Red Snapper fishing available NOW?

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Originally Posted by CarlF

I think you are selling the recreational "lobby" short.
Recreational fishing is huge and has a massive economic impact, especially along the coast.
Likes others have noted, money talks, and in most areas, recreational fishing generate just as much, if not more, jobs and tax revenue as commercial.
As far as I know, there has never been a serious push to increase the commercial red snapper share since the split was set.

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You are correct regarding the economic impact of recreational fishing versus commercial. In my opinion, this only makes it more clear that dedicating 51% of the snapper quota to an increasingly centralized commercial fishing industry is counterproductive, especially as recreational fishing expands.

I'd say the "Share the Gulf" ads, which strike me as deliberately deceptive, are a good example of a PR campaign mounted by the commercial sector that the recreational sector has no easy way to fight against, simply because recreational fishermen are not and never will be an organized political group.

Share the Gulf is a marketing campaign to re-sell Gulf-seafood after the oil spill.
Its not a political campaign to increase or change quota's etc....

No, it is an attempt to secure 51% of the snapper quota for commercial interests! If it has been presented to you as a marketing campaign, you have been straight out lied to. They hide their true motives with deceptive language to get chefs, charter boats, etc on board with them. Share the Gulf They actively oppose Amendment 28 which is granting the majority of increased snapper quotas to the recreational sector. A group with the benign name "Environmental Defense Fund" is financing this campaign. The EDF is a corporate controlled group that has made numerous moves to shut out small scale commercial fishers and recreational fishers.

The more you dig in to this, it is ridiculously deceitful. The Share the Gulf page says "The Gulf belongs to all of us. It always has and it always should." Meanwhile, they lobby to give 51% of the snapper to 400 companies.

Another shameful tactic -- a group called "The Charter Fishermen's Association" puts out materials supporting Individual Fishing Quota legislation. Guess where they get their funding? Charter Fishermen? Nope, commercial fishers and the EDF.