# What the heck



## Jigmaster (Apr 3, 2006)

They are proposing a 35 year ban on Red snapper,Grouper and now flounder???

This is a true sucker punch from somwhere in the back.
They are to Vote this wed!!!

Its not the fishermen killing fish it's the OIL!!!

printemaillinkShare this:twitterfacebookmorecomment[3]Text Size:AAALawmakers To Vote On Red Snapper Ban Extension
Posted: 5:15 pm EDT June 7, 2010
Updated: 6:27 pm EDT June 7, 2010

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- This week, lawmakers will vote on a controversial red snapper ban. They say red snapper is over fished and want to extend a ban that's already in place.

Local fishermen WFTV talked to said, if it passes, it would be devastating to their industry.

"The majority are charter boats and the economy is already killing these guys," fishing boat captain Jeff Brown said.

Now, Central Florida anglers, like Brown are bracing for a death blow. Wednesday, the marine fisheries council votes to ban deep sea fishing for the next 35 years.

"Thirty-five years, my son will be 60 years old before he can catch a red snapper again. That's going to be devastating," Brown said.

There's already a ban on red snapper fishing in the east coast up to the Carolinas until December. Government researchers believe the species is over-fished and needs protection. The problem is, federal regulators say, a complete ban is needed because 40 percent of snapper caught and released continue to die.

Captain Brown told WFTV that percentage is exaggerated. When a snapper is reeled in, the water pressure changes and it fills air, preventing it from swimming back to the bottom. So anglers use a venting tool to release the air, allowing them to return to the bottom of the ocean.

The ban would include grouper and flounder. Unlike tilapia, those fish can't be farmed; it's too hard to recreate their habitat.

Some snappers are shipped in from the Gulf of Mexico and are expensive.

Local anglers claim they can prove there's more than enough snapper to go around, using the latest sonar technology, and say the government is using old science.

"The latest they're talking about is from 1985. It's fatally flawed," Brown said.

*If you want to voice your opinion about the possible ban extension, there will be a public comment session at Renaissance Orlando Airport Hotel Tuesday at 6:00pm. The vote is at the same hotel on Wednesday.Copyright 2010 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.*


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## jlk0007 (Apr 30, 2008)

This is a load of crap! In just the last 10 years there has been an explosion of red snapper in the gulf. I personally dive and have been diving for over 20 years and I have never ever seen as many snapper as I do now. Most of this is attributed to the UNDERFISHING of them with the current bag limits. If the snapper are given that long they will totally take over the food chain and then many other species of fish will be in danger from competition for forage and predation by the snapper.

Not to mention the fact that this will be a death blow to any and all recreational charter fishing. The local economies live and die by the fishing seasons and now with the oil disaster and the crap that is washing up on the beaches, they need all the income they can muster.

I'm sorry to have such a negative post, but someone in the Govt. needs to get their head out of their arse and take a look at what is really going on out there now instead of relying on out of date, old information.


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## Coffeeguy (May 27, 2006)

Jigmaster mentioned something interesting: RESPONSIBLE fishing. The bit about returning fish to the water safely. Even though there's information in Florida's regs about how to do this, the great majority of fishermen have no clue about how to do that or even that the condition with the swim bladders getting distended can even happen. 

I agree that an outright ban on snapper fishing is a bad idea; even if the oil leak is an issue it's another case of the government trying to legislate personal responsibility. I haven't hear of such a lengthy ban, but the news just might not have made it to GA in a big way yet. Hopefully there's enough of us who enjoy the water and/or depend on it for a living that the government will listen to us.


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## Jigmaster (Apr 3, 2006)

*I will see if i can get an updat they met in Orlando today*

4 states that would be affected Alabama,Florida,Georgia and South Carolina
I think they are pissed off we can fish year round when most of the country shovels snow.....

The major threat on Reef pressure are the Golioth Grouper AKA (Jew Fish) they have been protected for at least 30 years. Here is the thing- they aren't regulated by weather like fishermen or size/Bag limits they grow up to 600 lbs. and are both inshore and offshore. Let me tell you they are eating machines they eat 40-50lb. Grouper and Snapper like candy.
Not to mention the Barracuda and sharks take thier fare share of Grouper and snapper.

Howbout the foreign fishers just off our Coast that launch sportfishers off of thier larger processing ship they run up to 80 mi of longline and come inside the limits and take our fish.

Where is this regulated???

Yeah stick it to our own hard working people. Who buys a boat, fishing rods, reels bait, license,fuel,food,drinks,electronics,taxes,regestration,
Only to be told ok there are strict bag limits ......that same guy now is told Fishing is closing.:--|


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## BentHook (Dec 22, 2002)

From The Associated Press, June 9, 2010 - 3:05 PM 
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Fishermen will be prohibited from catching red snapper and some other snapper and grouper species in the southeast Atlantic in a nearly 5,000-square-mile zone off the coasts of Georgia and Florida under a measure passed by a federal fisheries management council Wednesday.

Members of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted 9-4 in favor of the ban that supporters hope eventually will restore the red snapper's population over the next three decades.

Opponents, though, doubt studies showing that the population is overfished and said Florida fishermen already have been squeezed by restrictions in the Gulf of Mexico due to the BP PLC oil spill.

Wednesday's vote extends for an undetermined time an interim red snapper ban that was to expire in December.

Opponents said the council at least should have waited to pass the measure until December, when there will be a new red snapper population count. The new survey will help the council determine how long the new ban should last. The terms of the new ban also could be tweaked once the new population survey is released, a scenario that creates uncertainty for fisherman who are now planning how to adjust.

"It's hard to have a business plan and decide how you're going to work, how you're going to make your boat payments, how you're going to make your house payments when the rules keep changing," said Charles Phillips, a seafood wholesaler from Georgia who also is a council member. "It's hard on everybody."

The ban prohibits fishing red snapper in an area of the Atlantic stretching from North Carolina to Florida. Fishing other snapper-grouper species also would be banned in depths of 98 to 240 feet in a nearly 5,000-square-mile zone of ocean stretching from an area in Georgia about 15 miles north of Fernandina Beach, Fla., down to around Melbourne, Fla.

Supporters of the ban said fishermen often catch red snapper accidentally in this area when fishing for the other species. Council members reduced the size of this zone by about 1,300-square-miles before the vote.

The ban will take effect later in the year after it is reviewed by the National Marine Fisheries Service and then U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

Short-term hardships faced by fishermen will be offset by the health of the red snapper population, which will benefit fisherman down the road, supporters said.

"There's nothing that has had a larger impact on the fishing community than this," said Charles Duane Harris, the council's chairman. "People think we don't care but we do care. We care tremendously."


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