Replies

• ANUMBER1 Posts: 13,230 AG

  May 2017 #62

  Why don't you ask them ?

  I am glad to only be a bird hunter with bird dogs...being a shooter or dog handler or whatever other niche exists to separate appears to generate far too much about which to worry.

  0 · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
• BubbaII Posts: 328 Deckhand

  May 2017 #63

  Hi Tom,
  
  I've been waiting for the upcoming briefing book materials. In response to your questions and assertions in this post, especially your assertion that 1080 charter boats are active and fish for red snapper.........
  
  why don't you go read the latest version of amendment 41 here http://gulfcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/B-12b-Draft-RF-Amendment-41-1.pdf?x98733. You only have to check a couple of pages and tables.
  
  Be sure to look at Tables 1.1.1 and 1.1.3 on pages 5 and 10, which notes that of the almost 600 charter boats registered in FL, about 400 are in peninsular FL and the Keys.
  
  Then check Tables 1.1.4 and a summarized version of it in Table 1.1.5 (pages 12-13) that indicate less than 1% of the charter red snapper catch comes from those boats in peninsular FL and the Keys.
  
  Then maybe you can redo your math about how much snapper is caught by how many boats, and report back?

  0 · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
• Tom Hilton Posts: 1,595 Captain

  May 2017 #64

  Here is a quote from page 4: "The number of permitted vessels actively engaged in reef fish charter fishing and the number of currently unused for-hire permits is unknown. The number of permitted charter vessels landing red snapper each year is also unknown."
  
  First question: why is that data unknown? If a private firm was charged with managing our resource through permitting process, not having this type of critical information would be grounds for termination.
  
  If you add up the charter boats, not including peninsular FL or the Keys, it totals 823 charter boats. If you look at the enclosed chart from page 10, it parses out the multi-passenger boats categorized as charter boats. The 1,080 permits number was based on 6 packs, so if you take the multi-passenger and develop a 6 pack equivalency, you get 253 permit equivalency for AL, 577 permit equivalency for FL panhandle, 219 TX , 32 MS, and 119 LA. (too tired to calculate permit eq.). 253+577+219+32+119 = 1,200 + permit equivalencies.
  
  Thanks for the reference - it really tells the story doesn't it? It's way worse than I thought, and they claim they UNDERFISHED their quota?

  permit_numbers.jpg 102.3K

  0 · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter