Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. I thank the chairman, and I would also like to thank Don Young for helping those of us recreational anglers as we try to remedy an injustice that has been done to the American sportsmen of the Gulf of Mexico.
I have listened to some of my colleagues say we should be fair and people should come to the table. Let me tell you what is happening at the table.
Mr. Chairman, the commercial fishermen get to fish 365 days a year for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. They get to use long lines and winches; yet the National Marine Fisheries Services and Dr. Roy Crabtree, through the Gulf Council, have chosen to limit to 10 days the man and the woman who just want to take their kid fishing, 10 days.
They think, by expanding the recreational season back to where it was before, that somehow that would hurt the fish in the Gulf of Mexico.
Now they tell us that the reason they have had to cut us to 10 days is because there are so many more fish today and they are so much larger today that the recreational fishermen simply catch them much faster.
Well, in 2007, the recreational angler had 194 days to fish with their families in the Gulf of Mexico--194 days. In 8 years, they have taken the American family, the American sportsman, down to simply 10 days. It is proof that the American sportsman doesn't have a chance with the Federal Government in charge of the rulemaking process in the Gulf of Mexico with regard to the recreational snapper season.
The Garrett amendment, which I support, as I support the chairman's main piece of legislation, would simply give the States the right to set, based on science--not some arbitrary number, but based on science--the recreational seasons and bag limits for the recreational angler in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr. Chairman, that is the only way--that is the only way--that the recreational season will be restored as we, the recreational anglers, were promised it would be restored when the stocks came back.
Now, one of the things I think we also need to discuss as we go forward with regard to snapper is who do the snapper belong to.
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Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, there are about 300 people that are currently allocated about 50 percent of the fish, the red snapper, in the Gulf of Mexico. When the commercial quota goes up, they automatically get an increase. Those fish belong to the public, and I think it is time to discuss whether or not any increase in the commercial quota should actually come and be auctioned as any other public resource would be when we made those additional resources available.
For now, the Garrett amendment goes a long way towards restoring the rights of the American angler, and I certainly hope that this House will support it.
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