They Really Just Don’t Listen To Anybody, Do They?
The State of Florida, by way of the FWC, had a small chance to take a small stand against foolish over-regulation by the feds, specifically the red snapper over-regulation. So how did they respond, in the face of overwhelming anecdotal evidence that the figures showing red snapper as overfished are nothing short of ridiculous? They shut down State waters for another 78 days to bring it in line with the Feds and to help put a few more Floridian charter fishermen and recreational fishermen either out of business or faced with less and less reason to continue to invest in their recreational boats and support one more Florida industry is how they are responding.
(Editor: On Thurs. Feb 5,2009 they took action as expected and shortened the recreational season to match the feds.)
Who is this guy kidding?
Stan Kirkland, FWC spokesperson, said, “Red snapper are to be considered over fished. So this is an effort to put our regulations in line with NOAA’s regulations for federal waters.”
So, err, screw the Florida fishermen, eh Stan? Just so long as we toe that NOAA line? Have you seen this letter or any of the thousands of others like it yet? This one was written by Steve Bartlett who owns and runs the N2Deep Divers dive school and shop in Apalachicola, Florida. Steve also does a bit of spearfishing and some commercial fishing as well as training new divers and taking recreational fishermen on charters and dive trips. I’d say he has pretty much seen what is going on out there for himself.
In the past 10 years I have seen a steady increase in the percentage of red snapper on the reefs and natural bottom. Ten years ago if you were diving on a wreck off of Frankin County, FL you would see a few reds (snappers) swimming around checking you out.
We dove 4 different sites on Jan 23 2009 . It felt like we were being stalked by a school of red piranhas. we are not talking a few, we are talking thousands of them. Most of the fish were between 19 and 30 inches.
Well, that certainly seems to contradict any judgement that they are overfished and in any danger. Tell us again why you are going to take away a further 78 days from Florida fishermen, Mr. Kirkland? Oh yeah, I remember….
“Red snapper are to be considered over fished.”
Can somebody, ANYBODY, tell me what the real point of all this is?
(Editor: The poster of the preceding is a commercial fisherman, a boat owner and a reef fish permit holder who is expressing his own opinion.)
