# Gulf Gag & Red Grouper, closed for at least 6 months



## Tom Pace (Jun 4, 2008)

Starting Jan. 1....

NOAA’s Fisheries Service has announced a temporary rule that will prohibit recreational fishing for gag grouper in Gulf of Mexico federal waters. The six-month rule becomes effective on January 1, 2011, and can be extended an additional six months if necessary.

This rule will also reduce the commercial quota from 1.49 million pounds to 100,000 pounds and will prohibit the use of the red grouper multi-use individual fishing quota allocation for harvesting gag grouper. The quota will discourage commercial vessels from targeting gag or from fishing in areas with high accidental catch of gag, while still allowing the retention of some accidentally-caught gag that would otherwise be discarded dead at sea.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council requested the fisheries service implement this temporary rule while the council explores long-term measures to address the poor condition of the gag grouper population.

“This was a difficult decision, but a necessary action to protect the Gulf gag grouper population,” said Roy Crabtree, southeast regional administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. “We hope this is a short term action and will look to increase the harvest of gag as soon as possible.”

The most recent scientific assessment update shows too many gag grouper are being removed from the population too quickly, indicating a need for protection under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

The council is expected to recommend long-term measures for gag grouper to the fisheries service sometime next year. NOAA’s Fisheries Service will provide public comment periods before implementing final long-term management measures.

Through a separate long-term rule, the council also requested the fisheries service to reduce the red grouper total allowable catch from 7.57 million pounds to 5.68 million pounds, due to a recent scientific assessment update that indicates the population has declined since 2005. This rule will also become effective on January 1, 2011.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

I kinda expected this considering they have increased the length of the closure every year. I didn't think it would last that long though. A 6 month closure seems pretty steep.


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## whome (Oct 2, 2007)

Just like the Red Snapper, Grouper regulations should be regionalized....


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## prostreet78 (Mar 2, 2008)

piss on noaa i am so tired of this shit u can t catch anything it sucks.


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## tailfisher (Oct 7, 2007)

thats about par for course


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## Sushi maker (Jun 3, 2010)

well the poor things are starving to death. The damn snapper are eatting everything in sight. But bet the other countries we are forced to buy our fish from wont have to abide by the " federal commercial harvest laws. I think its time to stop paying for fishing licenses let the @ss holes try to put all of us in jail ..!./ NOAA


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## jmh41190 (Apr 8, 2010)

Sushi maker said:


> well the poor things are starving to death. The damn snapper are eatting everything in sight. But bet the other countries we are forced to buy our fish from wont have to abide by the " federal commercial harvest laws. I think its time to stop paying for fishing licenses let the @ss holes try to put all of us in jail ..!./ NOAA


Im with this guy


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## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

What the fuck are we suppose to fish for, this is rediculous. Is anyone really gonna spend the money to go out when all you can keep are little BS snapper and trigger fish. A large majority of the tourist that come to destin wanna bottom fish for red snapper and gag grouper. I feel pretty bad for the captians out there.


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## Pelagic Tigress (Oct 15, 2007)

Maybe NOAA should consider that the snapper may be eating the small grouper....triggerfish...and everything else. Don't know if this is what is happening, but my brother was trying to catch some bait off a wreck and the grouper he caught were smaller than the bait we were using for snapper. Just saying...maybe two isn't enough...


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## younghooker (Oct 7, 2007)

Red Snapper are definitely over populating and running off the grouper.. you could just see this coming... Crabtree is a dumba$$... Fed Gov't is out of control.. our State reps need to set limits inside 9 mi. ( like Texas )... we will fish with a TEA party mentality... we are going to harvest ( filet ) snapper that won't live when released....


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## younghooker (Oct 7, 2007)

Call, write, talk to your State Reps... It's OUR economy, jobs, and Real estate values.. it's OUR State waters out to 9 mi... 3 or 4 snapper from April 1st to Oct. 31.... just to bring snapper back in to balance...


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## still flippen (Oct 6, 2007)

*New system needed!!*

I couldn't agree more that ARS are out of balance and could very well be eating or running off the groupers. There needs to be some studies done by a neutrel firm on effect of overpopulation of ARS and the habits of groupers. 

Screw the catch, release and bi catch numbers!! DIVE SPOTS AND VIDIEO RECORD THE DATA!! This way they can show a room full of people instead of just looking at numbers in a book. Who real know what 1,000#'s of fish looks like anyway. 

Monthly dives on specific spots recorded on file from different depths, types of bottom and note how many gag/ARS ratio. Take realtime inventroy of life on a reef and not what is biting that day.


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## Naby (Jan 18, 2009)

Thanks for the heads-up! I've written my state and federal representatives and senators.


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## Naby (Jan 18, 2009)

*Help stop excessive fishing restrictions!*

I just got off the phone with Matt Gaetz, the Florida State Representative for my district (4), regarding the email I sent him earlier today about the gag grouper closure. In short, he does not have a lot of direct authority as these decisions are being made at the federal level. However, he does have several things in mind to bring this local concern to the federal level. First, if the state's case against the health care bill is decided in favor of the state or even if it gains ground in the state's favor he believes that this will open the door to future challenges on the grounds of unconstitutionality of federal mandates on many issues, including fishing regulations. He would like to see a person from Destin appointed to the Gulf Council (http://www.gulfcouncil.org/) to bring a voice to our area concerning fishing restrictions that affect both individual anglers and charter businesses. He knows Marco Rubio personally and he will be contacting him regarding this matter. I have contacted senator-elect Rubio through his campaign website (http://www.marcorubio.com/contact/) and I would like to see others follow suit as it will add to this cause when Representative Gaetz calls him. He also expresses serious concerns about the quality of data being collected to base these decisions on. To prove this he would like to start a local recreational catch data program as another means of fighting back against what I think most of you agree are excessive restrictions. 

Please contact all of your representatives regarding this matter, we have to put a stop to this. You can look up your state representatives on the state's website (http://www.flsenate.gov/Legislators/index.cfm?Mode=Find%20Your%20Legislators&Submenu=3&Tab=legislators&CFID=242441420&CFTOKEN=45956539)


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## markw4321 (Oct 4, 2007)

Great to see the enthusiastic involvement . I would recommend being very careful in what you ask for. The last thing you want is one of these "guys" from destin pushing catch shares voting on the gulf council. http://saveoursector.com/Plan.aspx .


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## Dplantmann (Oct 20, 2007)

The states should have control over state waters. States should not have to implement federal mandates, unless the mandate is for federal waters, agreed to by the adjoining states, and fully funded. These clowns are out of control.


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## Pinksnappertrapper (Dec 7, 2007)

Capt Paul Redman already did all this bullshit, He did or had people dive spots, record data of SEVERAL spots and he showed the data at several meetings. THESE DUMB MOTHER FUC*ERS DONT GET IT.


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