‘Threatened’ Listing Urged for Type of Red Snapper

Three national environmental groups will petition federal officials today to list a type of Pacific red snapper as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

Bocaccio, one of several species sold in the grocery store as Pacific red snapper, was formerly the most abundant ground fish off Southern California. But overfishing, coupled with habitat loss, has decreased its California population by 98% since 1969, said Andrew Wetzler, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Los Angeles.

If bocaccio is listed, it will be the first ocean fish protected under the Endangered Species Act. Fish that spawn in freshwater, such as salmon, have been listed, but previous attempts to declare marine fish in danger of extinction have failed.

A “threatened” designation could legally have huge effects on commercial and recreational fishing. But environmentalists say that if the listing is not approved, the fish will disappear.

“We have [nearly] fished this species into extinction,” said Wetzler.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, along with the Center for Marine Conservation and the Center for Biological Diversity, plans to file the petition to list the Southern and Central California populations with U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans today.

Under the Endangered Species Act, a species can be considered in danger of extinction in a specific region. Bocaccio, which can live 40 years, inhabit rocky reefs on the continental shelf off the Pacific coastline. They range from Alaska to Mexico, but the population the activists are trying to list as threatened stretches from Northern California to the Mexican border.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, part of the Department of Commerce, will probably make the final call.

The agency, which has already declared the species overfished, has 90 days to determine if it has enough information or if further study is warranted. A final decision is required within two years.

If the fish is listed as threatened, federal officials could ban all commercial and sportfishing of it. But fisheries officials and environmentalists agree that such a move is highly unlikely.

Wetzler said a ban on commercial harvesting is more likely, because sportfishermen wouldn’t know they had caught a bocaccio until they reeled it in. Even if the fish were tossed back, they probably would die because of swim bladders that cannot rapidly deflate as they are reeled to the surface. The pressure change can kill the fish.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council, an interstate group created by Congress that advises the federal government about fish populations on the West Coast, says that commercial and recreational fishing of bocaccio is already limited under strict federal regulations and that the listing is not necessary. Jim Glock, a coordinator for the Portland, Ore.-based council, said annual quotas on catches, for instance, should be enough, rather than having “decisions made at some headquarters in D.C.”

Glock said the existing regulations, coupled with the quotas, mean the species will recover in 38 years.

California commercial fishermen are limited to 100 metric tons of bocaccio this year. In 1984, they caught 3,952 metric tons. One metric ton equals 2,200 pounds.

Recreational fishermen are limited to two each, for an expected total of 48 metric tons this year, he said.

But environmentalists say quotas fail to account for fish being unintentionally caught during commercial trawling for other species--what is called bycatch. Federal funding has been set aside for a pilot program that would place observers on commercial boats to measure bycatch.

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Fish Watch

Three environmental groups plan to petition the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to invoke the Endangered Species Act and designate bocaccio, or Pacific red snapper, as threatened in the waters off Southern and Central California.

Source: Natural Resources Defense Council