The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council voted in favor of a compromise agreement Friday (April 17) morning put together in recent days by Ocean Conservancy, Oceana, and the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Bottom Longline Fishing fleet aimed at reducing the interactions between threatened loggerhead sea turtles and commercial fishing gear. With this tentative agreement, the fishermen will be able to continue fishing, but areas of the Gulf where the majority of the interactions have taken place will now be off-limits to the longline fleet which would be cut about in half by the agreement.
“A more extensive closure would have resulted in permanent damage to the commercial fleet. Our industry is already looking at an emergency closure this summer, and we would not have been able to sustain another blow like that. We need partners that will help find lasting solutions,” said Bobby Spaeth, Executive Director of the Southern Offshore Fishing Association. “Both Ocean Conservancy and Oceana were willing to work with us to help solve this problem. When the opportunity to partner with groups that do not often see eye-to-eye comes along and it works this well, it makes a powerful point in itself.”
As currently proposed, the rules would limit longlining to fishermen who caught a yearly average of 40,000 pounds of grouper and other reef fish between 1999 and 2007.
Fifty-seven boats, based mostly in Pinellas County, meet that standard.
From June through August every year, longlining would be banished from water shallower than 215 feet deep.
The council will meet again in June to take a final vote on the permanent rules.
We’ll bring you information about the details of the plan as they are made available, as well as information about public comment periods, etc.