Summary: A federal court in the District of Columbia has granted a preliminary injunction that blocks state-issued exempted fishing permits, effectively canceling the recreational red snapper season across Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
A federal court in the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction sought by commercial fishing interests that prohibits the South Atlantic Red Snapper recreational fishing season from taking place. The season was scheduled to begin May 22 in Florida, and would have begun on July 1, in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Why is Federal Red Snapper Management Broken?
In recent years, recreational red snapper management has been trapped in a cycle of short seasons and bad data collection. The stock is “overfished,” which means its population is too low. But the problem stems from a feedback loop. The federal datasets are taken from skewed reporting from those condensed seasons, which incorporates abnormal fishing pressure, and leads to continued harsh restrictions in the following years, and more abnormal data.
How States Tried to Save the Fishing Season with Better Data
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina attempted to work around this by applying for exemption permits. These permits would exempt them from the short federal seasons and allow them to collect data in a more natural way. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation submitted comments in support of the permits. Those permits were granted a month ago.
Commercial Fishing Lawsuit Shuts Down State-Led Management
Commercial fishing advocates, however, sued the administration, alleging that the permits were unlawfully issued. A federal court agreed, concluding that “the Government ‘failed to consider an important aspect of the problem’ and thus ‘offered an explanation for its decision that runs counter to the evidence before the agency.’” It issued an order blocking the permits, which cancels the longer seasons and data collection activities.
Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation Responds to the Ruling
“We are disappointed with the court’s decision,” said Michael Jean, Litigation Counsel for Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation. “Agency decisions are supposed to be based on data. These permits would have allowed better data collection and science-based decision making going forward. And recreational anglers are paying the price.”
Issues like these are at the heart of the Sportsmen’s Alliance mission, and we will continue to monitor this important issue. Don’t stand on the sidelines, join us as a member or a donor of the Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund in protecting tomorrow’s hunting, fishing, and trapping heritage today.
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