New Red Snapper Rules (sort of)

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council just announced the sort-of-but-not-really-new bag limit for Red Snapper. As it has been for a while now, the bag limit for recreational fishermen is 2 Red Snapper per person. It seems the significant part of the new regulation is the new limitation on commercial fishermen at 5 million pounds, down from 6.5 million last year and 9.1 million in the recent past. Shrimpers must also further reduce their bycatch. Charter boat captains and shrimpers are, as usual, complaining that these new limits will put them out of business, and I understand their frustration. The simple fact is that the banks may well wind up owning some of these boats, as the local industry thins out in the wake of these regulations. Overall, though, I'm in favor of the limits, as I'd really like my grandchildren to be able to haul up some manhole-cover sized reds and grouper in the future. (They may not be able to eat them because of all the mercury and arsenic, but at least they can have the fun of pulling them up.)

Read all about it in the GMFMC pamphlet (.pdf file), and in thePensacola News Journal.