FWC recommends rescind the catch-and-release for Redfish, Snook, Sea Trout
Fisherman007
Tampa BayPosts: 59 Deckhand
See below from proposed staff meeting coming up!
https://myfwc.com/about/commission/commission-meetings/february-2021/
https://myfwc.com/media/25792/9a-sm-redtideupdate.pdf
https://myfwc.com/about/commission/commission-meetings/february-2021/
https://myfwc.com/media/25792/9a-sm-redtideupdate.pdf
Replies
"Staff Recommendation: Staff is recommending that our Executive Director rescind the catch-and-release EO and resume FWC regulations for harvest of these species. Staff welcome Commissioner input on this issue."
https://myfwc.com/media/25983/9a-presentation-redtideupdate.pdf
Dont allow guides/clients to keep fish...
They didnt do any stock analysis to shut it down, they just said uh oh red tide better close it down. The res tide is long gone. Nothing more to figure out. Open it up.
Way too many people are still harvesting these species. Even when seaon was open I'd regularly see people catching and keeping illegal sized and outta season snook, underslot reds and trout. Neighbor last year next to our rental caught and kept a 36" snook. kept trout every and reds night. From outta state, did not care about slot or season regs, nor covid safety.
everywhere I trout fish comorants eat released fish unless you get real sly w them.
As for water quality, it has lots to do w/ overpopulation, as does the overpopulation lead to overfishing.
Guides pound the fish everyday, routinely getting limits for clients. thats a lot of fish. they wanyt us to sacrifice our catch so they can continue to catch fish for clients
All that will do is create more poachers. I have never in my 53 years in Florida/on Earth seen so many people with such blatant disregard for harvest/seasons/slot regulations as I have the last 2 years. If they do vote to keep it closed they better step up the enforcement!
17 ft. Ankona Native with 40 hp Suzuki 4 stroke
This is one of those issues where I find myself conflicted. On one hand, I feel there is a good deal of junk science out there that gets put forth to support a pre-determined desire. I do feel that many regulators think more restrictions are always better, no matter the actual need. On the other hand, one of the reasons I live here is the incredible fishery that surrounds me. I want it to be as healthy as possible and that requires good management.
I gave the FWC report a cursory read. One thing that stood out to me was, with the exception of trout in Tampa Bay, all of the species in the charts showed as comparable or better to their levels pre-red tide. That made me wonder why they would propose an extension if the data shows the species stock is healthy. Again, it was a cursory read so I may have missed something and would be happy if someone pointed out my oversight.
My biggest concern is the one raised by RennieRae. As restrictions have increased, particularly this last one, I've seen a significant uptick in fisherman/divers "going rogue." By that I mean previously law abiding sportsman who would never poach that feel the regs are not science based and have started self-regulating according to their own standards. To me this is the really scary part because once people start that behavior, it's tough to put that genie back in the bottle and further regulation becomes very ineffective. Curious to hear everyone's thoughts on this.
This is how the govt works now. They “heard” something from someone so they need to take action. They wouldnt know what a fact is if it hit them in the face. The red tide has been gone for a long time. Open it up.
As for poaching, I’ve seen lots of this in the northeast. If there are absurd and abusive regulations, people will not follow them. Completely closing all snook, redfish and trout harvest in our area of the “fishing capital of the world” FOR MULTIPLE YEARS when there are so many of these fish that its hard not to catch them is ABSURD. Act reasonably. The FWC is acting in a grossly unreasonable manner.
-Best thing for inshore fisheries was the net ban. It shouldn't have been a total ban, just a tightening of regs but it was a kneejerk reaction to a history of veritably no restriction. That, coupled with seagrass restoration and clean water restrictions, helped. Rampant overdevelopment and population growth is slowly torpedoing those gains but that's a separate issue
-In st pete the last red tide was not nearly as destructive as past red tides, but suddenly there's a need to shut down the fishery??
-Sewage dumping during the major rain event a few years back probably f'd up stuff more than red tide in the bay at least, but where was the monitoring science to impose a closure and sue the government entities for opportunity/business loss?
IMO this comes back to a bunch of rotting sealife stinking up beaches along the suncoast and the news smearing it all around. It caused regulators to look busy for the sake of looking busy, when 'the big 3' inshore species probably weren't that screwed compared to a lot of other fish. I'd wager more snook bit the dust in the 2010 cold snap than the last 3 major red tides combined, and that fishery opened after a year.
Hate to say it, but if guides are behind this maybe it's time for them to lose their sales tax exemption since the public is suffering