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Anglers May Contest New Rules

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By FRANK SARGEANT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 20, 2008

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a meeting next week in St. Petersburg, and one of the items on the agenda is review of possible cuts in the gag grouper catch for both commercial and recreational fishermen.

Gags are the primary target of bottom fishermen from St. Petersburg northward to the Big Bend, and a cut in the five-fish limit would have a significant impact on many.

"The feds have taken away so much from the reef fishermen over the last 10 years that a lot of guys don't even want to spend the money to go any more," says tackle shop owner Vance Tice. "We used to get 25 percent of our business from this fishery, and now we're down to 5 percent, and they still want more cutbacks even though the fishing is great."

On the bright side, the council may recommend some increase in the number of red grouper allowed. Currently the limit is one daily.

However, management of red grouper is one of the sore spots that has made bottom anglers a bit suspicious of more controls on other species.

"The National Marine Fisheries Service said that red grouper were being overfished and asked for an emergency rule to cut the catch, even when all the fishermen were telling them that there were more fish out there than there had been in years," says Dennis O'Hern, executive director of the Fishing Rights Alliance, a group of reef fishermen and divers headquartered in St. Petersburg.

O'Hern's group, along with the Coastal Conservation Association, brought a lawsuit against the feds that forced a review of the science indicating reds were declining, and the new study showed the species was doing fine.

"The feds claim that reds recovered because of the emergency rule, but in fact they had already recovered before it was put in place," says O'Hern. "Now, we're concerned that they may be considering tightening up on gags when there's no need for that, either."

O'Hern also said fishing effort for all reef species has declined dramatically in the last year due to gas prices.

"Marina gas is close to $4 a gallon. Guys who used to go every weekend just can't afford it any more - they maybe go once or twice a month. We did a survey among our members that showed their trips were off 35 percent. So if NMFS says we need a 40 percent reduction in effort, we're practically there already."

What's more, says Tice, gag stocks appear to be in excellent shape, at least in terms of the juveniles that will soon grow to spawning adults.

"I talk to people all the time who catch 30 or 40 undersize grouper on a trip," says Tice. "With that kind of numbers out there, how can it be that they're overfished?"

To be sure, one of the concerns of federal scientists is that not enough gags are surviving far enough into adulthood to change sexes and become males; all gags start life as females, but only those which live 8 to 9 years become males. The concern is that the numbers of these spawning males may be reduced too far to provide continued spawning success at current harvest levels.

Biologists say that though grouper spawn on deep reefs offshore, the young grow up on the grass flats at depths of 4 to 10 feet until they reach lengths more than 12 inches. As they age, most gradually move to bottom structure in deeper water.

O'Hern says his group would strongly back regulations if the evidence shows gags are in trouble, but he says thus far what he has heard from most anglers indicates they are doing fine.

"If we need to have more fish survive to maturity, we could support an increase in minimum size to 24 inches, but we don't see a need for more than that at this time," O'Hern said.

O'Hern and Tice are hosting a meeting at Tightlines Tackle, 6924 N. Armenia in Tampa on Thursday at 7 p.m. to publicize their concerns and to encourage as many recreational anglers as possible to voice their recent experiences with the gag grouper fishery. For more information, visit www.thefra.org.

The Gulf Council hearing on the proposals is slated for Wednesday, Jan. 30, starting at 1:30 p.m., at the Radisson Hotel, 12600 Roosevelt Blvd. in St. Petersburg. Input from anglers will be welcomed. Details on council rules and operation is available at www.gulfcouncil.org.

FREE SEMINAR: Fred Everson, book author and Tribune fishing correspondent, presents a free seminar Wednesday at the Golden Triangle Fishing Club, meeting at 7 p.m. at Bill Currie Ford, 5815 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa; (813) 935-3293.

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