SLS 17RS-292 ORIGINAL
2017 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 67
BY SENATOR ALLAIN
CONGRESS. Memorializes Congress to pass legislation or adopt policies allowing
Louisiana to manage the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery out to two hundred nautical
miles off the coast of Louisiana.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To memorialize the Congress of the United States to pass legislation or to adopt policies
3 allowing Louisiana to manage the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery out to two
4 hundred nautical miles off the coast of Louisiana.
5 WHEREAS, in recent years, the Gulf of Mexico has contained the highest total
6 allowable catch of red snapper in decades, but in 2016, anglers experienced the shortest
7 recreational fishing season to date, lasting less than two weeks; and
8 WHEREAS, the federal government has overseen the Gulf recreational red snapper
9 fishery for nearly four decades; today, federal management systems attempt to regulate red
10 snapper fishing by the pound with tools specifically designed to manage the commercial
11 sector, despite the fact that federal data collection systems are incapable of accounting to
12 such a level of specificity for recreational harvests; and
13 WHEREAS, the federal government has, moreover, neglected to use recent data to
14 provide meaningful guidelines and requirements for a systematic reallocation of federal
15 fisheries; except for minor adjustments to account for errors in its own data collection
16 system, the Gulf red snapper fishery allocation is based on highly suspect data from
17 1979-1986 and has remained unchanged since 1991; and
18 WHEREAS, the federal government is currently promoting a management strategy
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SLS 17RS-292 ORIGINAL
1 to privatize the Gulf red snapper fishery; approximately fifty percent of the fishery is already
2 held by private businesses, while another twenty percent has been designated to be sold;
3 shares of this public resource have also been given away for free, based on a commercial
4 operator's past catch history; and
5 WHEREAS, because of extraordinarily remiss requirements in its conflict of interest
6 guidelines, the federal fisheries management system allows commercial operators who
7 already own red snapper shares or who may be gifted shares to serve on the Gulf of Mexico
8 Fishery Management Council and to cast votes on issues that will result in direct financial
9 benefit for themselves; and
10 WHEREAS, by creating a prohibitive environment for anglers and ethical issues
11 among user groups and stakeholders, the federal government has proved itself incapable of
12 properly managing the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico, and all five states along
13 the Gulf Coast have increasingly implemented regulations and seasons that are not consistent
14 with the federal management plan; and
15 WHEREAS, numerous studies, including some funded by the National Oceanic and
16 Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, indicate that the greatest
17 economic engine in the Gulf reef fishery is the recreational angling sector, and federal
18 control should be relinquished to the Gulf states, which depend most on this vital public
19 resource.
20 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana memorializes
21 the Congress of the United States to pass legislation or adopt policies allowing Louisiana to
22 manage the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery out to two hundred nautical miles off the
23 coast of Louisiana.
24 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
25 secretary of the United States Senate and the clerk of the United States House of
26 Representatives and to each member of the Louisiana delegation to the United States
27 Congress.
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SLS 17RS-292 ORIGINAL
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Alan Miller.
DIGEST
SCR 67 Original 2017 Regular Session Allain
Memorializes Congress to pass legislation or adopt policies allowing Louisiana to manage
the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery out to two hundred nautical miles off the coast of
Louisiana.
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