RED SNAPPER 2008
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State WILL conform to the fed regs.
They would have done it this year, BUT the state limits were published for Jan 1, 2007 and the Fed stuff was not in stone /writing until several months latter.
The fact that the state regs were already in Writing, meant that if the state "Changed" then it would not be enforceable down the road. [Any decent lawyer would blow holes in it]
They would have done it this year, BUT the state limits were published for Jan 1, 2007 and the Fed stuff was not in stone /writing until several months latter.
The fact that the state regs were already in Writing, meant that if the state "Changed" then it would not be enforceable down the road. [Any decent lawyer would blow holes in it]
Commercial gets 51% of the annual red snapper TAC. The 08 TAC is being reduced so commercial allocation is bring lowered. Yes, the commercial fisherman is treated the same asrec when the TAC is adjusted. A difference is that the Fed knows exactly how many snapper commercial harvest. That is still a big question on the rec side. If rec does overfish it effectsthe TAC for the next year i.e., TAC is lowered. Somehow the Fed must develop a better system totrack the rec fishery. The commercial side should not be penalizedif the rec side overfishes.
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1,693 Posts
This is really too bad. From what I've seen, snapper are in no short supply. I'm all in favor of regulation to keep it that way, but the methodology is screwed up. We keep killin' 13, 14 and 15" fish and feedin' them to Flipper, just to get two 16" fish. Seems like they should just allow a certain number of fish and that's it. I know some will say, that people will just keep fishing and throw back the shorter fish, but as everyone knows, the bigger the bait the bigger the fish, so if you want to catch a big 'un, you need to have some bigger live bait, but if you can't get it, or can't go out far enough, you could still go a few miles out catch a couple of fish and head home. Maybe I'm oversimplifying things. :hoppingmad
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1,486 Posts
If the powers that be would just realize that point it would save a ton of Snapper. Most all the short Snapper that get released are going to die whether or not flipper is there. There is just too much damage done to their organs from all the pressure of coming up from depth. Make it the first 5 or whatever # then you wouldn't have to kill so many to get your limit. I dont buy the culling argument because the people that cull are going to do it a lot more if they can only keep 2 fish and only fish 3 months of the year.
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6,815 Posts
I understand where everyone is coming from but if the 35,000+ signatures collected from Dec. 06 to Jan 07 didn't stop the federal regs from changing, I don't think the PFF page count has much hope.
Easiest way to fix it is to take what they give you and then prove them wrong as soon as possible.
Accurate recreational effort is part of the solution.
Can anyone say snapper stamp? I'd pay an extra $5 or $10 on my license if that was the only way I could keep snapper. That would also allow them to properly track directed fishing efforts by the recreational anglers.
Part of the "bad data in" X-Shark is talking about is that they -- the federales -- will randomly call some FL license holder and ask them ill conceived questions such as
"Did you bottom fish in 2007?"
A: Yes.
"Did you catch red snapper?"
A: No.
Government logic, there must not be enough red snapper out there.
They did take into account that A)Clevite was from Tennessee and fished in Florida once and was using 10,000-pound test from a public pier in the bay. B) He could be in South Florida where the red snapper population is historically nonexistent or C) He wasn't bottom fishing for snapper.
Am I oversimplifying it? Yes. But I think you're picking up what I'm putting down.
Easiest way to fix it is to take what they give you and then prove them wrong as soon as possible.
Accurate recreational effort is part of the solution.
Can anyone say snapper stamp? I'd pay an extra $5 or $10 on my license if that was the only way I could keep snapper. That would also allow them to properly track directed fishing efforts by the recreational anglers.
Part of the "bad data in" X-Shark is talking about is that they -- the federales -- will randomly call some FL license holder and ask them ill conceived questions such as
"Did you bottom fish in 2007?"
A: Yes.
"Did you catch red snapper?"
A: No.
Government logic, there must not be enough red snapper out there.
They did take into account that A)Clevite was from Tennessee and fished in Florida once and was using 10,000-pound test from a public pier in the bay. B) He could be in South Florida where the red snapper population is historically nonexistent or C) He wasn't bottom fishing for snapper.
Am I oversimplifying it? Yes. But I think you're picking up what I'm putting down.
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5,273 Posts
Think of the tourist $'s that are going to be lost. I have friends in the head/charter business, the new law will kill 45 days of the best part of the season. Why not do a split season like duck hunting, perhaps April 15 to July 1, then Sept 1st to Nov. 1st. How many charter boats will go out of business next year because of the lost business?:boo
How much harder will it be to find amberjack, triggers and b-liners? People who charter/headboat are not going to pay good $'s and not take home a good mess of fish. Charter/headboats cannot make a living with a 120+/- snapper season. :boo
Won't the 2008 Destin Rodeo be lots of fun with no red snapper? :banghead
Sea-r-cy
How much harder will it be to find amberjack, triggers and b-liners? People who charter/headboat are not going to pay good $'s and not take home a good mess of fish. Charter/headboats cannot make a living with a 120+/- snapper season. :boo
Won't the 2008 Destin Rodeo be lots of fun with no red snapper? :banghead
Sea-r-cy
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402 Posts
Has anybody noticed the dates for the OB Red Snapper World Championship April 5-May 26 2008, kinda strange since snapper has been opening up usualy april 21. Almost 2 months long instead of 1 month, they must have knew something was going down.
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1,071 Posts
The commercial size limit was changed to 13" for the reason you mentioned. They tried to make it a commercial fisherman who is allowed 10k pounds of fish will only kill 10k pounds of fish with fewer 13-15.9" inch throwbacks. Not sure if it was a good idea or not. Its not just pounds that matter, numbers matter too. You kill a lot more fish getting 10k pounds of 14 inch fish than 16 inch fish. Obviously, you wouldn't target 14" fish though.
I would like to see real data on catch and release mortality rates for snapper. I see online where people claim that bringing them up from depth stresses them to the point where they die within 24 hours of release but I haven't seen good data on the subject. For one, people go out and tag fish. They catch them, tag them, and throw them back. Later on, someone catches them again. Obviously those fish lived through the first catch.
Also, I've chummed snapper up from 100' of water before. Pulled up on a spot, threw out a couple handfuls of chum and could see snapper eating it. I bet those fish were near the bottom when I got there and they sure didn't make a decompression stop on the way up to eat.
They are pretty tough little things. My dad caught one before that had a healed belly scar from its a$$ to under its gills. Thescar looked like the kind of cut you would make to gut a fish. The only way I can think of a fish getting scarred like that issomeone caught it andmade a cut to gut itandit accidently went back in the water. The darn thing lived, healed, and got caught again.
I have also pulled fish up from 200-400ft of water with their eyes and stomachs poking out. I am under no delusion that a significant numebr of those fish could survive if released.
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6,517 Posts
Years ago while in Pensacola for a wedding, Daniel Meredith of Mereidth Lumber Co, was so gracious to invite me to go fishing with him. We went out two days, at the end of Snapper season. When I :reallycrying about throwing back Snapper (didn't know the regulations at that time, other then the 5 Snapper limit) he told me something that I'll never forget, when I complained about the returned fish and Flipper eating them all. Flipper IS going to eat. Would you rather feed flipper the shorts or would you rather Flipper eat the 10-20#ers. Because Flipper WILL catch and eat them. Now Flipper will eat just so much anyway. Now I never think twice about returning shorts to the wild. Live or die the larger fish will catch what they want.
Now the two fish limit is another story.:banghead:banghead
Now the two fish limit is another story.:banghead:banghead
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