What would a world without the red snapper be like?
Well, we’d have one less tasty fish to eat, that’s for sure. Some people who actually fish to feed their families would have less to eat, we also know that.
But, what would the effects be beneath the waves?
The red snapper is a dominant predator, and its removal would likely affect marine ecosystems in dramatic ways. Right now, we can’t say for sure what those effects would be.
Would other marine species that humans depend upon for food be negatively effected?
Republicans who oppose efforts to bring fishing practices back into disciplined levels are willing to bet that nothing bad will happen. They’re willing to stand by while the red snapper is fished right out of existence.
Think that sounds like a far fetched possibility? It’s not.
Imagine if a hungry civilization of space aliens came along and decided to make the United States their hunting grounds, scooping up Americans shipload by shipload, to eat, for a few generations until the population of the United States had been reduced from 300 million to 9 million, most cities emptied out except for a tiny remnant population hiding out amongst the rubble, hoping not to be scooped up by the next ship of hungry aliens to come along.
That’s the kind of devastation that the red snapper has endured in the Gulf of Mexico. The combination of overfishing and devastation of juvenile red snappers by shrimp trawlers has brought the population crashing down.
This isn’t just bad for the red snapper. It’s bad for the human economy of the region as well. People are already going hungry because of the fishery devastation. Unfortunately, Republicans have blocked any effort to do something about the crisis.
What would a world without the red snapper be like? If we follow the path that the Republicans have set, we’ll soon find out.
To be fair, the over-fishing of the oceans have been a general practice since fishing became big business. The fishermen have no idea or care very little how their long-line style of commercial fishing destroys stocks and has destructive side effects for other marine species. It’s all about greed and money (as usual). The Japanese and Norwegians (among others) now want to bring back commercial whale fishing too! Well, the ocean will only tolerate so much pollution, over-fishing, glacial runoff and solar heat before it just stops working, and there won’t be anything humanity can do to correct it. We’ll just pay the consequences (extinction, eventually).
Today, it is reported that a UN Environmental Program study has found that new shrimp nets used in Caribbean and Gulf countries like Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and Mexico are reducing by catch of juvenile fish species by 70 percent.
That’s great news, isn’t it. I hope it will be enough to avert the disaster you speak of.
Tom, please do a little more background research before posting your thoughts next time. Red snapper are not harvested by long-lines. Though your feelings on long-lines might pertinent to different discussion, they are not pertinent here.
Before you start blaming Republicans for not doing anything I would like to tell you about my experience on “The Hill”. I recently traveled to D.C. to talk to Florida State Congressman Bill Young, and Senator Bill Nelson. Although I can’t speak for them, I can tell you that their staffers were attentive and interested in what I had to say about having the NMFS enact the interim rule to force the Gulf of Mexico Regional Fisheries Council to take action to stem the current problem of overfishing of red snapper.
I also sat in on two other meetings with Alabama congressman Bonner and a representative for another public office who’s name escapes me for the moment. The meetings with the Alabama representatives were both negative, with Bonner not giving any indication of supporting the interim rule and the other representative leaving it in the hands of the Gulf council for another year.
I would also like to point out an article in todays paper where President Bush is in support of eliminating or better regulating bottom trawling the high seas.
I realize that the Bush administration has not been a big friend to the envioronment, but I think it’s time to give credit where credit is due. President Bush created a national monument in the Northwest Hawaian Islands, and now he is going after destructive fishing. These steps are in keeping of the recomendations of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, and the PEW report.
Megan, better check your own facts. Snapper are harvested routinely by long line and by “bandit rigs”. Been there, seen that. Longlining for Snapper inside the 50 fathom curve is especially destructive since it targets primarily the older sows who are comfortable out on the mud flats (away from structure) and are capable producing many many more eggs than the younger fish that tend to hang on verticle structure. Shrimping effort and, therefore, by-catch has been reduced drastically in recent years due to Katrina, Rita, and market pressure from imports. And the figure so commonly thrown around that snapper are at 3% of former numbers has been scientifically proven to be untrue. Exagerations and lawsuits by environmentalists has set up Red Snapper for a slaughter. Under the new regulations forced by a lawsuit, commercial fishermen are now allowed to fish 365 days a year under Inividual Fishing Quotas (IFQ) and the VMS system that was supposed to monitor them is no where to be seen. With 3 federal agents covering 400 miles of Texas coast commercial fisherman are running amok with almost no regulation. That’s why they didn’t complain a bit about IFQ’s. They new they could easily cicumvent them. As soon as IFQ’s were in they filed suit to stop the VMS. They are very smart and we recreational fishermen knew something was rotten in Denmark when Ocean Conservancy, Gulf Restoration Network and Commercial Fishermen were walking the halls of congress hand in hand. So rec’s now have a 2 fish limit which will decimate local fishing guides and party boats (who do the least damage to fish stocks fishing with a single hook and line) while the commercials can now fish 365 days with their long lines and bandit rigs. Even if they get VMS in it won’t work. They already use runner boats to take unreported catch in. The idiots who advocate IFQ’s point to the success of Crab Fleets in Alaska or fleets in Australia that have to use few ports and are easily monitored. Conversely, in Texas and Louisiana, You can pull a truck up to the ICW anywhere along the coast in the dark of night and no one will be the wiser. So while the enviro’s celebrate their victory of forcing the NMFS to do something (even if it’s stupid) the commercial fishermen are having a celebration of their own. The wholesale slaughter of Red Snapper has been handed to them lock, stock and barrel. I think it is a devide and conquor tactic to seperate the commercial fishermen and the recreational fishermen. Disenfranchise the recreationals because they are unorganized and when, as expected, snapper don’t improve go after the commercials. One more thing, Read the Shipp-Minton report on snapper and ask yourself this: Why does the NMFS not count snapper on artificial structure when 40% of recreationally caught red snapper come from Alabama’s 40 miles of artificially reefed coastline?
Steve, I think you’ve grossly mischaracterized the “enviro’s” position. From the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana, for example: “It is virtually impossible for the Council to set red snapper limits for recreational anglers when they don’t know what the shrimp trawl bycatch reduction for juvenile red snapper is,” said Fred Miller, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “You have to deal with both sides of the equation at the same time.”