TIGHT LINES

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is set to vote this month on measures that would severely curtail virtually all forms of offshore bottom-fishing throughout huge areas of ocean off the Southeast coast.

The measures under consideration, collectively known as Amendment 17A to the Snapper-Grouper Management Plan, are meant to combat long-term overfishing of red snapper. To address bycatch mortality of this species, the measures would essentially a ban fishing for grouper and other bottom-dwellers in these closed areas.

During their September meeting in Charleston, SAFMC members considered a number of potential closed areas. Two alternatives confine the bottom-fishing ban to waters off Georgia and northern Florida. Two others bring these closed areas much closer to Charleston. Some areas follow depth contour lines from about 98 feet to 240 feet, while others follow grid squares already in place to regulate the commercial fishery. All of those options include a total ban on red snapper catches.

Council is also considering another option that could close most offshore bottom fishing off the Southeast coast but preserve a limited and highly regulated snapper-grouper fishery.

The council did not pick a preferred alternative this fall, but instead left a number of options in place so anglers and environmental groups could weigh in during public hearings. The SAFMC held one of these hearings last month in North Charleston. Most of the anglers who attended expressed frustration at the prospects of widespread bottom-fishing closures.

“To think that I can’t go to the Charleston 60 reef, put a squid on my rig and drop it down is ridiculous to me,” said Fowler DelPorto of James Island. “If you’re losing the support of the middle-of-the-road, conservation-minded recreational anglers like me, you really ... have lost the battle.”

Council is expected to take up the issue again during its Dec. 6-11 meeting at the Atlantic Beach Sheraton Oceanfront, 2717 West Fort Macon Road, Atlantic Beach, N.C. (For a detailed agenda, visit safmc.net.)

If approved, the measure would go to the National Marine Fisheries Services for review, and then on to the secretary of commerce for final approval sometime next year.

In addition to potential area closures and a newly enacted ban on so-called rec-sales of snapper-grouper species (see sidebar), offshore bottom fishermen also must contend with two new closed seasons.

The first was a new recreational closed season for vermilion snapper that began Nov. 1 and continues through March 31. The second is a new spawning season closure of the shallow-water grouper fishery that begins Jan. 1 and runs through April 30. During that period, neither recreational nor commercial anglers can harvest the following species: gag, black grouper, red grouper, scamp, rock hind, red hind, coney, graysby, yellowfin grouper, yellowmouth grouper and tiger grouper.

Source: The Post and Courier, staff reports