Fall Red Snapper Season

[GandyGirl]

Anglers get another chance to get out and catch some red snapper! The recreational harvest of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico will be permitted on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on October 1, 2010 and closing on November 22 at 12:01 a.m. As always, Gulf anglers will be allowed to keep two red snapper per person, per day, that measure a minimum of 16” total length. From what I hear, the water is loaded with big sows so I imagine no one will have trouble catching, and inviting slot size fish home for dinner. Remember, all fishermen targeting reef fish, including red snapper, must use a venting tool and dehooking device. Also, the use of non-stainless steel circle hooks is required for fishermen using natural baits. For all you charter folks; captain and crew on for-hire vessels are not permitted to keep red snapper.
Red snapper is managed under a quota system which prohibits the retention of fish once a specified amount of fish (measured in pounds) is caught. Before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, NOAA Fisheries predicted that the 3.4 million pound quota for recreational fishermen would be met in 53 days, and the season was set for June 1, 2010 through July 23, 2010. This season, which was the shortest recreational season on record, was set based on catch and fishing effort data collected from 2009. NOAA Fisheries used the fishing trends from 2009 to predict how long it would take recreational fishermen to fulfill their quota in 2010.
Then, in late April things changed dramatically. Oil spilled and NOAA fisheries closed a substantial portion of the Gulf of Mexico to fishing. Snapper season was open, but most of the fishermen couldn’t get to the fish. It was pretty darn obvious that the red snapper quota was not going to be met during the regular season so, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) requested that NOAA Fisheries Service consider an emergency ruling that would reopen red snapper season in the Gulf. And viola! The fall supplemental red snapper season was born.
At the August meeting of the Gulf Council, NOAA Fisheries Service’s Southeast Regional Administrator, Roy Crabtree, announced that, as a result of the oil spill and closure of the federal waters, anglers only managed to harvest about 1.1 million pounds of their 3.4 million pound quota in the regular red snapper season of 2010. Therefore, approximately 2.3 million pounds of the 2010 red snapper quota is still swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.
Using recreational catch and fishing effort data the Fisheries Service estimated that a supplemental red snapper season could be opened for up to 39 days in the fall of 2010. This would allow recreational fisherman time to catch the remaining portion of their annual red snapper quota.
The Gulf Council recommended that NOAA Fisheries open the red snapper season on weekends between October 1, 2010 and November 22, 2010, allowing 24 additional fishing days in 2010. Under the assumption that more fishermen would be out on weekends the Gulf Council decided to err on the side of caution and suggested that the supplemental red snapper season open for a limited number of days. If weekends bring more fishermen and more fishing effort, then the 2010 quota will theoretically be met sooner rather than later.
The recreational quota for red snapper has been exceeded every year except 2006 for the past 9 years. At the August Council meeting Gulf Council members, NOAA Fishery Service officials, and fishermen alike echoed the desire to avoid exceeding the 2010 quota and jeopardizing the possible increase of total allowable catch proposed for 2011 and 2012. The proposed change in Total Allowable Catch for red snapper would increase the recreational quota for 2011 by 118,000 pounds for a total 3.521 million pound quota.
Enjoy the fall season, and please be cautious of bad weather and other boaters.

Your Chum,
Emily Muehlstein
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
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[Tarpon4me]

It must me nice!!!!!!!!!!!!! Make sure and catch one for us East Coast anglers. The SAFMC will be extending the ban on Red Snapper harvesting, it looks like through next year some time. They claim the numbers are low, but it's bull. Most of the numbers the SAFMC is basing this on, according to my sources, are angler reports. Well, us anglers don't like telling people how good we do all the time. So, the numbers are fudged.

What they need to do is hire a couple biologist to do a real time survey of the population, so they can see that their numbers are fine.
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[GandyGirl]

Population data is not collected via angler reports exclusively, if at all. The SAFMC uses the SouthEast Data Assessment and Review (SEDAR) process to estimate the health of fish stocks. They get a bunch of scientist together and collect all of the the information available for any particular species, they then review what they've got, asses the information and make estimates based on it. Then send it out to even more scientists for a peer review... to be sure that they have made reasonable conclusions based on the data they have.

All though its all pretty techical, if you're interested in any particular fish, and what data was used you can check out the website (its all public record) at: http://www.sefsc.noaa.gov/sedar/

The red snapper stock assessment (data used to calculate population size off the east cost) can be found here:
http://www.sefsc.noaa.gov/sedar/Sedar_Wo...shopNum=24
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[Tarpon4me]

You need to go to this website:

[url "http://www.charlestonfishing.com"]www.charlestonfishing.com[/url]

Go to the georgetown/ murrells inlet forum and inquire about the SAFMC and how the regs are voted in, and how the data is gathered. I think you'll be very, very surprised what you here. Many of the inhabitants of that site, to include myself, are active in conservation, as well as protecting angler's rights. A large portion of the posters on that particular board are charter captains. I myself had my 6 pack license for a spell years ago. Many attend the public hearings and such, and one that I know of is on the board.

The commercial boat reports make up a large portion of how things are interpreted, as I mentioned previously, I think you'll be very surprised. There's a lot of fudging going on, and because of that, the anglers are partly at fault. However, federal and state agencies should relying on confirmed data, not freelance reports or contract scientist assumptions.
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