Sector separation proponents seek to undo sunset provision

NOAA Fisheries announced last week that the 2016 red snapper season in federal waters will be just nine days while the charter/for-hire sector will have a 46-day season due to Amendment 40 – Sector Separation. Proponents of sector separation are now racing to lock the door behind them and leave private boat anglers fishing single-digit seasons for the foreseeable future.

When the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council voted to approve Amendment 40 and split for-hire operators into a separate sector with a percentage of the recreational quota of red snapper to use as its own, the proposal included a “sunset provision” that automatically ends the controversial system after three years unless the Gulf Council takes action to extend it. Proponents of sector separation are now seeking to remove the sunset provision entirely after a single year!

The sunset provision on Amendment 40 was designed to allow managers an opportunity to observe the effects of this unprecedented program and evaluate if it deserves to continue. There is NO rational reason to remove it after a single year – the effort to do so is simply to ensure that the program produced by a broken federal fisheries management system is impossible to reverse.

CCA is currently engaged in a lawsuit to overturn Amendment 40, but if it fails, one of the final hopes to end the program is through the sunset provision. Anglers along the Gulf Coast have the chance to protest this latest manipulation of the federal fisheries management system at a number of upcoming public hearings (schedule below).

If you are fed up with the constant scheming and corruption with the federal management system, attend the public hearing near you and demand that the Council honor its commitment to a three-year sunset provision on sector separation.
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Monday, May 23, 2016
Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park
950 Lake Carillon Drive
St. Petersburg, FL 33716

, Monday, May 23, 2016
IP Casino Resort
850 Bayview Avenue
Biloxi, MS 39530

Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Courtyard Marriott
905 East 23rd Place
Panama City, FL 32405

Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel
64 South Water Street
Mobile, AL 36602

Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Hampton Inn and Suites
2320 Gulf Freeway South
League City, TX 77573

Thursday, May 26, 2016
Holiday Inn New Orleans Westbank
275 Whitney Avenue
Gretna, LA 70053

Thursday, May 26, 2016
Hilton Garden Inn
6717 South Padre Island Drive
Corpus Christi, TX 78412

Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Webinar
Click here to register!
All in-person meetings begin at 6:00 pm local time and end no later than 9:00 pm local time. Webinars begin at 6:00 pm Eastern time. ,

You can also submit your comments online:
http://gulfcouncil.org/council_meetings/comment_forms/Amendment_45.php.
Written comments should be received on or before Friday, June 8, 2016.