Red Snapper Management

Among the most valuable fish stocks to commercial and recreational fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico, the red snapper stock was classified as both overfished and subject to overfishing nearly two decades ago. In response, a federal red snapper rebuilding plan was developed to reduce red snapper fishing mortality to sustainable levels and to rebuild the stock to its maximum sustainable yield. A substantial contribution to the ongoing success of this plan continues to be made by the shrimp fishery when it agreed to substantially reduce its fishing effort and bycatch of juvenile red snapper in vast areas of the Gulf of Mexico that provide habitat for juvenile red snapper. Shrimp fishing effort is precisely monitored through the NOAA Electronic Logbook program and each year the fishery has met or exceeded this effort reduction requirement and, thus, has achieved 100 percent compliance with its commitment to red snapper bycatch reduction. The Southern Shrimp Alliance played a pivotal role in the development of that rebuilding plan and continues to play a leadership role in updates to the rebuilding plan as well as in monitoring and ensuring the shrimp fishery’s compliance with it.