Red Snapper Fishery
Case Number: SLS No. 98-018
Title: Red Snapper Fishery, Part 1
Case Files:
Teaching Note: SLS No. 98-020 (forthcoming)
Author: Mary J. Decker, Case Writer; Barton H. (“Buzz”) Thompson, Jr., Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law
Abstract: In January of 1998, the regional administrator for the southeast regional office of the National Marine Fisheries Service is faced with a difficult decision: how to allocate red snapper to commercial and recreational fishermen in the coming year. Armed with admittedly limited information on the status of snapper populations, and politically squeezed between commercial, recreational and conservation interests, the administrator must choose an option that complies with the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act.
Key Words: Fisheries, fisheries management, National Marine Fisheries Service, Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, red snapper, Gulf of Mexico.
Case Number: SLS No. 98-019
Title: Red Snapper Fishery, Part 2
Case Files:
Teaching Note: SLS No. 98-020 (forthcoming)
Author: Mary J. Decker, Case Writer; Barton H. (“Buzz”) Thompson, Jr., Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law
Abstract: Continuing from Part 1, this case study focuses on the issue of Individual Transferable Quotas (“ITQs”) and their applicability to the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery. Attorneys for the Environmental Defense Fund are faced with the task of overcoming legal hurdles and convincing the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, the National Marine Fisheries Service, fishermen and other conservation groups that ITQs are the best way to restore the fishery to biological and economic health.
Key Words: Fisheries, fisheries management, Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, Individual Transferable Quotas (“ITQs”), red snapper, Gulf of Mexico.