Area fishermen at odds with new gag grouper rule

[LuckyLady]

Area fishermen at odds with new gag grouper rule


Recreational harvest ban rationale disputed
by kevin lollar • January 17, 2011

1:10 A.M. — Although commercial and recreational fishermen often disagree, members of both sides are speaking out against a federal rule designed to increase the Gulf of Mexico's gag grouper population.


On Jan. 1, a six-month ban on the recreational harvest of gag in Gulf of Mexico federal waters off Florida went into effect.

Gulf state waters - out to nine nautical miles - remain open to recreational gag fishing until the traditional closure in February and March.

Florida's Gulf Coast commercial fishermen will be limited to 100,000 pounds of gag in 2011 - from 2000 to 2009, commercial fishermen landed an average of 2.2 million pounds of gag off Florida's Gulf Coast with an average dockside value of $6.35 million.

"The gag population has been sliced nearly in half," said Holly Binns, manager of the Pew Environment Group's Campaign to End Overfishing in the Southeast. "So it's critical that new protections are put in place to give the population the chance to rebuild."

Gag grouper are a popular target for recreational hook-and-line and spear fishermen, many of whom dispute the species' population decline.


"They are very plentiful," said Karl Wickstrom, editor of Florida Sportsman magazine. "People are catching them like crazy. They're catching their limit right away. The government's science is extremely suspect."


Decline disputed


In a rare display of solidarity, Bob Spaeth, executive director of the Southern Offshore Fishing Association, agreed with Wickstrom about the National Marine Fisheries Service's gag science and the new rules.


"I guess they screwed the recreational anglers big time, and they got us down to 100,000 pounds," Spaeth said. "They're out of control. They're using models that obviously don't work. The recreational and commercial fisheries know that whatever science is coming out is wrong."


Government gag grouper science is based on recreational and commercial landings and video surveys done by scientists. All three indicate a decline in the species' Gulf population, said Roy Crabtree, regional administrator of the fisheries service's southeast regional office


"I can tell you there is uncertainty," Crabtree said. "Sometimes data will say recreational landings are up and the commercial is down, so it's difficult to tease out what's going on, but when everything is going in the same direction, it's hard to dispute the population has declined."


Red tide kill is real problem


Gag are certainly under tremendous pressure from recreational and commercial fishermen, but the real problem, Crabtree said, might have been the massive 2005 red tide that killed fish, crustaceans, mollusks, sea birds, sea turtles, manatees and dolphins - red tide is a natural phenomenon that occurs when a microscopic alga known as Karenia brevis, which produces a powerful toxin, undergoes a population, or bloom.


"Catches went down at that time," Crabtree said. "It's circumstantial, but that's what the scientists thought was the most likely explanation."


The six-month closure might not be the end of new gag rules.


Potential long-term regulations include extended closures and areas where the harvest of gag would be illegal.


"We've spent a lot of time figuring out where the areas are that are mostly gag and not many red grouper," Crabtree said. "We could close those and push people to fish for reds. We're looking at a lot of things, but we don't know what we're going to do yet."


Closure to be financial burden


Some Lee County fishermen believe the fisheries service has already done too much.


"It's a real shame they're closing gag," said Charlie Sobczak of Sanibel, who regularly fishes for gag in federal waters. "All the anglers around here say gag fishing has been fabulous. This is the best fishing I've experienced in 26 years of offshore fishing, and suddenly there are no gag? They're just everywhere."


For offshore fishing guide and Fort Myers native Capt. Chris Rush, the closure will be a financial burden.


"What it's going to do to my business is shut it down," he said. "We fish for gag grouper. That's our target species. We're catching our limit every single charter offshore. "To me, the population is as strong as it's ever been. But that's just from a guy who fishes and dives every day, not somebody sitting at a computer in Tallahassee."


Crabtree said such observations are anecdotal and from only one part of the Gulf.


"The preponderance of evidence for the whole West Florida Shelf shows that gag populations are depressed," he said. "I've had fishermen tell me they're having a difficult time catching legal-size gag. I hear lots of things from folks. That's the trouble. That's why we base our decisions on science."


Comments for
Area fishermen at odds with new gag grouper rule

RDDDDD wrote:

Well,Karl Wickstrom and Fla sportsman mag along with the CCA have been hammering for years how there are no fish because of commercial fishing,looks to me like the Feds have finally believed them,our guys can't fish for Gags because of the massive amounts of Red Snapper in the water column,(O I forgot the Feds say there are not many of those either)

1/20/2011 7:47:53 PM


hmmm33 wrote:

90% of those fishing will consider themselves lucky if they catch one keeper. They therefore think the fish arent there. Meanwhile there are hundreds of keepers right under their boat and they couldnt land it if they hooked it. I would never beleive there is any sort of shortage on Gags out here. I've seen way too many while diving.

1/17/2011 11:21:57 AM


sail4sun wrote:

NMFS is behind the curve most of the time. They pull the reins in to late but they save fisheries in the end. Look what was going on at the240 ledge. They should have cut back on catch sooner. They use to only be 6-8 charter boats on the beach now there ar that many before you feet to the beach. You can see 200 boats out on a day trip. I have seen a pontoon boat 20 miles out grouper fishing. Now that's a sign it coming to an end. There are just so many more sport figsherman now and it is getting to the tipping point. If you double the number of people fishing you have to half the numb of fish they are allowed to catch and the number of fishermen has going up maybe ten times

1/17/2011 10:29:01 AM

SPS-48C wrote:

Hey--if the government says it's so, then who are we to dispute it!


X-Butch wrote:

Replying to Grumpy19:
Replying to X-Butch:
Florida has been stifling the commercial fisherman for the past 20 years

This isn't the State of Florida. It is the National Marine Fisheries Service, a federal agency.

Same difference..........

1/17/2011 10:06:00 AM


hmmm33 wrote:

We fish and dive out here all the time. There are more gags out here than there have ever been. The government is going to farm out all of our commercial fishing to overseas just like every other industry. they can still collect tax dollars when it is imported. It just puts a few people out of work here. No big deal, they can draw unemployement and hopefully welfare to the tune of 150$ a week.
When we drop on spot after spot and see 200 keeper gags it amazes me that I am looking at a fish that is so near extinction. The science is rediculous. And since 10% of the fisherman catch 90% of the fish, the ninety percent that aren't catching beleive fish population is down.
I can't beleive we spend our tax money to finance a system that is taking away our rights every chance they get.

1/17/2011 9:40:45 AM

JustMeeeee wrote:

Government has always done a horrible job at managing natural resources from fish to crabs to ducks to oil. They will never get any better at it.

1/17/2011 9:39:48 AM

Grumpy19 wrote:

Replying to X-Butch:
Florida has been stifling the commercial fisherman for the past 20 years

This isn't the State of Florida. It is the National Marine Fisheries Service, a federal agency.

1/17/2011 9:35:13 AM

Grumpy19 wrote:

This new regulation was done by the National Marine Fisheries Service. It's not the State of florida instituting these rules. I don't agree with these new rules. The people making up these rules are not getting the proper info needed. There isn't a scientist out there that can tell you what the population of a specific species of fish is. They are guessing. I do agree that some species are in trouble and do need to be regulated. That is a rare thing though. Good example is the Cod in New England. That fishery was decimated years ago. New regs went into effect and the population bounced back. What some refuse to believe is that fish populations are cyclable. No amount of regs will change or help that. Some years you have a good spawn followed by bad ones.

1/17/2011 9:33:45 AM

FlaResFM wrote:

Recreational fishermen take less than 10% of the total bag and they are the ones being punished.

1/17/2011 9:29:38 AM

reymay wrote:

Perfect time to put more people out of work. When is the regulation going to stop, the federal government is out of control. The government enacts these rules with total disregard for the economic impact on the people who depend on the fishing industry. If fishermen and hunters would stop buying permits licenses and tags we would defund the fish and wildlife service and maybe get there attention and let them know who really is in charge. I would love to know if the people who make these rules have ever been fishing.

1/17/2011 8:56:21 AM

Poopyface wrote:

The End of the Line

1/17/2011 8:35:35 AM

blueyeddevil wrote:

Replying to X-Butch:
Florida has been stifling the commercial fisherman for the past 20 years


Amen! "fishing capitol of the world"...when the government allows it.

1/17/2011 8:32:57 AM

X-Butch wrote:

Florida has been stifling the commercial fisherman for the past 20 years

1/17/2011 8:12:03 AM

fmbfla wrote:

Stop paying for votive license plates, stop donating money to the "Cause" the information is laid out so as the people conducting the reserch will continue to recieve money from the govenment for more reserch,. wich makes for more restrictions for american citizens. Forien fisheries are alowed to fish our waters with out meating the quoatas that americans do and you can fid thiese fish filets in wall mart win dixie and publix Just look at the size of thefillet and you can sdee that the fish are way under sized and about the size of the bait I use.
This is un-beleivable...............

2015: It is now illegal for american citizens to harvist edible fish from local waterways and oceans, harvisting is still allowed for any fish not deemed table fare. however you must still comply with all fees aplicable to owning and using a Rod, Real , Hook, And line at a nominal fee of $200 per rig per year.

1/17/2011 8:06:30 AM

[lemaymiami]

We have a great grouper fishery in the Everglades (but you'd never know it..). These fish are in every river that drains out of the 'Glades from Cape Sable up to Lostman's River and beyond that, up into the rivers that drain the Ten Thousand Islands. No commercial fishing is allowed in Everglades National Park so the fishing pressure on them is minimal (a very few anglers make a point of fishing them but always as part of a day spent doing many other things...). Of course we're hit by the same management excesses as everyone else. That federal closure applies to us as well although I'm not aware of any attempt at studying the population down this way.... It's pretty frustrating to know that regulation meant for another area is being extended into areas they know nothing about.... Here's a pic of just how healthy things are down my way...
[img][img]

These fish are found in 8 to 12 feet of water up inside most of the rivers in the Park. Many of my anglers carefully catch and release everything we find... some are glad for the opportunity to bring one home for the table. Hard to see where the current regulations even consider inshore grouper. They're in great abundance in my area....

Capt Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666

[LuckyLady]

We have a great grouper fishery in the Everglades (but you'd never know it..). These fish are in every river that drains out of the 'Glades from Cape Sable up to Lostman's River and beyond that, up into the rivers that drain the Ten Thousand Islands. No commercial fishing is allowed in Everglades National Park so the fishing pressure on them is minimal (a very few anglers make a point of fishing them but always as part of a day spent doing many other things...). Of course we're hit by the same management excesses as everyone else. That federal closure applies to us as well although I'm not aware of any attempt at studying the population down this way.... It's pretty frustrating to know that regulation meant for another area is being extended into areas they know nothing about.... Here's a pic of just how healthy things are down my way...
[img][img]

These fish are found in 8 to 12 feet of water up inside most of the rivers in the Park. Many of my anglers carefully catch and release everything we find... some are glad for the opportunity to bring one home for the table. Hard to see where the current regulations even consider inshore grouper. They're in great abundance in my area....

Capt Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666

They are good tasting critters

Here is a release, I think its a gag not sure not my area of expertise by any means only caught one or two as by catch never targeted em

Thanks for sharing!