Gulf Council Looking for Cobia Input

[silverking]

Gulf Council Seeks Cobia Info from Anglers, Divers

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council would like to gain a better understanding of cobia (ling) in the Gulf of Mexico. It is seeking information from anglers and divers about trends or “strange things” that scientists and managers may need to know.

A scientific stock assessment of cobia is underway, and the Council would like to know if you have noticed anything “fishy” about cobia, or cobia fishing, in recent years. The information provided will help inform scientists and managers as they formulate a current understanding of the Gulf of Mexico cobia stock.

Please visit our “Something’s Fishy with Cobia” tool before February 7, 2020, to report anything you’ve noticed about cobia in the Gulf of Mexico.

Contact Emily.Muehlstein@gulfcouncil.org with questions.

[silverking]

Here's a direct link to the tool to submit comments:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... sp=sf_link

[FishWithChris]

If these MF'ers tighten the regs even more in our area... but I'm always for crowd-sourced qualitative data for things like this so hopefully they get some good information back from folks.

[I have not researched or looked into this tool... yet]

[Steve Stinson]

They are going to continue until every species is catch and release only.

Increase the limit on Cobia or leave it alone completely. I no longer trust your skewed data and that is my input.

- Steve Stinson

[Sun Daze]

They are going to continue until every species is catch and release only.

Increase the limit on Cobia or leave it alone completely. I no longer trust your skewed data and that is my input.

- Steve Stinson

[Salty Gator]

They already changed the regs on cobia last year. Boat limit is now 2. The min is still the same

[big bend gyrene]

As one who targets them (though I tag and release far more than I keep) and one who follows numerous online forums and social media pages dedicated to them... GOD help any of us who like to occasionally keep one if they give much stock to anecdotal / hearsay input. Most of what I see is one subset of guys posting and speaking to relatively healthy numbers and catches, with the other subset is loudly crying that almost none can be found.

Not to mention you're talking about a species with MULTIPLE migration paths -- east to west in the gulf, north (inshore) and back south (offshore) in the gulf, and with some fish even swimming around the bottom of the peninsula and switching coasts... heck the scientists that have been tracking tagged fish for YEARS AND YEARS don't even seem too comfortable making strong declarations regarding predictable travel patterns. That, and the guys around Destin / Panama City talk and act as if their observations are the ONLY measure of population health (while in the meantime I've caught them steady for 15 consecutive years in our stained waters without any notable change in area presence).

Hate to be so skeptical... but wide open solicitation of anecdotal hearsay sure doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling...

[silverking]

Please don't shoot the messenger. These kind of notices come across my desk all the time and I try to share as many as possible to keep forum members informed and in the loop.

I don't fish for cobia nearly as much as I used to, but I have urged the FWC in the past to consider game fish status (no commercial sale). That step alone would go a long way towards enhancing stocks, IMO.

For those who may not be aware, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission has management jurisdiction in state waters. That's 9 nautical miles in the Gulf and 3 in the Atlantic. The federal Gulf and Atlantic Councils take over from those boundaries seaward. The states often, but not always, follow the federal precedent when establishing new regulations. But as was the case with red snapper, there is a growing trend to let the states manage popular species, even into federal waters. It gets even more complicated with wide-ranging fish like cobia, tarpon, king mackerel and others as BBG pointed out.

[tailwaters]

Any insight into what they mean by "strange things"? It just seams odd that they would use those words.

[silverking]

No clue, Chris. It's also odd that the Gulf Council or FWC PR folks don't post directly to this forum and others when they're trying to solicit public input on these type of matters. Guess they figure everyone reads the Federal Register on a daily basis? They did publish in The Fishing Wire, but with the overall demise of outdoors coverage in newspapers and the long-range publication cycle of sport-fishing magazines, the forums seem like a great venue to get the word out. They may be doing so via social media, but I don't participate in any of that so not sure.

[MudDucker]

We are from the government and we are here to help. The most feared words in America.