Red Snapper Fishing, Conservation Red Snapper Gulf | Sport Fishing Magazine

A colleague sent me an email recently that’s typical of many I’ve received in recent years. He had just been copied on a cruise report from a research group working off the Texas coast. Their vertical longline had just landed 112 fish, of which 109 were red snapper and three were vermilion snapper.

A couple of days later, I attended a meeting of fishery scientists in Tampa, Florida. While I was enjoying a beverage with a colleague at the hotel lounge, our server overheard our conversation and took interest. “Are you guys fishery workers?” he asked. We both nodded, and he carried on. “Well, I wish you all would do something so I can start catching grouper again. Every time I drop a hook on any of my favorite grouper holes, all I can get are red snapper. The bait never gets to the grouper.”