Contact:  Gordon Helm or Scott Smullen       FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                             12/22/97

A consolidated report from three independent peer review panels released today finds that the red snapper stock in the Gulf of Mexico is severely overfished, and directed fishing effort and juvenile red snapper bycatch in the shrimp fishery must be reduced. The findings of the three expert peer review panels also call for improving management measures to recover the Gulf red snapper fishery, officials with the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service said.

Additionally, the peer review report noted that fisheries service assessments are sufficient to make sound management decisions, but there are some weaknesses in red snapper data collection that need to be addressed. However, the report's authors cautioned that despite uncertainty over some of the data used in stock assessments, action is needed now to rebuild this valuable resource.

"This independent review of the red snapper stock is disappointing news for Gulf fishermen who rely on that species for their livelihood or for recreation," said Rolland Schmitten, director of the National Marine Fisheries Service. "But it supports what we have been saying for some time -- that to rebuild the severely depleted red snapper fishery, both directed fishing effort and the red snapper bycatch in the shrimp fishery must be reduced. We are ready to assist the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council in solving this difficult problem."

The report stated that to reduce overfishing, the number of juvenile red snapper caught as bycatch in shrimp trawls must decrease, along with the number of adults harvested in the red snapper directed fishery. Furthermore, the report found that current data collection techniques used to estimate shrimp bycatch need to be improved and management measures need to be strengthened in order to assure the eventual recovery of the fishery. The report also concluded that the burden of recovery cannot be placed solely on the directed fishery. Even a potential closure of the red snapper fishery alone will not achieve rebuilding, and therefore the panel recommended that management strategies such as the use of bycatch reduction devices (BRDs), time-area closures, bycatch quotas or other effort/capacity reductions in the shrimp fishery be further considered.

The independent panel report stems from a 1996 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) requirement that the fisheries service initiate a thorough and independent peer review of the scientific and management basis for conserving and managing the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico. The panel evaluated:

A. the accuracy and adequacy of fishery statistics used by the fisheries service for the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico to account for all commercial, recreational, and charter fishing harvests and fishing effort on the stock;

B. the appropriateness of the scientific methods, information and models used by the fisheries service to assess the status and trends of the Gulf of Mexico red snapper stock and as the basis for the fishery management plan for the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery;

C. the appropriateness and adequacy of the management measures in the fishery management plan for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico for conserving and managing the red snapper fishery under this Act; and

D. the costs and benefits of all reasonable alternatives to an individual fishing quota program for the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico.

The peer review panel members are qualified academics and fishery experts with no conflicting interests in the fishery. The peer review was divided into three separate but complementary review panels according to subject areas.

A Statistics Panel examined the accuracy, precision, and adequacy of the commercial, recreational, and charterboat red snapper catch and effort statistics and the estimation of bycatch for the shrimp trawl fishery in the Gulf. The panel concluded that the poor quality of the data undermines the results of indirect approaches to estimating red snapper bycatch in the shrimp fishery. However one panel member noted that statistical methods for estimating bycatch could be debated indefinitely with little chance of reaching agreement on the correct' or best' method for estimation.

An Economics Panel scrutinized the costs and benefits analyses conducted in preparation for Amendment 8 of the Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan with the goal of assessing the economic ramifications of Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) and alternative management strategies for red snapper. The panel stated that the fisheries service did an excellent job in describing the economic effects of an ITQ system for red snapper and considered a reasonable set of alternative policies.

A Science and Management Panel reviewed all aspects of the red snapper fishery, as well as the preliminary results of the independent stock assessment of red snapper conducted by Dr. Brian Rothschild. The panel determined that all scientifically credible assessments of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico, including additional assessments run at the panel meeting, very strongly support the conclusion that the stock is severely overfished. The panel also determined that the assessment conducted by Rothschild was incomplete, in that it did not consider data about the large amounts of red snapper bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery, even though Rothschild concluded that there was a significant amount of bycatch in that fishery. Rothschild's report did include several suggestions to improve future assessments by the agency.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act also required that during the review process commercial, recreational, and charter fishermen in the red snapper fishery be provided with an opportunity to participate in and provide information to the panelists. The three review panels held public meetings to receive information from fishermen, fishing industry representatives, the public, and other researchers working on red snapper issues.

To obtain a copy of the Consolidated Report on the Peer Review of Red Snapper Research and Management in the Gulf of Mexico, contact John Witzig, Office of Science and technology, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Md. 20910.