Cranfield wrote:
I suspect the real answer, is probably a combination of all the ideas offered on this thread.
But, no resource can be continually harvested, without sensible management.
Some more than others.
NW Florida has a very, "thin" marsh/nursery zone" and the growing rate of inshore fish stocks is way too little for the harvesting rate.
And, the bio-soup draining out into this zone is minimal, too. The food chain for trout and redfish suffer in this regard.
Marine law enforcement is minimal, to non-existent in the area of night-time enforcement of local small rig netters (not cast netters). If a true ban on all netting existed, and FMP worked at night (other than the few stings they now do) this area's thin inshore bio-sphere could produce much better, related to the harvest rate. FMP, mostly, does a, "show of force" on weekends and holidays, checking out, mostly, law-abiding sport fishing folks. They seem to spend way too much license monies on building vast navies of boat rigs that load up their boat yards which seem to, mostly, be crammed to the gills, every time I drive by one (fairly recently, they've been installing what looks like 8-10' high solid wood fences on the outside of the old chain-link, see-through fences) that cause me to think they're trying to hide these huge, under-utilized navies).
I'd hope I am wrong about FMP. Anybody got some, inside, on them?
In a land called, Perfect, sea grits grows on the beach dunes in patches next to those of sea oats!