re: My input/observation on LA Redfish

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Yes, with sustainable limits from the commercial fisherman and removal of oversight by NOAA. This also includes elimination of the Menhaden fishery from Louisiana.

Win, win, win.

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Sportfishing is infinitely more beneficial to fish populations and the economy than commercial fishing. I saw a study once that said a pound of red snapper caught in state waters in Florida by sportfisherman added like $80 to the states economy. The same poung of fish caught commercially added like a $1.50 because of the costs associated with managing the commercial fishery. This is a pretty well established fact in all commercial fishing. The only reason commercial fishing still exists in any form is, and you can ask any commercial fishing professional organization and any agency that promotes or regulates commercial fishing, to protect a traditional way of life in those areas. That is a laudable goal but it would the same if we propped up the typewriter industry to maintain the traditional way of life for typewriter repairmen. Just about all products produced by commercial fisherman can be farm raised just like cattle and chickens....no one is out netting wild cows and chickens as an industry...it is insane. Those products that can not be farmed can be caught recreationally....but that requires the consumer to be actively involved and is cost prohibitive for most people. SO what? True Wagyu beef is also out of the price range of most of the world...that don't mean they can't buy groundbeef at walmart.

Commercial fishing is hard work but it is easier than consistently putting idiots with little or no fishing experience (or even worse old boy who thinks he knows everything) on fish that it is to drag a net in the same areas that have been drug for years and years and years. A lot of commercial fisherman aren't cut out for running sportfishing charters...they do not know how to catch fish consistently without doing so with a net. Many could learn to do so, though, have far lower operating costs and manage their own revenue instead of depending on a buyer to cheat the shite out of them when they return to the hill.


The one caveat is hook and line commercial fishing. Florida has a pretty extensive hook and line commercial fishing industry. It is pretty sustainable by all accounts. It is HIGHLY regulated. It keeps the price of seafood up which makes it a viable industry (at times dolphin hook and line boats will catch so many dolphin the price drops...happens pretty frequently). Why it is uncommon for those with the license to take sportfisherman on those trips fo a price is beyond me...I have asked some of the people i know who have the license and they don't want anyone on the boat who is not very good at what they do, namely snatch fish after fish over the transom that have been chummed into a feeding frenzy. I get that, but the majority of the cost of running a commercial boat is fuel, boat maintenance and crew. If you covere those costs with sportfishermen it seems like you could make as much money catching fewer fish.