Corpusfishing.com

[Rebecca of Sunnybrookfarm]

with the looming approval of Amendment 40, I'd like to take a poll here to gauge how people fish for the red snappa's......

basically, those who go on charter boats will get more days to fish.....although this will be at the expense of people who either have boats or are lucky enough to be able to bum rides out on the blue.....

let's see your answers.....I'm curious....
becky
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[Oil Field Trash II]

I'm fishing my STATE WATERS.... 365 days a year if I want. screw the feds...

[Rebecca of Sunnybrookfarm]

this is the fun stuff going on at the Gulf Council meeting right now.....

Gulf Council Update - January, 2015



The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council met in Point Clear, Alabama, January 26 - 29, 2015, to discuss a number of fishery issues, including regional management for recreational red snapper and red snapper allocation. Here are some of the actions taken by the Council last week.



Red Snapper Update

The Council heard an update on the Red Snapper Stock Assessment, including information on the 2014 provisional red snapper catch estimates. The Council also received the overfishing limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC) recommendations from its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC).

The Council asked staff to prepare a framework action to increase the red snapper annual catch limit (ACL) based on revised ABCs using the 2014 provisional red snapper catch estimates. Because the SSC has not yet seen the provisional catch estimates or revised ABCs, they must review those estimates and determine whether to approve the revised ABCs. The SSC will meet via webinar February 19, 2015 from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm eastern time.

The Council will then hold a special meeting via Webinar, March 3, 2015, from 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm eastern time, to review the SSC ABC recommendations and take final action on a framework action to increase the ACL accordingly.

Red Snapper Allocation - Amendment 28

The Council reviewed a revised draft of Amendment 28, which considers reallocating a portion of the commercial quota to the recreational sector. After amending the purpose and need statement, the Council added two alternatives to Action 1.

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[Central Scrutinizer]

^^ You got to follow that up with a synopsis of those two new alternatives, both of which would increase the harvest for the rec sector.

Alternative 8 would push the numbers higher and allot it to the rec sector due to the recalibration of the MRIP estimates, and
Alternative 9 would do the same but also take into account the MRIP recalibration and changes in size selectivity.

[On a side note, that change in selectivity really boils down to stock recovery in the western Gulf, with many more larger and older fish now present, coupled with the 2 fish limit leading to increased high-grading, so what gets sampled at the dock tends to be larger fish overall]

[grasscutter]

[Rebecca of Sunnybrookfarm]

[Matt]

I like how they're already dividing and re-dividing the pie when the Secretary of Commerce still hasn't signed off on Amendment 40.

If/when that happens, I can already see a multitude of lawsuits being hurled in that direction seeing how changing Magnuson-Stevens (which is what Amendment 40 would do) requires Congressional approval...and 3 of the Gulf Council members are part of a massive lobbying group (against the rules, and they didn't disclose their membership which is required).

Thank goodness for State water snapper!!
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I'd rather be fishing

[ltorna1]

[Rebecca of Sunnybrookfarm]

so, the ONE DAY federal snapper season will start and end on June 1st.....which just happens to be on a MONDAY.....and the entire GOM private recreational catch of 3.9 MILLION POUNDS is expected to be reached on that day (of course adding in TX and LA state water seasons)....

ludicrous!

so, the poll was very interesting....I really didn't know what the CF breakdown of folks was.....does anyone access the red snapper fishery by any other means I didn't list by chance?

so, one third of you that get on CFH/headboats will get somewhere around20-25 days (from what I've seen).....so your season will start June 1st and go for the month of June....

those of us that get on private boats will get one day, on a Monday, to access the federal fishery.....

not cool to punish the group that puts the most $$ back into the sportmans fund, local hotels, economy, etc...the system is completely broken....

thanks for participating in the poll...
becky
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[Central Scrutinizer]

[Rebecca of Sunnybrookfarm]

[Lost Cajun]

None of this seems to be based on science or common sense.

Run out to any rig you want more then 10 miles out and your catch ratio will be about 20 to 1 Red Snapper to any other reef fish. This "conservation effort" to correct the "overfishing" is destroying the populations of everything but red snapper.

[ltorna1]

Becky, you got me interested, I'm biting. I get your gripe with the head boats versus average joe. I can also understand peoples beef with the allocation of commerical versus recreational quotas. But what do you think the source of bias is in the stock assessment and the estimates of fishing effort, and how would you propose they correct it? Is it the use of the overall weight of fish versus number of individuals? Is it the issues regarding age classes and the (apparent?) lack of older fish out there? I admit I'm a bit ignorant on what the collective we think the root of the problem is. Or is it just "Feds can't tell ME what to do!". For some people I think it may be the latter, but I think that you guys have a more science/policy based beef.

It seems like all fishermen can agree on a few things:

1 - there are a TON of snapper in federal waters, more than any time in recent memory (why is that?)

2- there aren't nearly many fish in State waters, due (I assume) largely to year round fishing pressure (evidence: how many fish can you catch at an unmarked toppled rig at 11 miles out versus an obvious standing rig 8 miles out that gets fished all the time)?

This leads me to believe that most people should be able to connect the dots and understand that fishing closures have led to more snapper in federal waters. The question is, how big of a closure is the right amount to insure we can enjoy snapper 10 years from now and still enjoy them today. Apparently, they seem to think that 1 day season is enough. This is based on their data and model (and even though I'm ignorant as to what goes into it exactly, I WILL NOT claim that its not data driven, just maybe driven by biased data). You guys seem to know more about what goes into it, so whats the issue here?
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...if my boss ever finds this forum I'll be unemployed...

[Rebecca of Sunnybrookfarm]

[ltorna1]

Becky, thanks for taking the time to clear up the points. I can understand literally every issue you raised, and for the most part I feel the frustration and agree with that recs are getting the shaft.

My only disagreement with anything you said is the snapper overfishing in state waters versus federal waters. There are plenty of rigs in state water that differ in depth by those in federal waters by less than 20 feet, and most of the snapper on those rigs don't hang right on the bottom any way. Despite the same depth, they are night and day. There are also SHALLOW spots inshore that are not marked that have tons of snapper year round but few know about them. I'm sure you and some others know the spots I'm talking about. My point is its not all about habitat and depth. They get picked clean and reseeded by fish from federal waters. My 'data' is all anecdotal though, so take it for what its worth.

But in any event, none of that changes your gripes with NMFS, which I can now understand more clearly. Again, thanks for taking the time.
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...if my boss ever finds this forum I'll be unemployed...