re: The administration's plan on Red Snapper

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and your commercial fishing roots were outed.

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Doesn't bother me. There is nothing wrong with commercial fisherman.

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If commercial fishermen had a history of sustainable management of the resources so that everyone could enjoy it, i might side with them. But they never have. They have caused the shortage in virtually every species

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It's not the fact that they are commercial fisherman but the fact that they are human. It's human nature to try to make more money. It's not like they are evil people just trying to deplete all the resources. That is why the government has to regulate the industry along with the recreational industry. Fishing shouldn't just be for recreationals or just for commercials. It should be for both. And people that don't fish should be able to buy fish and eat them in restaurants also.

There are commercials that are for conservation believe it or not. Then there are some that don't care. But there are recreationals that violate too and don't care about resources either.

Back during gill net bans, we pushed for heavier regulations but it was all or nothing and they just did away with gill nets and made redfish a game fish. To this day, there is no reason why redfish shouldn't be able to be caught by commercials with at least a rodnreel. Redfish stocks are very healthy and have been for a long time.

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Plus, in La they get most of the snapper

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It is not as big of a gap as you are making it out to be. It's 51% vs 49%.

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pretty much everything but redfish, they are only limited by method. They can even catch and sell trout, just not in a gill net.

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Try to go out and get some of these commercial licenses to fish some of these species and then come back and let me know how it goes. You cannot just go out and start fishing red snapper commercially. All the red snapper licenses are grandfathered in and they are not allowing any new licenses. Some people are selling their rights to red snapper licenses for tens of thousands of dollars because that's it.

You can keep thinking that the commercials are destroying the resources or are hurting you from catching more fish but it's not true in the US anymore. The number of commercial fisherman in Louisiana is probably down 60-75% compared to the 80's. It's not that big of an industry anymore outside of shrimp (which has tons of issues with competing with imports) and oysters. I would be willing to bet that recreationals(including fishing guides) catch more fish now than commercials with most species. Especially with speckle trout and redfish.