Scientists set to find out how many red snapper are actually in the Gulf

A team of 21 scientists from universities and state and federal agencies will attempt to answer one of the Gulf's perplexing questions: How many red snapper are there?

“American communities across the Gulf of Mexico depend on their access to, as well as the longterm sustainability of, red snapper,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in a press release announcing the formation of the team. “I look forward to the insights this project will provide as we study and manage this valuable resource.”

The panel convened by the MississippiAlabama Sea Grant Consortium was awarded $9.5 million in federal funds for the project through a competitive research grant process and will receive another $2.5 million from the universities.

“We've assembled some of the best red snapper scientists around for this study,” said Greg Stunz, the project leader and a professor at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University — Corpus Christi. “The team members assembled through this process are ready to address this challenging research question. There are lots of constituents who want an independent abundance estimate that will be anxiously awaiting our findings.”

The scientists want recreational and commercial vessels to help them by tagging fish, reporting tags and working directly with scientists aboard their vessels, the release said.

“The local knowledge fishermen bring to this process is very valuable and meaningfully informs our study,” Stunz said.

Recreational fishermen in South Mississippi have for years criticized the federal government's accounting of red snapper and its ever shrinking season. They welcome the new study.

“This is a congressional response to complaints recreational anglers have had about federal data and analysis that resulted in the three-day season this past year (luckily extended with indication historic catches in some states),” said F.J. Eicke, chairman of the governmental relations committee of Coastal Conservation Association Mississippi. “The federal government, particularly the Gulf Council and National Marine Fishery Service working the Gulf, has put forth some catch data that simply exceeds the feasible, and then the Gulf Council uses this analysis to put unreasonable limits on recreational anglers that our observations simply know are unrealistic.”