Gregg Holshouser, outdoors columnist: SAFMC to rehash closed fishing area off South Carolina coast

Fishermen in the Southeast will be keenly watching the proceedings at Jekyll Island, Ga., next week when the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) has a meeting Monday through Friday. The huge issue on the council's agenda is Amendment 17A, which potentially has far-reaching impacts in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Amendment 17A's intent is to end overfishing of red snapper and the council is considering closing massive areas of the Atlantic Ocean to all bottom fishing in order to protect the species from by-catch and subsequent release mortality when anglers are fishing for other reef species.

Specifically, at a meeting in Atlantic Beach, N.C., in December, the council in a split vote selected Alternative 4D as the preferred closed area. The alternative includes a 9,678-square mile strip of bottom that stretches from off Melbourne, Fla., to due east of Cape Romain near McClellanville in depths of 98 to 300 feet.

Approximately 3,500 square miles in the proposed closed area are off the South Carolina coast and include prime snapper-grouper habitat - hard-bottom areas and ledges - fished by recreational and commercial anglers from all S.C. ports.

The 13 voting members of the SAFMC, including three from South Carolina, struggled to decide on a preferred alternative. Council member Tom Swatzel of Murrells Inlet makes clear his stance.

"I don't know of any bigger threat for the coastal economy of South Carolina than the proposed 3,500 square-mile closed area associated with Amendment 17A," said Swatzel. "It's serious - a lot of fishermen and tourism-related businesses could go under with the imposition of that closed area. I am going to oppose any fishing closed areas off South Carolina that would be included within 17A."

A resolution opposing any closed area to bottom fishing off the state's coast was adopted by the South Carolina Senate on Feb. 11 and a House version of a similar resolution is in the works.

Swatzel brings up several points in opposing the current preferred closed area:

A small percentage of red snapper landings in the Southeast, 11 percent, occur off South Carolina.

The red snapper fishery is already closed through June 2 because of an interim rule requested by the SAFMC and could be extended another 186 days.

A new stock assessment of red snapper will be available in 2010. The most recent stock assessment was completed in 2008.

"The real problem is that No. 1, only about 11 percent of red snapper landings in the South Atlantic region are landed off South Carolina. It's just a by-catch," said Swatzel. "No. 2, the fishery is already closed so there is no real justification to close any area off South Carolina to bottom fishing. If the majority of the council thinks that closed areas to fishing are a way to manage red snapper, then they need to consider putting the closed areas where red snapper are most abundant, not where they are a by-catch.

"I would like to see the closed areas revisited. I would like to see any closed areas off South Carolina being off the table."

South Carolina's representatives on the council include Swatzel, David M. Cupka and Robert H. Boyles. Cupka is the council's vice-chairman and Boyles is the South Carolina DNR's Marine Resources Division representative. After two other alternatives failed to receive a majority vote at the Atlantic Beach meeting, Cupka made the motion that Alternative 4D be the preferred alternative and it was subsequently approved.

Swatzel wants to wait for the up-to-date stock assessment of red snapper in the South Atlantic region, which is expected to be available in December, before moving on the issue. The council could take final action on Amendment 17A at a June 6-11 meeting in Orlando, Fla., and send it to the Secretary of Commerce for approval.

"Logically, the council shouldn't be making any final decision on 17A until we have the results of that stock assessment," said Swatzel. "I'm hoping the fishery council will not adopt any version of 17A until we have the best available information including that new stock assessment. The earliest that could be would be December."

The issue within the issue is that the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act mandates that a plan to stop overfishing must be in place within a year after overfishing of a species is determined to be occurring, which forces the council to act quickly. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, the most recent stock assessment - completed in 2008 - indicated that the South Atlantic population of red snapper is overfished and is undergoing overfishing.

Between 3,000 to 5,000 fishermen, both recreational and commercial, rallied at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to protest the direction of fisheries management, including stipulations of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

With the council's meeting fast approaching, time is short for concerned fishermen and business owners to contact members of the SAFMC.

"Write letters, e-mail or call members of the fishery council, particularly those from South Carolina that have a say in any closed areas that might occur off this state," said Swatzel. "I think communication is vital. I would encourage those kinds of contacts - they are effective."

All council members' contact information is available at www.safmc.net. The meeting can also be watched live via video stream on the Web site.