JoeZ

Well, from the reports I heard out of today's meeting in Mobile we're getting June and July for snapper but the Total Allowable Catch has gone up.



They are letting us catch 6 and some odd million pounds but because they increased the average weight of fish in the equation (rightfully so) to 4 pounds (and that's awfully low) we're getting fewer days.



Oh joy.

J.Sharit

Still the same daily bag limit ? I got lost in the 6 million pound thing.

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JoeZ

Yep. 2 fish per person a day.



Do the math. We get 49% of about 6 or 6.5 million pounds. We would need 40,000 people catching fish everyday of the 60-day season to hit the mark. Seems a little absurd to me.

J.Sharit

well you have to go to this special gummit math school. your a regular guy you not suppose to be able to figure that out. It's the same math guy that works for the irs...

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Matt Mcleod

<SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Chris Phillips and I went to the NMFS meeting in Mobile today. The options for next years red snapper season were discussed along with some discussion about grouper. There was no public comment at today?s meeting, that will be tomorrow. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The short of it is that it looks like next years snapper season will be about 60 days long. Last years season was 75 days long. This is actually the best option that was proposed to the counsel, the other two were even shorter. The gulf counsel recognizes that the snapper stocks are healthy and the season should be longer but, and it seems many of the NMFS members share the same feelings. Again Roy Crabtree seems to be a voice of opposition to fishermen and not willing to work towards a longer season. <o></o><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">With Crabtree being a major exception, the overall tone of the meeting seemed to be in support of both commercial and recreational fishermen. The science and data used is an absolute joke but that has been beaten like a dead horse so I will let it die. <o></o>

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markw4321

See or hear anything on the SOS plan while you were there?

Mark

Matt Mcleod

The SOS plan was not mentioned.

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Captain Matt Mcleod
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Pinksnappertrapper

This is BULLSHIT, although i cant bitch to much because i wasn't there today. But i have a pretty good reason. I broke my foot and im outta commission for a little bit.

This is still BULLSHIT.

Chris Phillips

<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>After getting home and reading the draft regulatory amendment it actually says that if they go with alternative #2 which was motioned at the meeting that we will have a 51-60 day season. Public testimony and discussion amongst the Gulf Council will be the next two days so things could change. There are a number of different things and people after this week that it must go through before the rule is actually set though.<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>I think we should probably take one more shot at trying to convince the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commissioners to stray away from the feds and have a separate state waters season. The problem this year is that the February meeting will be too early and I?ve been told that red snapper will not even be on the agenda for discussion. I was told last week when I talked to a state spokesman that will be on the agenda either in April (Tallahassee) or June (Winter Park) in which the season would already be underway. I think a 4-6 month state season would be awesome!<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o></o><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>If we ended up having to travel to Winter Park would enough people be interested in going on a bus if Hot Spots paid for it? I have the Draft Regulatory Amendment at the store if anyone would like to stop by and look through it. I should also have it in an email in the next few days where I would be able to forward it.

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user5505

Did Texas get any penalties for not following the feds last year?

May help the Florida regulators grow some balls!!!!