CCA Files Lawsuit Against Snapper Sector Separation

[silverking]

Legal challenge follows Commerce approval of controversial
red snapper management scheme

Coastal Conservation Association announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against implementation of Amendment 40 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico. Also known as "sector separation," the amendment is a highly controversial management plan for red snapper that takes a significant percentage of the recreational quota and reserves it solely for use by the charter/for-hire industry.

"Amendment 40 embodies everything that is wrong with federal management of our marine resources. It is completely out of step with this nation's heritage of wildlife resource management," said Bill Bird, chairman of CCA's National Government Relations Committee. "It has been overwhelmingly opposed at every step in the process, but a very small minority has been allowed to manipulate the system to their personal advantage."

Amendment 40 is widely regarded as the first step to a catch share program for a privileged few in the charter/for-hire industry, similar to the one in place for the commercial red snapper industry. With passage of this amendment, the way is cleared for up to 70 percent of the entire Gulf red snapper fishery to be privately held, while recreational anglers who fish on their own boats will find their access to federal waters severely limited.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council approved Amendment 40 by a 10-7 vote in October 2014 over opposition from four Gulf states, Congress, the vast majority of recreational anglers and even from within the charter/for-hire industry itself. In the immediate aftermath of the vote, eight representatives to the Council submitted a scathing minority report that was ultimately ignored. The amendment was approved by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on April 10.

In its lawsuit, CCA charges that Amendment 40 constitutes agency action that is arbitrary and
capricious, an abuse of discretion, not in accordance with law and in excess of statutory jurisdiction,
authority, or limitations. The lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

CCA is the leading advocacy group for the coastal recreational angler, with chapters throughout the Gulf as well as the Atlantic seaboard and West Coast. The organization has a long history of challenging poor fisheries management. It successfully lobbied for game fish status for billfish and redfish and was instrumental in the net ban and its implementation. To add your voice to protect the sport, go to www.joincca.org and sign up as a member.

[EddieJoe]

I'm glad they did that. Hope it helps.
EJ

[MudDucker]

It is beyond me how any sportsman could vote Demorat after this socialist administrations regime. This bunch needs to be loaded into Air Force 1 until they need a hydraulic press to close the door and given just enough fuel and gps directions to take them to Argentina, where they should be chuncked out of the door and locked out!

[EddieJoe]

It is beyond me how any sportsman could vote Demorat after this socialist administrations regime. This bunch needs to be loaded into Air Force 1 until they need a hydraulic press to close the door and given just enough fuel and gps directions to take them to Argentina, where they should be chuncked out of the door and locked out!

As a matter of clarification, the State representatives voted 10-7 for it, then it was approved by the feds. I don't believe any of the Gulf States have a Democratic Governor (who appoints the members to the Council), they are all Republican. So the blame can be shared by quite a few in both political parties. As I have written in the past, there is not clear high-level political support for recreational fishing (in federal waters issues) in the States, no matter what they are saying in the press or asking for at the federal level (for example, the Act that would give ARS mgt to the states). Look at the votes, not their lips. And this is nothing new, it pre-dates the current administration. They are trying to appease both sides at the same time, which only works for a while. Then we catch on.

I know you detest Obama, but you can share the love in this case.

EJ

[crappielimits]

This is not a political party thing as neither party cares about recreational fishing. This is a money thing! The crooked council is getting financial gain by voting the way they have.

Democrats do want to take our freedoms though. Especially, our guns!

[MudDucker]

There has been more federal intervention in fishing under this Administration than all of the ones before it combined. Never before has an administration trumpeted more news based on out of date data than this one, in my memory and my memory goes a LONG way back.

The present governor has acknowledged that recreational fishing has many times the economic impact on the Florida economy than the commercial. The State has bucked the feds on fishing regulation several times refusing to close State waters when the feds closed federal waters.

I'm sorry, but what I see and what an inside expert told me last year is that there is a very heavy handed fed these days.

[EddieJoe]

Rather than argue about the length of our relative memories or the story from the "insider", how about 10-7?

It can be spun by some of the state reps (and they are indeed spinning) but it's 10-7. Say one thing do another.