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Regular Session, 2013 ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 25
BY SENATORS ALLAIN, ADLEY, ALARIO, AMEDEE, APPEL, BROWN,
BUFFINGTON, CHABERT, CLAITOR, CORTEZ, CROWE, ERDEY,
GUILLORY, HEITMEIER, JOHNS, KOSTELKA, MARTINY, MILLS,
MORRELL, MORRISH, MURRAY, NEVERS, PEACOCK, PERRY,
RISER, GARY SMITH, THOMPSON, WAL SWORTH, WARD,
WHITE AND LONG
A RESOLUTION
To memorialize the Congress of the United States and request the secretary of the United
States Department of Commerce to take such action as necessary to require the
regional administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Fisheries Service's Southeast Regional Office and his scientists to attend a meeting
of the Louisiana Senate Committee on Natural Resources, on a date that is
convenient for the parties during the month of April or the first week of May, to
provide information on the red snapper season.
WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of the National Marine Fisheries Service, an
agency in the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, through the Gulf
of Mexico Fisheries Management Council, to manage and regulate marine species located
in the Gulf of Mexico; and
WHEREAS, such management and regulation includes a determination of the
sustainability of each species and preservation of the sustainability through the setting of
take limits, individual fishing quotas, and opening and closing seasons; and
WHEREAS, on March 25, 2013, a temporary emergency rule was published in the
Federal Register that gives the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Fisheries Services the authority to set separate closure dates for the recreational red snapper
season in federal waters off the individual Gulf of Mexico states; and
WHEREAS, the closure dates will depend on whether state regulations are consistent
with federal regulations for the recreational red snapper season length or bag limit; and ENROLLED
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WHEREAS, the federal recreational season for Gulf of Mexico red snapper begins
June 1 each year with a two-fish bag limit and the length of the season is determined by the
amount of the quota, the average weight of fish landed, and the estimated catch rates over
time; and
WHEREAS, since NOAA Fisheries is responsible for ensuring that the entire
recreational harvest, including harvest in state waters, does not exceed the recreational quota,
then if states establish a longer season or a larger bag limit for state waters than the federal
regulations allow in federal waters, the federal season must be adjusted to account for the
additional harvest expected in state waters; and
WHEREAS, if all states were to implement consistent regulations, the 2013
recreational season would be twenty-eight days, assuming the recreational quota is increased
to 4.145 million pounds through separate rule-making; and
WHEREAS, in addition to Louisiana, the states of Texas and Florida have indicated
to NOAA Fisheries that they will implement inconsistent red snapper regulations for their
state waters; and
WHEREAS, without this emergency rule, the 2013 federal season would be reduced
to twenty-two days to compensate for that additional expected harvest; and
WHEREAS, this emergency rule allows NOAA Fisheries to calculate the recreational
red snapper fishing season separately in the exclusive economic zone off each state to
account for any inconsistency of regulations in state waters; and
WHEREAS, based on the expected regulations for Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, the
preliminary season lengths would be as follows: Texas, twelve days; Louisiana, nine days;
Mississippi and Alabama, twenty-eight days; and Florida, twenty-one days; and
WHEREAS, on March 23, 2013, Louisiana implemented a weekend-only
recreational red snapper season that will end on September 30, with a recreational bag limit
of three fish per day at a sixteen-inch minimum; and
WHEREAS, the regional administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Fisheries Service's Southeast Regional Office and his scientists can provide
information on the following issues: (1) emergency rule on the recreational closure authority
specific to federal waters off individual states for the recreational red snapper component of ENROLLED
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the Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishery; (2) methodology for determination of the length,
allocations, and quotas for the red snapper season; (3) plans for the future allocations and
quotas of red snapper; (4) update on the regional and Gulf of Mexico red snapper stock
assessments on natural and artificial habitats; (5) relationship of size of quota to recovery
of red snapper fisheries; (6) general conditions and health of red snapper fisheries and
projections for future; and (7) requirements in order for Louisiana to get additional
allocations or quotas based on Louisiana's management and growth of the red snapper
fisheries.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana memorializes
the Congress of the United States and requests the secretary of the United States Department
of Commerce to take such action as necessary to require the regional administrator of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service's Southeast Regional
Office and his scientists to attend a meeting of the Louisiana Senate Committee on Natural
Resources, on a date that is convenient for the parties during the month of April or the first
week of May, to provide information on the red snapper season.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution shall be transmitted
to the secretary of the United States Senate and the clerk of the United States House of
Representatives, to each member of the Louisiana delegation to the United States Congress,
to the secretary of the United States Department of Commerce, and the regional
administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service's
Southeast Regional Office.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE