Start of Alabama Red Snapper Seasons Confirms Abundance

Powers said people have asked him what's wrong with the red snapper fishing because they are discarding more fish because the average size is lower. However, Powers said a significant change would have to be made the season length to change the population dynamics.

"If they want to go back to where the average size is 10 pounds, then we have to go back to nine-day seasons," he said. "Those big fish are still out there, but it's not as easy to catch one. I am confident that everybody can go out there and get their two 16-inch (minimum size) snapper relatively easily. For the really big snapper, you have to target them. You have to have better sites that aren't fished that much, and you have to be a fisherman again."

Starting in 2017, Commissioner Blankenship led the Gulf states to work with Congress and the U.S. Department of Commerce to establish a pilot program for state management of red snapper. In 2020, NOAA Fisheries issued a final rule allowing the Gulf states to manage their red snapper fisheries. The first Alabama quota was a little more than 1.1 million pounds. Powers considers this year's quota to be the sweet spot.

"I'm really comfortable with the recreational harvest at 660,000 pounds," he said. "When we were harvesting around 1 million pounds, I think that was too much. That's when we started seeing the average size decrease pretty dramatically. Even though the average size is lower, we are seeing the average size tick back up in the last couple of years.

"It's remarkable to me how quickly this fishery responds to changes. We rebuilt this fishery from its low point in the early 2000s fairly quickly, more quickly than the feds thought possible. When we reduced the length of the season, we saw the average size skyrocket up. After we increased the season, we saw it respond fairly quickly. So, I'm comfortable that the average size will tick back up if we keep the harvest where it is."

Powers also advocates for people to keep the first two legal-sized red snapper they catch and not try to high-grade to larger fish, which increases the discard mortality.

"If you want bigger fish, use a sow rig with better bait and keep it up in the water column," he said. "Use your electronics. There are a lot of things people can do to increase the chances that the first two fish they catch are keepers, which are the ones they should keep. Another thing is later in the season, the artificial reefs closer to shore have mostly sub-legal fish. You go farther offshore, you get bigger fish. That's what frustrates the charter boat guys. They want to go out and burn the minimum fuel as they can, and then come back and do two, sometimes three, trips a day.

"But everything is a balance. If you want a snapper season that consistently lasts through the summer, then you're going to have to accept that it's going to be a little more difficult to catch a legal snapper. You're really going to have to be a skilled fisherman and do your research to catch a big snapper."

Powers said the outstanding result of the reports is the health of the red snapper population and the number of new fish (recruits) showing up in the survey, which also shows an increase of abundance for greater amberjack and triggerfish.

"I think some of that can be attributed to the salinity in the Gulf," he said. "We've had very good environmental conditions the last few years, and we have an abundance of artificial reefs."

MRD Director Scott Bannon said the stock surveys started by Commissioner Blankenship and the surveys started by Dr. Shipp assure him that the red snapper population off the Alabama coast is in great shape.

"The Shipp trip data has been collected for the past 30 years, the longest dataset in the Gulf of America," Bannon said. "Along with the ROV data, they give us an annual snapshot of the stock of reef fish in the Alabama reef zone. What they've shown us over the years is a general upward trend for most of the species, and they give us information about the health of our reef zones. When we are looking at state management for recreational red snapper, we are confident that the quota we have is appropriate and not in any way detrimental to the stock."

Bannon said the USA and MRD data estimates the number of artificial reefs at 12,000. The reef zone covers about 1,200 square miles of Gulf bottom, the largest reef zone in the world.

"Our reef zone is designed to accommodate fish from birth to death, basically," he said. "We have reefs designed for the juvenile fish before they move off to these larger structures. When the fish get larger and older, they actually move away from the structure. We feel confident that our population is healthy and that recruitment is good. That means there are plenty of babies being born every year to sustain the level of fishing we have now. We feel we have a well-managed, healthy reef zone.

"We also know that some anglers want to catch fish of a certain size. When we started state management, we knew we could manage for people to fish a lot or we could manage for big fish. If you're going to manage for big fish, that means a much shorter season. We decided on a season where people can go as many days as possible when it's convenient for them, and they'll still be able to keep legal fish."

Bannon also reminds anglers that the annual $10 Alabama Gulf Reef Fish Endorsement funds the USA Gulf surveys.

"There's no other state that has this type of data, and we get this every year," he said. "The Gulf Reef Fish Endorsement was designed to fund that research and have funding in place to continue this research. This data is so invaluable to us. That money for the Reef Fish Endorsement really returns right back to the person with the opportunities that we have."

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