I think that the point that Buckled Plates is making is that after the mighty closures of the '90s and early 2000s, it's pretty clear that there will be no more major area closures like Tortugas and the trap and gill net bans. Which is really too bad in a way, because in my opinion, it's only that type of closure that works. Piecemeal closures like a spearing ban or stainless hook ban, or a partial closure like the SPAs in the FKNMC are silly. They don't work because they are too small, or they don't hit hard enough in the right places. We know where fish spawn, or at least the fishermen know where fish spawn. We know where they aggregate. We know where they live, and we know how they get from one place to another. Large area closures like Riley's Hump has had amazing results on fish populations. I may be one of the few people in South Florida that has seen a thousand black grouper in one place at one time. We've collected video of schools of fish containing 3500 mutton snapper, and there are 4-5 of those schools per year. Those fish can't help but spill over to surrounding area, where they are free to be caught.
No, a gear type closure is a mini grab. First, they come for the spearos, and no one spoke up, because there are relatively few spearos. Next, they will come for the commercial H&L guys, and no one will speak up, because there are relatively few commercial H&L guys. They they will come for the rec fishers, and they will scream and holler because the government is taking their recreation, and what, don't they pay registration fees? And their place will disappear too.
Now, If I were designing closures, I'd close the mutton snapper spawn at Western Dry Rocks from May to July. I'd wait 5 years, then I'd close the historic one at American Shoals, while leaving Western Sambo open. The same year I'd close Careysfort, and see if any of the blacks and cubera would come back, I'd close Careysfort for 3 miles in any direction. I'd look in Broward for historic spawning sites, and I'd close them for 3 miles in any direction.
Rebuilding fish stocks is relatively easy and completely awesome. Protect the fish that are spawning, and stocks will rebuild. Fish the pregnant ones (I know fish aren't pregnant) and you will destroy a population. It's really that simple.