All the New Fishing Regulations

[Pirate]

I truly feel for the charter fleets that have depended on fishing for their income. I also feel for ourselves. My group of fishermen fish inshore and offshore depending on conditions. We enjoy it all. We aren't near the coast so we only fish a limited number of trips per year. We do pay home owners taxes in Florida, but we still have to buy an out of state license. Of course with a $16 increase. I guess that pays the salaries of the "Powers" that continue to lower the limits. With fishing regulations and of course fuel we question whether a trip is worth making. We've never "filled up our freezers" and I really can't justify driving 6 hours for a fish dinner either. We are planning a trip spring break. Eight of us will spend $800 apiece. That's $6400 dollars we're gonna spend in East Point, Fl. next week. I think the local businesses will appreciate it. However, I don't know if it will continue. Who can afford it. I see this statement used a lot. "Save some fish for our kids". Thats a great statement and it's an important statement. My problem with that statement is this. I started fishing with my kids when they were young. We love it and the time together. I can assure you we've never over harvested anything with fins. Once in a while we'll have a great day and catch a limit of something. If cost keep going up and limits down it's a no brainer to find another sport to pursue. I've got an offshore boat that I'm cutting back using and will probably sell soon then my kids aren't gonna be fishing. I believe that! Many fishermen are saying the same thing. So what happens to the businesses we support. Down they go. We better find a way to make fishing a sport the average person can afford or soon it will only be a rich man's sport. As far as saving fish for our kids it really won't matter because they will have moved on past fishing. What a waste of a great past time. Leave it to the government!!!

[Dubble Trubble]

I sometimes frequent Destin and Panama Citys higher end marinas, and I can tell you, the rich men would like nothing better than to have all of us little guys out of the water and out of their way.

The guys in Tallahassee(and Washington for that matter) look at it like this: If you wanna play, you gotta pay, sadly with the money lining their crooked little pockets all the way.

As for saving the fish for the kids, you need to go look at commercial haul limits. You will be amazed!

Remember the Golden Rule:

"He who has the gold makes the rules"

Hasn't changed for thousands of years....

Dubble

[Sir reel]

Can't argue with anything you have said. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[Jumptrout51]

This guy speaks the truth for a lot of Florida fishermen as well as out of state visiting fishermen.

To continue to lower bag limits for recreational fishermen is going to put Florida businesses out of business.

Offshore fishing for grouper and snapper would be better served by keeping the first 5 five coming into the boat regardless of size.
My reasoning for this is the "juvenile" fish being released are almost always consumed by sharks and barracudas within 15-20 feet of the boat. Why feed the predators. Give a man 5 fish. He cranks up and goes home happy with "a limit". Comes back again, spends more money.
Give a man 1 fish,he probably won't come at all. NO MONEY SPENT.

If they are dead set to lower something, lower the slot, not the quantity.

[Tom Keels]

Offshore fishing for grouper and snapper would be better served by keeping the first 5 five coming into the boat regardless of size.
My reasoning for this is the "juvenile" fish being released are almost always consumed by sharks and barracudas within 15-20 feet of the boat.

While this may be true in some areas of the gulf, I have not seen it personally. I disagree that fish being released are "dead anyway". Problem is enforcement. You can't enforce "First 5 in". Fish are more resilient than folks think. I've seen fish that have been speared and gaffed and the wound healed over.

It all boils down to this. Fisheries should be managed as a natural resource and not as a commercial one. Why does the Federal Commerce Commission have authority over how recreational bag limits are enforced? How would you like it if the National Forests were managed by folks that owned logging companies and paper mills?

[birddog]

How would you like it if the National Forests were managed by folks that owned logging companies and paper mills?

Then our National forests would probably be in better shape than they are and they definitely would reduce the forest fire risk.

[KarstRanger]

How would you like it if the National Forests were managed by folks that owned logging companies and paper mills?

Then our National forests would probably be in better shape than they are and they definitely would reduce the forest fire risk.

I don't think that we are comparing apples to apples. The amount of forests that are harvested (and conserved) is reasonably measurable at least. The measurement of current stocks of red snapper, grouper and other game species is not nearly as reliable in my view - I don't see a lot agreement on the various studies published.

I know that rising fuel costs are putting a crimp in all our budgets, which makes it even tougher to justify a 25 or 50 gallon trip out into the gulf when we are being limited to fewer and fewer fish - if you are good/lucky enough to land them.

I think Florida is shooting itself in the foot by squeezing out us, the little guy, the sport fisherman that most of us are, in favor of the commercial outfits. Smells of the same lobbying power that Big Sugar has in continuing to dominate the ecology of the river systems in South Florida. I realize that commercial fishers need to make money too, but just like America has been changing over from an agricultural base to a service based economy for many years, maybe Florida needs to start ruling in favor of the sport fisherman over the commercial guys -- and the commercial guys will just need to find something more profitable to do...

[Tom Keels]

Not really trying to make a comparison, more of an analogy. People that have monetary interests in a commodity should not be managing the commodity.

[MudDucker]

While the old adage of the man with the gold rules is quite often true, it is not true in fishing and fishing regulations. I don't have them here with me, but the numbers are that recreational fishing brings well over 10 times the amount of money to the Florida economy than does commercial fishing. I am not against a robust commercial fishing industry, but there should be a better balance. Unlike farmers who truly have to buy or rent their farm land, the commercial guys are allowed to take from OUR lands for little or nothing. Thats right, OUR lands, the seas within the US boarders belong to the public. We fishermen need to ban together and get ourselves a big group like the old folks with AARP and scare the crap out the legislatures. Then some balance would come to the force.

[Dubble Trubble]

Fishermen, like the farmers (my dad was one) are too independent to ban together. If the farmers could have pulled it off (or still can for that matter) they would be one of the most powerful groups in the world.

But the little farmers would not do it. Sadly, only when the super rich own all the "superfarms" will they become powerful enough to influence the monkey-see monkey-dos in Washington and Tally.

It is the same problem with rec fishermen. They will not ban together, too independent.

[CATCH 22]

I don't think it is independence rather segregation. Inshore fishermen don't really care about what goes on in the Offshore fisheries and visa-versa. We have alot of Forum Members here but only a small percentage wrote a letter of any sort to the powers that be when this subject was first brought up http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpBB3/vi ... =a#p119755" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; How about now? Is it to late? What say You Ole Mighty Fishermen, rise and be heard lest they dont stop here.

[MudDucker]

I don't think it is independence rather segregation. Inshore fishermen don't really care about what goes on in the Offshore fisheries and visa-versa. We have alot of Forum Members here but only a small percentage wrote a letter of any sort to the powers that be when this subject was first brought up http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpBB3/vi ... =a#p119755" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; How about now? Is it to late? What say You Ole Mighty Fishermen, rise and be heard lest they dont stop here.

I wrote letters to the governor and the commission. Got a courtesy reply from the governor and the commission.

[CATCH 22]

Thats about all any of us recieved Now say if 1500 E-mails were sent the response could of been better, just maybe

[ak man]

Does anyone know, or is it public info, how much money comm. fishing brings to the state of Florida?? I have a hard time imagining that it could even be remotely close to the economic stimulus created by rec. fisherman. From staying in hotels, eating at restaurants, going to gas stations and tackle shops, buying licenses, getting boats repaired at marinas, ect. ect. IMO, your average fisherman (us) visiting the gulf coast, makes a far greater impact than any commercial fisherman ever could. Hell, I don't eat fish from restaurants anyway, except the ones at the beach. Like someone said above, if we are looking to promote healthy, sustainable fisheries, and benefit Florida economically it seems it would be a no brainer to cut off the commercial guys and crank up the state marketing campaign for in and out of state fisherman. I don't believe the relative small percentage of people who make their living commercial fishing should be influencing these major decisions.

[Tom Keels]

Does anyone know, or is it public info, how much money comm. fishing brings to the state of Florida??

Very little. As a comparison, recreation fishing and all the stuff that goes with it (kind of like tourism) is second only to Citrus as far as state income goes. Numbers that I have heard are around $5 billion.