I wouldn't go that far yet. There's a major fight brewing with the FRA leading the way with support from the FWC. Lack of orginization has put recreational fishermen behind, but the FRA is addressing that. Quite well so far. There's going to be a meeting in Ft. Myers this wednesday, and the FRA will be there in force. I hope to be there as well (not that I'm anything special).
There's a proposed grouper closure in the gulf for Nov and Dec, as well as a limit reduction to 3 aggregate/1 red, but it's not going to be an easy sell.
There's a proposed grouper closure in the gulf for Nov and Dec, as well as a limit reduction to 3 aggregate/1 red, but it's not going to be an easy sell.
Florabama:Agree completely. Its one of the fallacies of bag and size limits. It looks like all other groupers are about to be taken off limits as well. The way things are going, spearfishermen are going to be out of business inspite of the fact that they have the least impact on the species of any other take method.
I went bottom fishing the other day on a charter boat, and we killed litterally dozens of fish. The ones that were able to make it back down after being pulled up from 150 fsw, were eaten on the way back down by the dolphins and the bull sharks. In our neck of the woods, the sound of a diesel engine is the dinner bell for dolphins and sharks. I watched a 8 foot bull causally swim up and swallow whole a 12 inch grouper that was thrown back. As soon as you stop the boat and make a drop, the dolphin will actually swim up and start slapping the water with their tails to call all their cousins. If you stay at the spot for more than a few minutes, you are soon surrounded by dolphin and sharks just waiting for the "shorts."
In other words, the bag and size limits make little difference to the populations of snapper and grouper, and spearfishermen never do this much damage to the species.