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✅ Proposed Goals:

1. Oppose lowering SPR from 40% to 30% (TOP PRIORITY in this meeting)

   • This is a fundamental issue of fishery sustainability

   • Once it decreases, it is certainly NEVER going to increase back to 40% ever again.

   • Argument: “You don’t lower the bar just because you’re not meeting it.”

2. We can tackle slot size and creel limit changes in future meetings.

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Let us focus on the results of the Federal Stock Assessment confirming Georgia is in an Overfished and Overfishing state and put our energy into actions that will help our fishery recover in the quickest time possible.

Southern Red Drum stock has been overfished and is experiencing overfishing. Georgia has not revised outdated fishing regulations in over 30 years. Hold Georgia accountable as a regional partner to adopt lower, more responsible limits.

TOP PRIORITY: VOTE FOR 3.3 STATUS QUO (No SPR change.)
THEN we focus on Redfish Regulations to ensure the fishery recovers to 40% SPR or higher!

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Red Drum Advocacy – Quick Reference Cheat Sheet

KEEP 40% SPR – KEY FACTS

• 2024 Federal Stock Assessment: red drum need 28% recovery to reach 40% SPR.

• Some southern states want to lower the target to 30%, avoiding necessary regulatory changes to ensure they meet the 40% SPR target.

• 40% SPR = minimum for resilience, reproduction, sustainability. Allows time to proactively make regulation changes to ensure we don’t ever reach 30% SPR which is the threshold that determines your fishery is experiencing OVERFISHING.

• 30% SPR = is meant to be the emergency threshold, not a management goal - only an emergency threshold! If the SPR falls below 30%, the stock is considered overfished.

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RISKS OF LOWERING SPR

• Endorses continued overfishing. 

• Gives a fishery no time to react. (We all see how long it takes to make and approve new fishing regulations… we clearly need time to react).

• Undermines public trust doctrine.

• Sets a dangerous precedent for all publicly owned fisheries in Georgia and the South Atlantic.

 

MINI SOUNDBITES: (for <30 sec delivery)

• Red drum need a 28% recovery to reach 40% SPR—lowering to 30% ignores science and risks overfishing.

• Keep 40% SPR for red drum—our shared fisheries belong to all Georgians.

• Bigger fish, more spawning, sustainable fishing—40% SPR protects red drum for today & tomorrow.
   

ALTERNATIVE SOUNDBITE OPTIONS:

Emotional / Public Trust:
 Red drum are a public trust resource and Georgia’s state gamefish. 40% SPR protects them for future generations; lowering it to 30% sacrifices long-term sustainability.

Data-Driven / Scientific:
 The 2024 stock assessment shows red drum need a 28% recovery to reach 40% SPR. 1,300 public comments, 75% in favor of stronger protections — keep 40%.

Policymaker / “Everybody Wins”:
 Keeping 40% SPR means bigger fish, more spawning, and sustainable fishing for everyone. Lowering it to 30% shortchanges both fish and anglers.


 

CLARIFICATIONS/VERBIAGE/GLOSSARY:

DECREASED/INCREASED ACCESS - You will hear that maintaining a 40% SPR "decreases access" and revising to a 30% SPR would "increase access" to redfish. Actual meaning of "access" is referring to the resulting slot change associated with each SPR level. At a 40% SPR the Southern States would need to achieve a 28% reduction in fish kept and to achieve that each fishery would most likely have to decrease the CREEL (# fish per person per day) + provide a slot change most likely resulting in a increasing the lower end or decreasing the upper end of a slot. Thus decreasing "access" to the sizes you can keep. That is what they mean by "ACCESS".

 

SPAWNING POTENTIAL RATIO (SPR) - The Spawning Potential Ratio (SPR) is the main benchmark used to assess whether the stock is healthy enough to sustain itself. Georgia calculates Red Drum SPR by modeling how many eggs an average recruit produces with and without fishing, using biological data (age, growth, maturity, fertility) and fishery data (mortality, harvest, effort). That ratio gives managers a standardized measure of spawning potential, with 40% SPR as the conservation benchmark. EXAMPLE: An SPR of 100% means that there is NO fishing and NO fishing pressure. An extreme example, we know, but it does help understand Spawning Potential Rate or a fishes potential to spawn.

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SPR MANAGEMENT BENCHMARKS (Target vs Threshold) - For Red Drum in the South Atlantic (including Georgia):

• The management TARGET is usually SPR ≥ 40% which determines a healthy fishery.

• If the SPR is decreasing below the 40% SPR TARGET, the fishery is experiencing overfishing.

• If the SPR falls below the 30% SPR THRESHOLD, the stock is considered overfished.

• This is Georgia's current CREEL:

  • Slot limit (14–23 inches TL; only sub-adults may be kept)

  • Bag limit (5 fish/person/day)

  • No vessel cap (Captains are currently included as an additional 5 fish)

  • No commercial harvest / Game Fish Status

• Stricter measures are needed to protect spawning adults offshore while allowing some harvest of juveniles.

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OVERFISHED vs OVERFISHING - 

Overfished:

• Definition: The stock size (biomass or spawning potential) is too low to sustain the population.

• How it’s measured: For Red Drum and many other species, this is tied to the Spawning Potential Ratio (SPR).

• Example: If the SPR falls below 30%, the stock is considered OVERFISHED.

• Analogy: Think of a bank account — being “overfished” means the balance is already too low to generate interest.

Overfishing:

• Definition: The rate of removal (fishing mortality, F) is too high and will eventually drive the stock down.

• How it’s measured: If fishing mortality exceeds the threshold that would maintain the stock at the 40% SPR TARGET (e.g., fishing too many juveniles before they spawn), it’s OVERFISHING.

• Analogy: Using the same bank account example — “overfishing” means you’re spending money faster than the account can replenish, even if you still have money left.​

• Basically, Overfished = status of the stock (too low already) and Overfishing = status of the fishing pressure (too high now)​

Relationship - A stock can be:

• Not overfished and no overfishing → Healthy stock.

• Not overfished, but overfishing is occurring → Stock is still okay, but if high harvest continues, it will become overfished.

• Overfished, but no overfishing → Stock is depleted, but current fishing pressure is reduced to allow rebuilding.

• Overfished and overfishing → Worst case; stock is low and still being over-harvested.
  This is where we stand currently with an estimated SPR of 18-20%. This is half of the current SPR Target and 10% lower than the overfishing Threshold.

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Instead of focusing on recovering back to the 40% Target which will take a 28% reduction in our current fishing regulations to achieve, the southern states and politicians want to move the current target from 40% to 30% making our situation look less dire. Yet another tactic to not make the responsible decision to help our fishery recover to the 40% SPR standard that has been in place for the past 30+ years.

 

If the SPR target is lowered from 40% to 30%, we dramatically increase the risk that our redfish fishery will take decades—or possibly centuries—to recover, if it recovers at all. Rather than implementing science-based regulations to reduce harvest today, this proposal would shift the burden to future generations. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, NOAA and federal regulators do have authority to impose stricter measures (including closures or catch-and-release only) in federal waters or for shared stocks if states fail to adopt fishery rebuilding plans.