Plans are in the works to limit the minimum catch size of parrotfish caught in federal waters off St. Croix by both commercial and recreational fishermen, and the National Marine Fisheries Service would like to hear what the public has to say about the matter by April 10.
The size limit would stand at 8 inches for redband parrotfish and 9 inches for all other parrotfish. The size is smaller for redband parrotfish because that species reaches sexual maturity at a smaller size than other species of parrotfish.
The new regulation, if approved, would apply only to St. Croix because fishermen on that island catch them for food.
“There is no real parrotfish fishery in St. Thomas and St. John,” Bill Arnold, Caribbean chief for the Fisheries Service, said Wednesday.
Roy Pemberton, director of the territory’s Fish and Wildlife Service, had a slightly different take on the popularity of parrotfish on St. Thomas and St. John. He said they are sold commercially but agreed that the numbers weren’t as large as on St. Croix.
Arnold said fishermen were prone to spear or catch fish – smaller than the proposed size limits – that hadn’t yet reached maturity, which impacts the ability of the species to reproduce.
Again, Pemberton disagreed slightly, saying that while studies were done on the sexual maturity of redband parrotfish, the jury is still out on how big other parrotfish are when they are able to reproduce.
On Dec. 30, 2011, the Fisheries Service prohibited the harvest of midnight, blue and rainbow parrotfish, and established recreational bag and possession limits for the other parrotfish species.
Arnold said those species are the big ones that were long ago fished out. He said it’s way too early to determine the ban has made a difference.
According to the Federal Register, which lists the proposed minimum size limit, an estimated 142 of St. Croix’s 177 small businesses in the Finfish Fishing Industry are expected to be affected by this proposed rule.
None of the three small businesses in the charter fishing industry are expected to be affected because for-hire fishing boats in the U.S. Caribbean tend to target pelagic species and other sport fish, not parrotfish.
The Federal Register listing indicates that parrotfish perform an important ecological function on U.S. Caribbean coral reefs. They graze on algae, which competes for space with a variety of coral species. This ecological role has become more relevant in the past 30 years as the longspine sea urchin, another important coral reef grazer, has declined in population throughout the Caribbean.
Federal waters extend from three miles off shore to up to 200 miles, where the waters become international.
Arnold said he hopes the territory will implement regulations that mirror the federal ones. He said the local government is still working on the implementation of the 2011 regulations banning the fishing of midnight, blue and rainbow parrotfish.
Pemberton said that while the local government is still working on the regulations for the larger parrotfish, local fishermen have already implemented their own. They don’t fish for the larger parrotfish and they’re making sure the smaller parrotfish they catch met the minimum size requirements, he said.
According to Pemberton, fishermen want fish in a size that will sell. He said that in the case of parrotfish, they need to fit on a dinner plate.
Arnold added that the minimum size limit regulation request came from local fishermen working through the Caribbean Fishery Management Council.
St. Croix resident Carlos Farchette, who chairs the council, said he personally interviewed the St. Croix fishermen to come up with a size limit that was acceptable to them.
“They were fighting to get a plate-sized parrotfish,” Farchette said, echoing remarks made by Pemberton.
To comment electronically, go to www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2013-0009, click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
Submit written comments to Britni Tokotch, Southeast Regional Office, NMFS, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.
