I used this same protest on another forum and was told that it should be set up to accommodate everyone like being able to log in and submit data within 24 hours or so.

When I go to Alaska, certain species have to be recorded IN INK on a harvest record form that the angler carries with them (its the back of the license for us non-residents). Certainly might be worthwhile to have anglers keep a harvest record book on their vessel & log catches prior to returning to the dock.

I know it'll never happen, but just for the sake of argument, I'd like to see EVERY GOM rec angler sit out the entire 9 day snapper season, (DO NOT FISH) & then see how fast The Gulf Council determines the rec's overfished the quota........

laughable. time to focus on different fish

Brian .... Crabtree was quoted as saying .... "even if we have a zero day Federal waters season for red snapper the recs would overfish their quota due to state waters fishing" .... or something like that.

Now the funny thing about that is a few years back he was known to say that the numbers of red snappers taken from state waters was negligible.

Exactly, anything to keep those rednecks from hurting his sea kittens

International water is beyond 200 nm. Not many snapper out there. And yes, the fish in federal water from 9-200 nm are much bigger than state water fish.

I got lucky and sold my off shore boat before they went totally snapper stupid. I don�t understand why we can�t shut down the commercial fishing for snapper if they are so terribly over fished by us. Nine days? Has anyone fished early June? We might only get 3 or 4 days to safely fish. I was not going to go 15 to 35 mile out unless I knew I could catch and keep snapper. I usually took 3 others with me and everyone enjoys bottom fishing. I was not going to kill a bunch of red snapper in hopes I caught vermilion or grouper and so on. Yes I targeted everything but bill fish, but I also wanted a sure thing. I did an interview as to why I sold my boat and who did not get my dollars anymore.
1. Boat service $750+ for spring tune-up, add-ons, excreta
2. Ice 100lbs +
3. I could always find something I could not live without at the local tackle store $$
4. Bait $$
5. Gas $$$$
6. Lodging $$$
7. Food and drinks $
8. Fish cleaning (If I felt lazy) $$
9. Boat wash $
10. Boat barn $1500
11. Restaurants that cooked our catch $$
X 15 times plus a summer and it really adds up. I hope the people providing all of those beautiful snapper to Central Market are helping the economy as much as we do/did.
Thank you , I feel better

Just learned about a 'pilot program' for selected partyboats to catch & retain red snapper year round. Guess that's going to be the option for most folks who can't afford their own boat.

That program ends when the season ends. It's not year round. Whenever the NMFS says the TAC is met, all fishing stops except commercial.

Ok, I noticed the Capt John giving reports of offshore red snapper fishing for the last couple months. Wasn't sure if it was year-round or what

not only do you pay to get on the boat, but you have to pay the boat for the
2 snappers YOU catch!
Yeah that's fair. My opinion is if I'm engaging in commercial fishing, I should be GETTING paid, not paying. That's worse than share-cropping!!!

Ah, did not know about that detail. Gonna take some time this weekend to read up on how this works.

Can't fight the system if you don't know the rules, eh?

With a paltry 9 day season, I get the feeling there will be a lot of snapper caught, cleaned and brought back to the docks illegally this year once the season ends. Some folks are willing to take that risk, I'm just not one of them.

It's like mid=evil times ....You cant hunt in the Kings forest and the king owns all the forest.

Being an east coast Striped Bass fisherman new to Tx, I get the news from Recreational Fishing Alliance http://joinrfa.org/ They lobby for fisherman and keep up with the plight of the Gulf Coast Snapper