriate access to our fisheries, and that our community can reduce discard mortality of fish caught from the deep.
