I don't believe NMFS is conspiring against anyone.  They simply want to implement Magnuson-Stevens and rebuild the red snapper stock.  Capt Paul, I pay county, state and federal taxes just like you do and probably have as much right as anyone to fish public wrecks.  I don't believe we would begrudge you if you were caught on a public wreck.  Capt, it's public paid by OUR taxes!!! 

Hot Spots Bait & Tackle
211 Gulf Breeze Parkway
Gulf Breeze, FL 32563
www.hotspotstackle.com
(850) 916-7176

TEAM GET RIGHT!!!

MEMBER P.R.F.A.

LOOKS LIKE COLEY AND GANG HAVE A NEW MOUTH TO SPEAK FOR THEM, AT LEAST HE CAN MAKE SENTENCES. AS FOR HIM SPEAKING FOR ME, NO THANKS AND NO THANKS TO TRY AND MAKE ME FEEL GUILTY FOR PUSHING THE FWC TO KEEP OUR SEASON IN STATE WATERS.  IT'S ASCININE TO THINK SOME OF YOU GUY'S REALLY BELIEVE THAT IS WHY CRABTREE SHORTENED THE FED SEASON LAST YEAR AND IF YOU THINK IT WILL EXTEND THIS SEASON IF WE BOW DOWN AND KISS HIS ASS THIS YEAR, YOU ARE TRULEY A SAD BUNCH.

YOU SHOULD BE PUSHING THE GOVERNOR TO PROSECUTE THE GUY FOR ABUSING HIS POSITION, HE SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO THREATEN ANY AGENCY (FWC) FOR THE DECISION'S THEY MAKE BASED ON THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE . THE SAME ONES THAT WANT TO TAKE OUR FISH AWAY ARE THE ONES THAT ARE PUTTING THE SPINS ON EVERYTHING AND MAKING THE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE TO BLAME FOR THE SHORTENED FED SEASON.  CRABTREE IS THE PROBLEM AND THE REASON FOR THIS, NOBODY ELSE. 

FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT THINK WE NEED TO GET IN LINE WITH CRABBY, THEN YOU HAVE TO THINK THE FISHERY IS IN TROUBLE, OTHERWISE WHY WOULD YOU SECOND GUESS KEEPING THE SEASON WE HAVE?

OBVIOUSLY CRABTREE ISN'T CONVINCED THE FISHERY IS IN DIRE TROUBLE EITHER, OTHERWISE WHY DIDN'T HE REDUCE THE TAC?????????????  THINK ABOUT THAT ONE.    NOW IF HE DIDN'T REDUCE THE TAC, HOW CAN HE KEEP SHORTENING OUR SEASON???????????   WHERE'S THE JUSTIFICATION???????  JUST BECAUSE WE WON'T BOWN DOWN TO HIM IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH A REASON, SOMEWHERE DOWN THE LINE HE HAS TO JUSTIFY HIS ACTIONS AND THERE HAS TO BE SOMEONE THAT HE IS ACCOUNTABLE TO FOR HIS ACTIONS. 

LOOKS LIKE CRABTREE HAS TOLD THESE CO-CONSPIRERS WHAT THE SEASON WILL BE JUNE 1 TO AUG 5 UNLESS WE PUCKER UP!  WHO ARE THEY TO PRIVEY TO THIS INFORMATION WHEN IT HASN'T BEEN PUBLISHED ANYWHERE THAT I'VE SEEN, HOW ABOUT YOU?  THINK ABOUT IT, WHY DOES THIS GROUP KNOW EVERYTHING CRABBY DOING?  WAKE UP GUYS, THEY'RE HIS BITCHES (DOGS).  DON'T WANT TO START USING PROFANITY.

AS FOR ME, I AIN'T AND NEVER WILL BE AN ASS KISSER.  THE STAND HAS TO BE MADE NOW AND I'M NOT WAVERING ON MY POSITION, NOT EVEN ONE FISH.  I MAKE THIS KNOWN TO THE FWC AND THE COUNCIL ON A DAILY BASIS AND WILL ON JAN 28 IN MISSISSIPPI AND FEB 4 IN DESTIN.  AND YES, I HAVE CONTACTED THE GOVERNOR ABOUT THE ABUSE OF POSITION AND THREATING THE FWC AND FLORIDA FISHERMEN, IF I GET A RESPONSE, I'LL GLADLY POST IT. 

THE QUESTION IS, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?

If it ain't fried, it ain't cooked.

The pending recreational season will start on June 1.  That is all that is for sure certain at this moment and will most likely be the only thing for sure when the FWC meets in destin.  No one know at this time how many days long it will be, the bag limit we will have or the size limit we will have.  It is assumed that the bag and size will remain status quo but that could change.  Dr. Crabtree stated at the last council meeting that it is possible there could be no red snapper rec season this year so you can assume that they could close it as soon as it opens.  It is assumed that TX will remain status quo for their state waters as there is no indication they intend to change.  The FWC proposal was based on asuming that the fed season would be 6-1 thru 9-30 because it was implied by fwc staff that the federal register notice about the pending season included that period but in fact it did not.  It states that the season will open June 1 and that is it.

The GOMARS proposal is not a product of CCGF, but is a product of several people, for-hire and private rec from different areas of the Gulf.  The CCGF board voted to support the GOMARS proposal and offered to list the proposal on the CCGF web site.  It was not developed in Orange Beach.  To date there are several associations and individuals in FL, AL, MS, and TX supporting the proposal.  A list of supporters will be provided soon for all to see as it grows daily since the proposal became public this past Monday.  The GOMARS proposal incorporates the concept of electronic logbooks along with other data collection tools just as the SOS plan but differs in that we do not believe a VMS produces any scientific data that is necessary for real time, accountable data and we do not believe that sector separation is necessary for all anglers to be accountable.  We believe we can all work together for the benefit of the resource and the users.  The proposal will be discussed at the next council meeting the last week of this month which will be in Bay St. Louis, MS.

I hope this clarifies some of the issues being discussed on this thread.

BOB, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, WE'RE BEHIND YOU AND THE OTHERS HELPING OUT WITH THE PROPOSAL. THANK YOU...

LIVE BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT!!

MEMBER P.R.F.A.

Answer the question LBhuntley..its a YES or NO answer. Do YOU think there are less snapper now than there were 15-20 years ago?

____________________________________________________

Water Hazard Fishing Charters

Bottom Fishing, Inshore and Bluewater Guide Services

http://www.captainjonpinney.com

850-393-4524

Water Hazard Charters On Facebook 

HE'S WAITING ON SOMEONE TO TELL HIM HOW TO ANSWER IT.

If it ain't fried, it ain't cooked.

MEMBER P.R.F.A.

I believe that stuff was put out there for public recreation not personal gain.

Thanks

CAPT. PAUL REDMAN

  ANYONE CAN HOLD THE HELM WHEN THE SEA IS  CALM 

www.reeffishra.com

www.snappertrapper.com

http://www.scubapensacola.com/

MEMBER P.R.F.A.

The most important day to be there will be Feb. 5. You can find the agenda here http://myfwc.com/commission/2009/Feb09/index.htm. To prepare for the meeting it is just important that you have a well thoughtout statement for the commissioners. You will have 3 minutes to speak so make it count. I think everybody else is driving over that morning.

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My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations James 1:2

If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me Psalms 139: 9-10

Huntley, I don't have much of a personal stake in this argument because I don't go offshore much anymore. But, I don't see why either Spearfisher or Cobe Killer need to defend anything. They have opinions different from yours, and from reading the posts on this subject your opinion to say the least is not too popular.

You kind of sound like A ONE MAN BAND at a KISS CONCERT!

A little out of place!

    -- 

The science used to make these determinations is dramtically flawed and out of date; I believe the FWC knows this but can't do much about it. Fighting the Feds has probably lead to threats of reduced funding for many fishery related State issues. Some people might call that encouragement, others would us the word "extortion"!

I also gather that you like to fish Public Reefs commercially; while I guess it's not illegal, it sure seems pretty unneighborly. As one who has voted for deployment of Public Reefs using local grants or BIF funds, I can assure you that our intent was for them to be used by our recreational fishing community, NOT Commercial Fishermen that are free to fish most of the year and not restricted to recreational seasons.

I can assure that our upcoming efforts to support more Public Reefs in the Gulf are also not intended for that purpose. I will however thank you for giving me the thought to see if there is a way to restrict the Commercial Fishery from Public Reefs.

KEEP AN OCCASSIONAL RED HERE AND THERE FOR DINNER, BUT FOR

THE REST, PRACTICE HEALTHY CATCH & RELEASE TECHNIQUES

SAVE SOME FOR THE FUTURE!

MEMBER P.R.F.A.

Now that we know that you haven't left this thread I have two (or maybe three) questions for you. We'll see if you have the character to answer them honestly:

1.) What exactly is your position on this issue?

2.) What exactly is your interest in this issue (business or otherwise?)

3.) Do you believe that there are less Red Snapper in the Gulf of Mexico now than there were 15 years ago?

I will be glad to lay out my position on this issue AGAIN if you would like, but I assume that you have heard it before numerous times. Let me know if you really need to hear it again.

Rich

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My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations James 1:2

If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me Psalms 139: 9-10

Before LB has the chance, I'll point out that you asked 3 questions not 2.  And LB is not going to answer ANY of them so it doesn't matter.  He's too busy cowering because the French are mad at us.

Here's an interesting article

http://www.floridasportsman.com/casts/080701/

"...two ways to be free: ...become rich, or ...cut your needs to the bone"
John Boyd

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Answer the damn question.  Do you think there are less snapper than there were 15 years ago????  Holy crap.  You are worse than a freaking politician.  You evade the question only to ask another one that everyone has already answered for you.  I don't understand why you even come on here.  It's obvious that your opinion/stance on the issue is shared by 0.0000000000% of the folks on here.  You get no where.  You evade the questions asked of you and continue with the same crap in every post you make.  You are a broken record. 

Bad science is not science.  If you have taken any science class you should know and realize what I am about to tell you.  When you arrive at a result due to a study/test/experiment, your results must be able to be duplicated by another scientist and more tests/experiments in order to be considered true.  If your results results can not be repeated/duplicated, you must go back to the drawing board.  You can not consider bad science as an end result for anything. 

But I can already type your next post on here for you if you want me to.

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Jon

HE IS OBVIOUSLY WORKING WITH THE FED'S, WANTS TO BE THE ONE TO TELL THEM WHAT OUR ARGUMENTS WILL BE AT THE MEETINGS.  MIGHT BE CRABTREE IN DISGUISE.

If it ain't fried, it ain't cooked.

No Mr. Huntley, you are missing the point. Commercial fishermen (like you) oppose recreational fishermen (like me) in everything they do because the feds structure it that way. They tell you that if I catch a Red Snapper then your allowable catch gets reduced by one. Therefore they have you fighting against me for a resource that is not scarce. The feds create an artificial scarcity. In doing so they force you to fight their battle to get me to stop catching the most abundant species in the Gulf hands down. Once you come to realize that you and every other commercial fishermen that oppose recreational fishermen catching Red Snapper are nothing more than a pawn of the federal government then we can have an honest discussion. It is painfully obvious that myself and most everyone else feels as though the feds data is flawed. They are not only unable to track catch data, they are unable, and fundementally unwilling to restructure their data collection methods to more acurately monitor catch #'s. They force citizens to come up with plans to monitor catch data so that they don't lose their resource to a lack of "data." They do not believe that artificial reefs produce more Snapper. They believe that Red Snapper congregate at reefs for social reasons and other asinine ideas. Arguing with them (and consequently you) is like arguing with someone who still believes the sun revolves around the earth (and in case you missed that whole Ptolemy thing...it doesn't.) Until you can be honest with everyone here and tell them that the only reason you support the federal regulations is because you think it will allow you to catch more Red Snapper, science be damned, then I don't think we can continue to discuss this issue with you.

Oh, and by the way. My three questions are still unanswered:

1.) What exactly is your position on this issue?

2.) What exactly is your interest in this issue (business or otherwise?)

3.) Do you believe that there are less Red Snapper in the Gulf of Mexico now than there were 15 years ago?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations James 1:2

If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me Psalms 139: 9-10

Do you have an IFQ? If so, how much is it?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations James 1:2

If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me Psalms 139: 9-10

KEEP AN OCCASSIONAL RED HERE AND THERE FOR DINNER, BUT FOR

THE REST, PRACTICE HEALTHY CATCH & RELEASE TECHNIQUES

SAVE SOME FOR THE FUTURE!

that picture is worth a thousand words and one big

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations James 1:2

If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me Psalms 139: 9-10