Council Backs Red Snapper IFQ's for Gulf
[Copyright 2003 The Dallas Morning News ]
January 29, 2003,

On your mark. Get set. Fish!

That's how commercial fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico operate. Federal marine authorities declare a fishing 'season,' specify how many red snapper or grouper the industry may harvest, then stand back while fishermen madly race to catch as many fish as possible before the season closes or the limit is reached.

It's called derby fishing, and it makes about as much economic and environmental sense as ranching in a rain forest.

The practice encourages gluts, which drive down prices and hurt quality. It also creates a perverse incentive for fishermen to work in dangerous weather and to skimp on boat maintenance, since they must fish in season or forfeit the opportunity.

There's a better way. It involves assigning quotas to individual fishermen and allowing them to fish whenever they want as long as they do not exceed their quotas. In that manner, fishermen have no reason to race and many reasons to conserve and to reduce waste. Furthermore, it allows fishermen to trade their quotas depending on whether they want to fish or to relax at the boathouse. Want to catch extra fish? Buy quotas. Want to tell fish tales over an iced tea or something stronger? Sell quotas.

Individual fishery quotas make such good sense that one might ask why they are not already used in the gulf, where red snapper particularly suffers from overfishing. The amazing answer is that they are illegal - or at least they were until October, when Congress lifted a longstanding moratorium against them.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council wasted no time acting on Congress' lifting of the moratorium. Two weeks ago in San Antonio, it recommended to the National Marine Fisheries Service of the Commerce Department that it install such quotas for red snapper. However, the council erred in giving the final say to the fishermen themselves. Everybody - fishermen, consumers, sportsmen and environmentalists - has a stake in healthy gulf fisheries.

Nothing should stop the federal government from installing the sensible and much-needed reform.