Red Snapper: management of a public resource gone completely haywire. And we’re paying to have this done to us.
It’s important to note here that the total allowable take isn’t based solely on the feds’ vague guesswork on the number of landings. No, they add in what they believe to be the discard mortality rates — that of fish released and dying sometime later, predominately because of barotrauma. That occurs to differing extents when fish are brought up from depths and their air bladders expand too quickly — and don’t return to normal quickly enough when released. The federal scientists use a number to determine how often this happens. In the case of snapper, they speculate that 40 percent of all released fish die in the recreational sector and 60 percent in the commercial sector. Read the rest here 09:33
One of the finest editorial pieces written on Federal mis-management of our American coastal fisheries. One comment sums it up:
“Feds should only be promoting a general overall policy but the actual implementation/enforcement should be handled locally where those that have first hand knowledge of the situation can implement actions that are necessary.”