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New shark limit bites into fishermen's income

With grouper fishing curbed, catching sharks helped fill the gap. New shark season rules will cut access and profits.

By JADE JACKSON LLOYD
Published February 13, 2005

In the past eight months, commercial grouper fishermen here have been told they have access to fewer fish and less time to catch them. They've been told of an impending buyout program aimed at reducing their ranks.

Now, faced with a monthlong closure on shallow-water grouper fishing that starts Tuesday and ends March 15, they're being hit with another whammy.

Most years, the temporary moratorium in place since 2001 finds them fishing for other catch, like shark and stone crab, and trawling for deepwater grouper. They find ways to supplement their incomes until they have access to their most lucrative catch again.

This year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration changed the shark fishing season, moving it from semester management to trimester management. When the fishery closes within the four-month period depends on how quickly the quotas are met, NOAA officials say.

The year's first trimester for the Gulf of Mexico ends Feb. 28 - cutting fishermen's access to large coastal sharks by two weeks during the one month local fishermen likely need it most.

Bob Spaeth, president of Madeira Beach Seafood and executive director of the Southern Offshore Fishing Association, an advocacy group for commercial fishermen, said instead of fishing for shark "to break the tedium" of grouper fishing, increased regulations mean they must do it out of necessity, for extra income.

"Now because of the economic situation, they have to go out there," he said Friday.

Come month's end, they'll be largely left with the gulf's deepwater offerings.

"It's further away from shore, more dangerous, more expensive to get there," Spaeth said. "It's not a good alternative, but when you don't have a good alternative, it's better than nothing."

"It's a mess," he added. "To say the least, it's a mess."

In late July, NOAA imposed stricter yearly catch limits for both deepwater and shallow-water grouper fishing. Fishermen had already exceeded the deepwater limit when the restrictions passed, effectively closing areas 300 feet or deeper until January.

Happy Fourth of July.

In November, NOAA closed the grouper fishery six weeks early as fishermen crept closer to the shallow-water quota.

There went Christmas.

That same month, the government announced a $35-million buyout program aimed at trimming the numbers of longline commercial fishing boats in the Gulf of Mexico.

The monthlong grouper closure, which begins one day after Valentine's Day, is something they can prepare themselves for every year.

Even this latest change was not unexpected, said Karyl Brewster-Geisz, a fishery management specialist for NOAA.

During a Friday phone interview from Washington, D.C., Brewster-Geisz said NOAA made the decision to change the season for large coastal shark fishing in December 2003. Previously, fresh shark was available from January to February and from July to August, she said.

By switching to trimesters, she said NOAA officials hope to make fresh shark available "throughout the year or at least another portion of the year."

Was the monthlong grouper closure a factor in the timing of the closure? Brewster-Geisz said the agency held several public comment forums to gauge reaction.

"The opinion we got was pretty mixed," she said. "Some people really wanted it to happen and some people didn't. The agency took everything we heard and things we considered and decided on trimesters."

NOAA also divided the affected markets into regions: the Gulf of Mexico, the South Atlantic and the North Atlantic. The South Atlantic region will close on Tuesday.

The agency is still trying to decide what quota is available for the second and third closures and when those will occur, Brewster-Geisz said. For the first time, she said the industry will get to help determine this.

Of the 21 states that issue limited-access shark permits, Florida ranks first with 311. According to the most recent data collected by NOAA in 2003, Louisiana comes in a distant second with 49.

Though it shouldn't have shocked the fishing community, Brewster-Geisz acknowledged it would affect them nonetheless.

"The gulf fishermen and the shark fishermen are the same," she said. "Changes in the shark fishery will affect them and changes in the grouper fishery will affect them."

Rusty Hudson owns Directed Shark Fisheries Inc., a consulting company based in Daytona Beach. The 49-year-old shark fishing advocate said the change to the shark season is akin to cutting a hole in fishermen's pockets.

As it is, shark yields less profit locally than grouper, he said. For directed access permits, the trip limit is 4,000 pounds. Selling at 50 cents a pound, that's a maximum $2,000 per trip. Shark fin, a delicacy in China, is limited to 200 pounds per trip and brings in $30 per pound.

Best case scenario, then, would be an $8,000 trip, Hudson said. Grouper - averaging 4,000 to 6,000 pounds per trip and selling for nearly $2.50 per pound - yields between $10,000 and $12,000.

"A lot of guys have to go for the bucks," he said. "They have to make their economic decision before they leave the dock on what they're going to go catch."

For the next month, they will have little choice.

All isn't lost, however.

Hudson said fishermen in the gulf have access to snapper and other reef fish, golden tile, swordfish and tuna during the closures. He said fishermen's flexibility may be their saving grace this year.

"They can't do just grouper or just shark," he said. "These guys have got to mix it up. It's not like it used to be in the old days, where it's open access. Now, it's limited access and it's becoming more limited every day."

[Last modified February 13, 2005, 01:07:16]