U.S. Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) and Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) are touting the passage of their legislation to combat snapper poaching, which is an issue across the Gulf of Mexico.
On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee advanced the Illegal Red Snapper Enforcement Act, introduced by Alabama's two senators and Commerce Committee ranking member U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). The act would require the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a standard methodology for identifying the country of origin of red snapper imported into the United States.
Technology exists to chemically test and find the geographic origin of many foods, but not red snapper.
The legislation would create a field test kit the Coast Guard could use to determine whether fish were caught in Mexico or U.S. waters. This would allow federal and state law enforcement officers to identify the origin of the fish and confiscate illegally caught red snapper before they are imported back into the United States.
A release from Britt noted, "[A]bout 100,000 red snapper are harvested off of Alabama’s coast, accounting for almost a third of the total recreational harvest in the Gulf of Mexico. Latest data reports that recreational and commercial fishing supports over 12,000 jobs in the state and contributes more than $1.1 billion in sales annually to the state economy."
Britt called red snapper a "core component of Coastal Alabama’s economy" and thanked Cruz for getting the legislation through committee.
“Red snapper is a core component of Coastal Alabama’s economy, and I’m proud to fight to protect our hardworking fishermen and food producers," she stated. "This bill would combat malicious, illegal activity by cartel-backed poachers who are endangering the livelihoods of law-abiding Americans and encroaching on our territorial sovereignty. I’m thankful to Senator Cruz for shepherding this important legislation to ensure fairness for U.S. fishermen and families through the Senate Commerce Committee. Senator Schumer should now bring this commonsense legislation to the floor.”
Tuberville lamented that the red snapper industry was being "undermined" and hurting Alabama fishermen.
“Alabama lands 34 percent of all recreationally caught Red Snapper in the Gulf,” said Tuberville. “Unfortunately, our domestic Red Snapper industry is being undermined by Mexican fishermen who are illegally catching these fish in the Gulf, smuggling them into Mexico, and then reselling the same fish back to Americans. In addition to taking business away from Alabamian fishermen, many of the profits from these illegal fishing operations are funding the cartels. I’m proud to join Senator Cruz in introducing the Illegal Red Snapper Enforcement Act to stop illegal Red Snapper from flooding our markets and bankrupting our great fishermen.”
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email trent.baker@1819news.com.
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