The catch of the day on the bottom fishing trip mainly vermilion snapper and grouper was typical for the Carolina coast. It is told that catches on such trips will be severely limited, or simply illegal depending on the month of the year, in the foreseeable future in the Southeast after Amendment 16 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region went into effect Wednesday.
It is said that the changes in regulations affect vermilion snapper and grouper, which along with black sea bass are the staple catch on bottom fishing trips for fishermen in the Grand Strand area from Brunswick County, N.C., to Georgetown.
The recreational bag limit for vermilion snapper, known locally as beeliners, has been reduced from 10 fish per person per day to five. Vermilion snapper will have a closed season (no harvest allowed) from November through March for recreational anglers. Commercial quotas are set for gag grouper (352,940 pounds gutted weight) and vermilion snapper (315,523 pounds gutted weight from January through June; 302,523 pounds gutted weight July through December).
Many professional fishermen in the Southeast are affected by these changes. They are particularly unhappy with the four-month closure of the grouper fishery from January through April, which will put a major dent in his commercial fishing revenue. Previously, commercial anglers faced a two-month closure of March and April.
Capt. Tom Swatzel of Murrells Inlet is a member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, which approved the amendment by an 8-5 vote during a Sept. 15 meeting in Charleston. Swatzel voted against the amendment in part because he believes that unreliable data has been used in the stock assessments that spawned the amendment.
