june 1 is opening day for the gulf in federal waters. no word on final say from sate follks. limit will be 2 per person, not including capt and crew on 'for-hire' vessels.
btw, the grouper population in the gulf is in dire need of some real management, however, there are more snapper now than there has ever been.
I rent covered boat storage in Steinhatchee from a fellow that is one of the members of a commitee working with the state of Florida on the grouper management issue. His name is Jim Zurbick. He told me that to expect a limit of three grouper to come out of this.
Steinhatchee does not have the pressure a lot of Florida has on the fish population. You fish for a living so you know what you see. It's a catch 22 situation, the fish may need protecting, but with a limit of three fish, it's gonna put a lot of charter captains out of business.
3 grouper per person is PLENTY, but it should have some details. i would like to see it at 3 grouper per person- no more than 2 being red or gag, not including scamp. i don't agree with the red grouper being 1 per person, but i don't want to see it going above 2 either. scamp should have their own limit, 3 would be fine.
as far as going out of business, the snapper regulations threaten us FAR more than the grouper, but we're still fighting it as best we can.
3 grouper in your or my eyes is plenty. I own my boat and go when I want, same with you. On the customer side of the coin folks are going to be reluctant to spend $1000 to $1200 for only three fish.
Granted there are other options such as combining a grouper trip with other species susch as AJ's,KingFish, grunts,bsb's, and such. the charter industry can survive. They are just going to have to retrain their customers.
You hit the nail on the head, you are in the entertainment business. One of my best friends is a charter captain out of Steinhatchee, Capt. Brian Smith, he says the same thing.
What boat is he on? Just wondering
What it boils down to is;
The Govt group in charge of making recomendations is bought and paid for by the commercial fishermen.
The recreational fishermen and charter (for hire) fishermen are being cut to allow the commercial guys more tonage.
In reality the rec fishermen spend more money and provide a larger economical base than the commercial fishermen ever could. They are doing the wrong thing for the fish and economy with these changes. The commercial guys kill more fish to bycatch than we ever take home. But thats being swept under the rug.
What it boils down to is;
The Govt group in charge of making recomendations is bought and paid for by the commercial fishermen.
The recreational fishermen and charter (for hire) fishermen are being cut to allow the commercial guys more tonage.
In reality the rec fishermen spend more money and provide a larger economical base than the commercial fishermen ever could. They are doing the wrong thing for the fish and economy with these changes. The commercial guys kill more fish to bycatch than we ever take home. But thats being swept under the rug.
According to one of the board members I know, he told me that there are only 500 commercial long liners in the Gulf, and that weekenders and commercial charter captains catch a larger poundage of fish. I don't know how true that is but maybe some research could answer that question.
There is also a possibility that they could set limits by areas. For example Tampa has a larger number of recreational fishermen than say Keaton Beach and steinhatchee, so the Big bend area may have larger limits set. However if that was the case the chance of Tampa residents bringing their boats to Big Bend to fish in less restrictive waters is a good chance. In any case I don't see the limit being more than three grouper in any circumstance, where Tampa could have a limit of say two fish.
Also a lot of fish are killed that are released in deeper waters. Improper venting prior to release kills a lot of fish. Where shallow water grouper in the Big Bend area do not require venting.
There is also the practice of folks culling fish they have already caught in order to bring larger fish back to the hill. I have seen many a dead grouper and snapper in the Appalachecola area floating on the water because someone will catch a bigger fish than what is in the box, throw a smaller one back and keep the bigger one. yes, there are poachers on the water also.
There are a lot of if's involved. But you can bet the farm that a three fish limit is coming, and the long liners will be unaffected by it.