This is why Red Snapper are so limited in take currently
There are tons of little ones, and very few big ones. If the season is opened up, all the biggest little ones (those legal 2-4 year olds) will be taken and the stock will collapse (again).
We do vertical long lining (VLL) for snapper sampling now, I don't know if NOAA is still doing traps or not. VLL is the SEAMAP protocol from NOAA though, and we've been doing it that way for about 8 years now. Probably 90% of what we catch is in that 2-4 year old size range, we've caught a few big ones, but those are still in the 6-10 year old size range. The biggest Red Snapper I have ever seen was probably about 25 lbs. I've seen one that size in hundreds of sampling dives and VLL collections.
The reason the big fish are so important is the older a female is the more fecund she is. One 15 year old fish is worth hundreds of 3 year olds from a reproductive standpoint. I think there should be a slot limit on all fish.
As for fishing gear limits, that is almost all political, unfortunately. My favorite example is the Bluefin Tuna fishery. Not sure what the status is now, but several years ago it was on the verge of collapse. The commercial interests had a lot of political power, so for a "win" in the environmental category, they made a big deal about limiting the gear that could be used to take Blue Fin. Hooray the giant tuna are saved from commercial over-fishing! Except the gear they limited was spear fishing. So the half dozen people in the world that had the skill, gear, and guts to spear a 600+ lb sea monster could no longer do that, but the commercial fishers were left untouched.
There are a few well managed fisheries in the world. I want to say that the Alaska Pollock fishery is one of them (don't quote me on that though). That is a HUGE industry, so it can be done.
-Chris
There are tons of little ones, and very few big ones. If the season is opened up, all the biggest little ones (those legal 2-4 year olds) will be taken and the stock will collapse (again).
We do vertical long lining (VLL) for snapper sampling now, I don't know if NOAA is still doing traps or not. VLL is the SEAMAP protocol from NOAA though, and we've been doing it that way for about 8 years now. Probably 90% of what we catch is in that 2-4 year old size range, we've caught a few big ones, but those are still in the 6-10 year old size range. The biggest Red Snapper I have ever seen was probably about 25 lbs. I've seen one that size in hundreds of sampling dives and VLL collections.
The reason the big fish are so important is the older a female is the more fecund she is. One 15 year old fish is worth hundreds of 3 year olds from a reproductive standpoint. I think there should be a slot limit on all fish.
As for fishing gear limits, that is almost all political, unfortunately. My favorite example is the Bluefin Tuna fishery. Not sure what the status is now, but several years ago it was on the verge of collapse. The commercial interests had a lot of political power, so for a "win" in the environmental category, they made a big deal about limiting the gear that could be used to take Blue Fin. Hooray the giant tuna are saved from commercial over-fishing! Except the gear they limited was spear fishing. So the half dozen people in the world that had the skill, gear, and guts to spear a 600+ lb sea monster could no longer do that, but the commercial fishers were left untouched.
There are a few well managed fisheries in the world. I want to say that the Alaska Pollock fishery is one of them (don't quote me on that though). That is a HUGE industry, so it can be done.
-Chris