Recreational fishermen caught a lot fewer red snapper than they were allowed to in 2010, thanks in part to the season-shortening oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Roy Crabtree, the National Marine Fisheries Service official in charge of Gulf fisheries, said the 2010 recreational harvest was about a million pounds short of the 3.4-million-pound quota.

Some regulators say the time has come to re-evaluate management of the fishery. The biggest change could be the way the Gulf's red snapper harvest is split between commercial and recreational fishermen. Currently, commercial fishermen have been allowed to catch 51 percent of the annual harvest, while the recreational side is allocated 49 percent of the catch.

The allocations will be up for discussion at the April meeting of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.

Federal fisheries law requires harvests to be allocated according to socioeconomic benefit. Recreational fishing groups say that means they should be allowed to catch a larger portion of the Gulf red snapper harvest.

"Those allocations are 20 years old. It is something we've needed to look at for a long time, but we've been so preoccupied with the overfishing problem," said Bob Shipp, a member of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and head of the marine sciences department at the University of South Alabama.

"If the council looks at the socioeconomic impacts, then they can change the allocations," he said.

But Crabtree, whose agency must approve allocations made by the Gulf Council, said the argument goes beyond economics and that an equitable split might not mean an equal split.

"You can't make decisions based solely on economics," he said. "It goes more to what would produce the most benefit for the nation. There is value in people getting enjoyment out of going fishing. The allocations have to be fair and equitable. They have to promote conservation ... it's a tricky thing. I suspect there will be a lot of intense discussions" (Ben Raines, Mobile Press-Register, March 21). -- PK