You do realize there is a GIGANTIC difference in Tilapia and Redfish right. That's like comparing Grapes to Watermelons

Are these the same biologists who don't see an issue spraying hydrilla?

Ha. I think you are reaching. TPWD had nothing to do with Lake Austin issues, it became political and went against the biologist wishes. I'm not as well versed on other situations, so maybe it has happen. But every biologist I have spoken to appreciates the benefits of hydrilla.

Redfish are stocked in our local power plant lakes

My point is redfish didn't destroy the bass fishery that calaveras once had because i can go to its sister lake and catch
20lbs of bass . It was the tilapia that happen to live in the same areas and eat the eggs during the spawn (I've caught 4 lb tilapia flipping reed beds on a 10in worm. Since the lake isn't stocked it no longer has a sustainable bass population. If i can find my old videos I'll show you schools 3-4 times the size of my boat in the shallow all over the lake.

Does anyone read the Fayette County Reservoir
2019 Fisheries Management Survey Report https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/lake_survey/pwd_rp_t3200_1292_2019.pdf

The preferred level of aquatic vegetation for productive fisheries is considered to be 20-30 % of the
reservoir acreage (Durocher et al. 1984, Dibble et al. 1996). In 2007, when vegetative coverage was at its
highest in Fayette County Reservoir, it was at least 10% lower than preferred. There are a lot of natural
factors that affect vegetation coverage making it difficult to know what impact was made by cast netters
wading in the water. It is also difficult to ascertain whether these variations in vegetative coverage could
account for a discernable change in bass population dynamics and whether wading could directly impact
the production of young-of-the-year Largemouth Bass. If there was a problem with juvenile bass
production (fish < 8 inches) we would expect to see low and/or declining numbers of juvenile bass, which
does not appear to be the case from an examination of electrofishing length-frequency data collected
from 2005 to 2019 (Appendix F). In addition, Appendix G shows the CPUE of juvenile bass from 2005 to
2019. Juvenile bass CPUE was highest in 2006 (109/h) and lowest in 2009 (17/h). The last three surveys
have shown the highest production of juvenile bass since 2006. Based on this data, there does not seem
to be an issue with juvenile bass production at Fayette County Reservoir. Also, based on Wr, most stocksize fish have been in good to excellent condition from 2005 to 2019 (Appendix F). Thus, the available
data shows no deterioration in juvenile bass production and no decline in the condition (Wr) of the
population (≥ 8 inches) during the study period, beyond what could be explained due to natural variation.
While the total CPUE in 2019 (106.0/h) was lower than in 2017 (227.3/h) and 2015 (208.7/h), it is
comparable to the data from 2013 (108.7/h) and 2009 (88.7/h), showing that such wide fluctuations in
abundance do occur at this reservoir and that the population can rebound, as occurred post 2013 and
2009.

Talapia compete directly with the bass population in that they both utilize the same spawning waters.
I used to bowfish for talapia years ago and you could step from one nest to another and see the LMB swimming about in the same area.
If the cast netters are removed then there is no way to stop talapia from competing with the LMB for spawning grounds.
Unless someone has a better idea?
Power plants and vegetation don't make ideal partners, so I would look to that area rather than all the blame on the castnetters.

Short story: Back in the mid eighties both Calaveras and Braunig lakes both powerplant lakes were chocked full of aquatic vegetation and within a period of about 2 weeks both lakes were devoid of any vegetation.
All these years and it never returned. My guess is the powerplant lakes have figured it's better to just reduce it a little at a time.

I don't even know how to operate a cast net but would anyone care to explain what's wrong with it on power plant lakes?

They are keeping everything they net and whatever grass is growing gets pulled up by the weights on the nets. Effectively killing the vegetation

Make sense, thanks Chance

They aren’t proposing banning all cast netting, just during the typical bass spawning months.