Bottom-fishing ban put on hold for now

Don't shelve that bottom gear yet. Gag, black and red grouper fishing won't be closed off this winter.

The National Marine Fisheries Service decided Friday not to implement an interim spawning season closure approved by the South Atlantic Marine Fisheries Council, the regulating body for states along the Southeast coast, including South Carolina. It would have closed off the fishing from January through April.

Roy Crabtree, the service's regional director, said the decision was a matter of timing; the service couldn't put the ruling in place in time.

The turnabout followed loud and widespread complaints from fishermen that it wasn't fair to close the entire coast when some areas of the fishery were in better shape than others. It came amid what one fishing and conservation advocate described as a river of emerging lawsuits.

Crabtree announced the decision after writing council chairman Duane Harris "because we were getting calls from the public wanting to know if they could fish," he said.

The decision also opened Snapper Grouper Amendment 16 — a wide-ranging measure to add further restrictions on grouper fishing — to two more rounds of public comment before the final rules are published this spring. The amendment could be in place by 2010 and would include season closures, catch limits, a harvest — or season catch — quota divided among commercial and recreational fishermen and bycatch restrictions.

Public comments will be taken for 60 days before the proposed rule is published and for 30 days until the final rule is published.

The amendment is one of several working through federal agencies as they follow a Congressional mandate to end overfishing of offshore species that researchers say are being depleted.

Coastal Conservation Association of South Carolina member Mike Able, who owns Haddrell's Point Tackle & Supply, said he supports closing the fisheries if the science supports the need. But the timing of this year's closing was bad, with the recession already crippling the local fishing industry.

"This is a pretty trying time to force that kind of burden on these guys. This is a season (regulators) need to wait it out," he said.

Able said public outcry about the rules influenced the decision, and it might prompt regulators to rethink broader proposals that would close off miles of the South Atlantic to bottom fishing.

"There's probably been enough of an uprising and question about how the process had been done, that they might need to look at this thing again," he said.

Tommy Braswell contributed to this report. Reach Bo Petersen at 745-5852 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.