The Feds vs. The States — Who Should Control Local Fishing Regulations?

PORT ARANSAS, Texas A battle is brewing on the coastal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is being urged to relinquish its authority over Texas fisheries regulations to the federal government, which has caused state fisheries biologists to hold public hearings this past week to address the controversial issue.

According to coastline Texans, many immediate and long-term negative impacts will be felt by individual anglers, coastal business, and the state fishery should federal regulations be imposed.

At the meetings, the Coastal Fisheries Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department was scoping or exploring several items for the upcoming 2008 statewide hunting and fishing proclamation process. In particular, TPWD was considering changes in the current red snapper and shark regulations to attain greater consistency between current federal regulations and state regulations. In addition, the ongoing fishery for menhaden in state waters was reviewed and the possibility of closing state waters was scoped.

Opponents of the proposal urged Texans to “voice your demand to have Texas’ law used in Texas’ waters so you don’t have to live with rules created using outside data by people outside Texas. It is important you know the issue, the consequences, and what you can do to preserve your rights and your fishery.”

They argued that if Texas replaces its rules with federal rules, some of the immediate impacts include:

1. Reduction of the red snapper bag limit to two fish from four fish while increasing the size limit from 15″ to 16″ along with reducing the year-round fishing season to 122 days a year.

2. Adoption of federal rules limiting the state limit on black-tip sharks to minimum of one shark per vessel and setting a minimum size of 54″ despite the fact that federal data shows this fishery is neither over-fished nor undergoing over-fishing.

They say that this is a states’ rights issue and Texas wants to maintain its rights. “Fisheries regulation should be based on the best available information. Not using local data will trump rules based Texas biologists’ studies of what is good for Texas waters, Texas anglers, and Texas fisheries. What is being proposed will allow federal studies of areas as remote as the East Coast to be the scientific data used to determine what is best for Texas.

“This is not a migratory-only fishery management issue since federal regulation includes species llike snapper and redfish. Giving up Texas control will result in the reversal and federal destruction of progress Texas has made managing Texas fisheries based on Texas data to the liking of Texans.”

In another issue, the opponents urges Texans to be in favor of a state proposal to ban the mass-netting of menhaden in Texas state waters. “After destroying the areas they have been using, commercial interests seek to come to Texas waters under federal permits and catch our menhaden to be reduced into bulk protein. We do not want them here. We want our fish to eat our menhaden. The proposal is not aimed at Texas anglers’ ability to use natural bait.”