SPANISH FORT — If you live on the Gulf Coast, whether you have used a cane pole or a rod and reel, you’ve probably heard the story about the fish that got away — but what if this area was overfished?

Ray Small, a recreational fisherman, began studying fish and realized how the Gulf of Mexico has been overexploited over decades.

“I got fired up. I have lived here for so long that I have developed a love for Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico,” said Small, who has lived in Spanish Fort for 34 years.

Small was one of the speakers at a rally held on October 10 in Cathedral Square in Mobile when a coalition letter was released to the public requesting an end to overfishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

It was addressed to Dr. William Hogarth of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Washington, D.C. A diverse group of 60 organizations have joined the coalition.

The coalition includes local fishing associations in Alabama and Florida, environmental groups, charter boat services, marine scientists, divers, ecotourism groups and tourism providers.

Emily Stone, a Greencorps organizer for U.S. PIRG-Fisheries Campaign said overfishing is no longer just an environmental issue.

“Overfishing needs to be halted before conditions get more serious,” she said. “The Gulf of Mexico is being mismanaged and abusers are slipping through the cracks.”

The letter gives recommendations to the National Marine Fisheries Service for new government regulations that are being drafted for the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act addresses ocean and conservation legislation, which functions as a type of management framework for federal waters and American oceans, Stone said. This act will impact the next 10 years on fishing management and practices.

The act is reauthorized every 10 years, according to Stone, and in 1996, regulations were drafted and enacted, but loopholes existed, she said. Stone said the bill didn’t require strong accountability for fishery managers and allowed mismanagement of use

Citizens need to look at the long-term effect of overfishing instead of the short term, Stone said.

“Fishing is critical to the economy, culture and history, and it is important that it remains protected,” she said.

There is a broad base of community support to stop overfishing.

“We have collected over l,000 public comments from Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and will submit all comments to Dr. Hogarth as well,” she said. “The fishing population is still suffering. We have had to rebuild the red snapper population.”

She further stated that overfishing still remains an issue across the Gulf, because regulations have not been strong.

Hopefully, the revised bill will incorporate better and independent science, require annual catch limits and a buffer level to keep catch below the level of overfishing, and have strong accountability measures put into place with penalties or compensation given, she said.

President Mike Bosarge of the Mobile Bay Kayak Fishing Association said, “The reason the MBKFA supports this letter that we have signed is that the National Marine Fisheries Service needs to start doing legitimate scientific research on the fish population and the health of the Gulf of Mexico and to stop setting limits without incorporating legitimate research.”

If they don’t, areas may be overfished or under fished, and according to Bosarge, “There won’t be a seafood industry left.”

U.S. PIRG, a public interest research group includes researchers, advocates, students and organizers. It were started 30 years ago and volunteers are working on issues that are of concern to the public, such as clean air and water. Recent work has included addressing how the oceans have been mismanaged.

Small now volunteers for a marine fish conservation network and a PIRG, both of which are environmental groups that take on these issues, he said. He still loves to fish, especially down off of Ft. Morgan Road.

“A lot of fish are overfished — red snapper, amberjack, trigger fish, grouper and some migratory species have trouble, including tuna and swordfish. One fish that is almost an endangered species is the Alabama shad,” he said adding right now there are no consequences for overfishing.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act was supposed to end overfishing, but needs stronger language, he said. The currently act requires every fishery to end overfishing by 2011, he said.

“We want to make sure they follow the letter of the law,” Small said. “We are not speaking out against fisherman, but speaking for sustainable management of fisheries.”

Big commercial trawlers need to have better bicatch exclusion devices, to help save birds, mammals, turtles and other sea life.

“For one pound of shrimp, they may discard bicatch of seven pounds,” he said. “The Gulf of Mexico belongs to the public, and it is being overexploited,” he said.