Fishermen get good, bad news on black sea bass limits

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council received a new stock assessment on black sea bass this week and also was set to vote on new size limits for the species at its final meeting of 2011 in Raleigh, N.C.

The stock assessment determined that black sea bass are no longer overfished and the annual catch limit (ACL) could be increased substantially, which is good news for fishermen, according to council member Tom Swatzel of Murrells Inlet.

There is a caveat, however.

“Because NOAA does a poor job of tracking both the commercial and recreational catch, the ACLs were substantially exceeded for a number of years,” Swatzel said. “So by law those overages are being subtracted from the new annual catch limit, (which makes it) unlikely to prevent early closures of the (black sea bass) fishery over the next several years.”

Even though black sea bass are now classified as not being overfished, the developments at the meeting offered no hope to local fishermen who depend on catching black sea bass for their winter and early spring livelihood, for 2011-2012 and at least the next two fishing years to come.

The fishing season in the South Atlantic region begins annually on June 1. During 2011 the recreational black sea bass fishery remained open for only approximately 4 ½ months.

Black sea bass are a staple species for local fishermen - commercial and recreational - and the species is currently closed for both fishing sectors. Recreational fishing for black sea bass closed on Oct. 17 while commercial fishing closed on July 15. Neither will reopen until June 1.

On Wednesday, the SAFMC’s snapper-grouper committee adopted an ACL of 718,000 pounds for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 fishing years for black sea bass, which means the current ACL remains unchanged. The development further solidifies the likelihood of early closures for black sea bass in the next two fishing years.

“Since the ACL will still be at the 2011 level of 718,000 pounds, I think (in 2012) the recreational season will be even shorter than this year,” Swatzel said. “(Different) bag and size limits are being looked at as a possible means of keeping the fishery open longer (but) I can envision a late summer closure with this ACL.”

Then, on Thursday, the council’s snapper-grouper committee approved increasing the minimum size limit for black sea bass by one inch – to 13 inches for recreational anglers and 11 inches for commercial fishermen - and did not change the 5-fish daily bag limit for recreational anglers.

Those recommendations are part of Snapper-Grouper Amendment 18A and the council was expected to vote on the changes Friday.

If the increase in minimum size limit were to be approved, Swatzel projected the recreational black sea bass fishery could stay open through sometime in August or September during the 2012-13 fishing year.

The council held a series of seven public hearings in November and December to solicit public input on management measures impacting black sea bass, red grouper and wreckfish, with black sea bass the hot-button issue locally.

One hearing was held in North Myrtle Beach at Avista Resort on Nov. 14 and the final hearing was held Tuesday in conjunction with the SAFMC meeting.

“While there were very vocal fishermen at the public hearing (Tuesday) who expressed their frustration with continued closures of the black sea bass fishery despite their obvious abundance, turnout was light, probably because of the Raleigh location of the meeting, which is unfortunate,” Swatzel said.