Direct Enhancement of Snapper Conservation and the Economy Through Novel Devices Act of 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for allowing me the time to speak on an issue that is important to my district and something I want other parts of the country to benefit from as well.

As you can see, Mr. Speaker, I know a thing or two about fishing. In fact, Mr. Speaker, it has been said that fish tremble at the mention of my name. Mr. Speaker, it has been said that, if you put me in water, I will catch fish.

This is a red snapper. This is a red snapper. It was not caught on the Gulf Coast; it was caught on the Atlantic Coast. You see, Mr. Speaker, I represent the best district in the Nation, the entire coast of Georgia, and this was caught off the coast of Georgia.

But in our district fishing, is not just a hobby, it is a way of life. In fact, it is an essential part of coastal economies. That is why it is critical that we maintain and manage our fisheries in a sustainable way.

This bill that we are discussing today, the DESCEND Act, would help do just that by expanding mandatory use of descending devices in the Gulf of Mexico when fishing for popular reef fish. We use these devices on the Atlantic Coast now. In fact, I have used them before when I have fished.

Reef fish, like red snapper that you see here, are very popular fish to fish for, but they are mostly caught, as was pointed out earlier, near the bottom of the ocean, and often they must be released because they are out of season or because of size restrictions.

Unfortunately, though, when they are reeled to the surface, as Representative Graves so accurately described, when they are reeled to the surface, the decreased water pressure on the fish's internal organs allow for gases to expands faster than their bodies can compensate. This makes it nearly impossible for the fish to return to the bottom, where their organs can function normally, resulting in the death of the fish that are caught and released.

Descending devices like was shown earlier by Representative Graves fix this issue by releasing the fish into depths sufficient enough for the fish to be able to recover from these damaging effects. This is an effective conservation practice supported by fishermen and regulators alike, and it has been successful in places like my district along the coast of Georgia in the south Atlantic and the West Coast.

I support this effort to bring this to the Gulf Coast, and I urge my colleagues to as well. It is a simple and effective approach to improve the survival of fish that are caught and released that will help maintain healthy populations going forward.

Mr. Speaker, we want to help our partners in the Gulf Coast so that perhaps, possibly, they could catch a fish this big, and certainly that is the intent, and this will certainly help them.

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