SAFMC Amendment 16
How about this? - Reduce all grouper bag limits from 5 fish to two with a four month seasonal closure. No more than one can be a gag and no more than one can be a black grouper.
The vermilion snapper is where these folks really show their true colors. To quote them, "Vermilion snapper is experiencing overfishing but the over fished status is unknown." Based on this statement, they plan to change the bag limit from 10 fish to 4 and to close the season for 8 months out of the year. Yes, that is 8 months as in you can only fish for them four months out of the year.
You really need to sink your teeth into this one and let your voices be heard. All the PETA and anti-fishing folks are behind this 100%. This is a veiled effort at the eventual total elimination of fishing.
Comments
For all of you that said your not voting this year, this should be a wake-up call…. I have watch them destroy the hunting industry for the past 20 years and now they have their foot hold on that they comming after the fishing don’t let them!!!!!!!
It bothers me that such drastic action is being taken for a species (grouper) the report says is not over fished! Where is the scientific evidence this plan is the right plan to sustain the current levels???? The cuts are HUGE. For us folks in NC that have to travel 30 – 40 miles for legal size grouper it makes it hard to justify a trip out there to catch them. With gas prices in the $4 range, that alone will limit the trips.
As to the Snapper – “over fished status is unknown” – oh my. We need new folks on these boards. The current ones appear to be clowns.
America’s scariest words: Hi, I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.
I hate to say it but I think it’s funny. I take that back. I’m proud to say I think it’s funny. The recreational fishing community pushed to have tougher and tougher laws against the commercial fisherman and put many fisherman out of buisness, and now with far fewer commercial fisherman these entities will not simply go away they just change direction. National Marine fisheries has whittled down the commercial fisherman to a sustainable population now they are after the sport fisherman. Did you people think that after they got through with the commercial fisherman they would just disband. These people have to protect their jobs no matter what the expence.
How can the recreational fishing community say they are for restrictions and conservation when it comes to commercial fishing but when it comes to you guys the science is biased or the stocks are healthy, and nothing needs to be done, these are the same scientist that you guys rallied behind in the 1990’s to get the gill nets banned. I truely hope that one day will come when you people won’t be able to keep any Snapper or Grouper of any kind. They will be federally protected like Goliath Grouper, don’t laugh the day is comming, it happned to us with many species Red Bass for one, and unfortunatly it is happening to hunters too.
What makes you people think you’re any better than us, your neck is next on the chopping block, and unlike the majority of you I do attend FWC commision meetings and will express my opinion on this matter.
I find great joy in watching you people cry like a bunch of commercial fisherman having their gill nets taken away. When it came to us nobody cared how many people were put out of business, the mantra was, “We have to put the fish first”, and we were told to find some other way of making a living. Well the same applies now, you guys need to find something else to catch. You guys created this machine now live with it, and just as you did everything in your power stop us from doing what we had done for generations I promise you I will do everything to in my power to see to it that we stop you from catching reef fish.
In a way I am a commercial fisherman – I derive my income from the entire fishing industry. If we – meaning commercial and recreational – are stopped from fishing, I loose my job!
This SAFMC amendment hits commercial and recreational anglers alike. This one is not about “us versus them” and the commercial fishing debate. It is about all of our rights to the water and its resources, and I believe both sides need to be working together.
There are three factions here – commercial, recreational, and the entire “anti-fishing” crowd. The anti’s sit back and watch the other two groups fight it out while they work behind the scenes to lobby for more and more restrictions to fishing.
Perhaps it is time to put away our differences – I did not say forget them – and work together fro the common good.