Snapper Snafu

That's my son there with a nice catch of the day, of course with his being the biggest and mostest. That picture might soon not be possible, as the NOAA proposes rules saying you can only catch two a day. As a nice touch NOAA reduced the minimum size from 15 to 13 inches, which would be even wimpier than Dad's little catch there.

If you want to comment you have until January 26. Way down at the bottom of the Notice you can even find an easy email address to share your thoughts. Type it exactly as it says, though.

If I were to comment I would request special consideration of a lower Texas management area where limits would be retained at 5/15 (five red snappers over fifteen inches) but the annual poundage not exceed certain annual possession or poundage limits (the latter called a quota system). The offshore area between Corpus Christi and South Padre Island is certainly different from the rest of the Gulf coast and deserves some special consideration in terms of gathering data, both the snapper bio-mass models and the historical “take.” We do not make any bones about the red snapper being over-fished. However, facts used in the determination to restrict red snapper fishing seem more based upon data collected between Cortez, Florida and Galveston, Texas. I am sure if there was “real” data that us local SPI folks could understand it and follow the logic we would readily accept all the consequences.

Right now we simply can’t.