Just recently the NOAA Fisheries opted to give recreational anglers a nine day red snapper season that left anglers along the entire Gulf Coast red in the face with frustration.

Based on the annual catch targets and accounting for the red snapper harvest in state waters outside the federal season, the federal season for the private angling component will be 9 days, and the federal season for the federally permitted for-hire boats will be 46 days. The commercial red snapper season runs year-round using its privatized catch share system.

This year’s red snapper recreational season in federal waters will open on June 1 and close on June 10. It’s the shortest season on record despite the fact that the total allowable catch of red snapper in the Gulf is the largest in the history of the species under management.

The Coastal Conservation Association says that federal management has created a class of commercial Sea Lords, comprised of 55 commercial operators who own more than 70 percent of the commercial harvest and spurred development of hybrid catch share experience trips, in which charter operators lease fish from commercial harvesters to sell to recreational anglers.

It has produced convoluted measures that are seen nowhere else in the management of wildlife in this country. Not in ducks or deer or bass. With the federal government now focused on private ownership programs for industrial harvesters and the charter/for-hire sector, the ability of recreational anglers to be a part of the process is being eliminated.

One way to fight the commercial domination of the red snapper fishery is with HR. 3094, sponsored by Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.). It would transfer authority for the entire red snapper fishery to the Gulf States.

According to the CCA fisheries directors for the five Gulf States are professional stewards of the resource, with extensive training in wildlife management in general and marine science in particular. Their state-based management plan for red snapper is based on concepts they have used successfully on species like red drum and speckled trout in the Gulf. Neither of those fisheries were subjected to privatization schemes and the states still managed to provide an unprecedented level of access for their citizens. All have been cited as tremendous conservation success stories.

“The federal government has had decades to get red snapper management right and has given recreational anglers a nine-day season,” according to the CCA. “The answer to complicated fishery problems cannot be to funnel access through fewer and fewer for-profit entities and leave everyone else tied to the dock. It’s time to let the states finally provide the remedy.”

One way to fight back is to support HR 3094. To do that log in to this link and send your message –

https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/-rblCxvdErPPOH22-R9LOQ.

For Sale: Guided fishing trips with Capt. Robert Sloan out of Port O’Connor. We offer jetty, bay and wade fishing trips. Also on the menu are tarpon and king mackerel trips from the jetties to a few miles offshore. If you like topwater fishing for reds and trout give us a call at 409-782-6796, email sloan288@aol.com or go to www.luckystrikeguide.com. Check this out – $25 discount for all CCA members.

One way to fight the commercial domination of the red snapper fishery is with HR. 3094, sponsored by Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.). It would transfer authority for the entire red snapper fishery to the Gulf States. Robert Sloan photo