The Truth About The 3-Day Red Snapper Season In The Gulf [VIDEO]

Who’s really at fault for the pitiful 3-day red snapper season for recreational anglers?

• The commercial fishermen?
• The “Red Snapper Sea Lords?”
• The for-hire fishing charters?
• NOAA?

Ever since the news of the 3-day (72 hours) federal red snapper season in the gulf, there has been a lot of angry fishermen, a lot of finger pointing, and a lot of inconsistent (and many times incorrect) information being spread around social media.

So we decided to head over to Hubbard’s Marina to interview Capt. Dylan Hubbard who seems to know more of the facts about red snapper than anyone else online.

Related Video: How To Catch Red Snapper Like A BOSS

(see Dylan’s post below the video)

The REAL FACTS About The 2017 Red Snapper Season

Dylan Hubbard Red Snapper Post

IF YOU CARE ABOUT OUR FISHERY, THIS IS A MUST READ from Hubbard’s Marina about the issues facing our federal fishery in the Gulf of Mexico… time to stand up for your rights:

Hubbard’s Marina DOES NOT and has NEVER SUPPORTED SECTOR SEPARATION so before you think that we are happy with 3 day season for recreational anglers and our 49 day season for red snapper first realize that we have vehemently opposed this idea since it was first ever discussed and begged the recreational anglers to get involved in fighting against Sector separation (amendment 40) when that didn’t work we waiting till the sunset provision when it came up for a reinstatement and again we vehemently opposed it and urged recreational anglers to join us.

Despite our opposition and actually, a majority of fed permitted for-hire sectors opposition the amendment was pushed through. (More than 3/4 of for-hire sector opposed this still don’t know how it was passed) However, Sector separation is now law, there’s nothing more we can do about it but we still have to unite.

Due to this ‘sector separation’ we now have THREE SEASONS for federal water red snapper fishery in the gulf, 3 days for rec anglers, 49 days for fed permitted for hire anglers, 365 days for commercial anglers
**THIS IS NOT ANY ANGLERS FAULT and is totally unacceptable

THE GOAL OF THIS IS TO DIVIDE AND CONQUER ANGLERS, BY GETTING YOU TO BLAME for hire and the commercial sector if the recreational anglers feel annoyed and hate towards for hire and commercial because they have more days the people who actually make the laws (NOAAs NMFS) are not to blame

Why do you think they include commercial landing numbers in recreational announcements? This is purely a propaganda technique in our minds to get the sectors fighting against one another

3 day red snapper season for rec sector is caused by states being out of compliance. Texas has totally succeeded and has a year-round red snapper fishery and has done this for years. Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida have all increased state seasons well out of compliance with fed season. Due to all of this, the feds have penalized the rec sector season and seems to be softening up rec sector to accept the future plan of special interest groups to make fish tags or IFQs mandatory in fed waters for rec sector.

Special interest groups like Ocean conservancy and EDF have hijacked the gulf council and NOAAs and NMFS and is using them to twist the country’s regulatory group from managing the fishery for the citizens to saving the fish from the citizens who actually pay the salaries for the gulf council and NOAAs NMFS.

You MUST start to stand up for your rights, YOU must get education on the issues at hand, and you MUST get involved… if your sitting there reading this thinking ‘I don’t fish for red snapper why should I care’ well they are coming for your species next you think your safe inshore… time to wake up once they are done in fed waters you can bet your inshore fishery is next. They started in the Northeast and have moved down Atlantic coast into the gulf look at the stripper and fluke regulations and issues over past decade in the northeast this is what we have to look forward to.
The only way to fix these issues is by the majority of anglers waking up and saying that’s enough.

We must unify, stop blaming your fellow angler… it’s not the commercial anglers or for-hire angler’s faults, its NOAAs NMFS who makes the regulations based on self-admitted flawed data not your fellow anglers.

All this to say before you complain about the three day rec season why don’t you get involved and do something about it like the for hire and commercial sectors have done for decades!

Also, another example of us at Hubbard’s Marina putting recreational angler’s rights first… Remember the gulf head boat collaborative that so many supported that allowed local fed permitted boats to keep gags out of season with special tags that Hubbard’s Marina opposed and didn’t get involved in costing us as a company business because we were standing up for recreational anglers rights that was the infancy of IFQs and that’s coming next!
———————————————
Personal note: I, Capt Dylan Hubbard pledge to continue the fight for angler’s rights as my grandfather and father have done before me. As a fourth generation local offshore angler I feel that these issues facing our industry are very appalling and only getting worse. The only way to stop it is through educating the mass recreational angling sector and getting everyone inshore and freshwater anglers alike to unite and fight before they start moving inshore… This is not just a Gulf of Mexico federal waters issue, look at what has happened along Atlantic coast and in Alaska now happening in the gulf. Don’t think it will be long till they move into the back bays and your local lakes.

I personally am a life member of CCA, Board member of FGA, and been an active FRA member since I was able to comprehend the issues (attended the first meeting well before I had a driver’s license) and I feel that if you get involved with groups like these despite what you may here from a few jaded anglers or people who are looking for a reason not to get active they allow you to stay informed by their newsletter announcements, great informative meetings, their websites and great members… through networking at these different organizations I have been able to form my own educated opinions over the past 14 years (I am only 26) and it has been a blessing to be able to learn from some of the industry’s best!

I personally feel the following goals will really help our cause and what I personally work towards

• Getting rec sector involved and plugged in by getting educated, involved (by joining FGA, FRA, CCA or any angler advocacy group and telling their friends to as well), and then showing up to meetings or calling their congressman or writing them or both
• Getting the 3 sectors to get together and communicate (rec sector, for hire, commercial) we got to each fight for what we each need, but also we cannot fight each other we got to unite together against the people using self-admitted flawed data to make these regulations and make mid-season closures costing our state billions of dollars in tourism revenues
• Must call for accountability for NOAA’s NMFS and Gulf council shouldn’t be able to close billion dollar fisheries with little to no notice and no oversight
• Must address outdated data collection and the fact the NMFS is using self-admitted flawed data to regulate our fisheries in fed waters
• Address issues with MSA (Magnuson-Stevens Act) allowing ‘best available science’ to be a convoluted moving target and how it’s very narrowly focused. The resulting management system is based on commercial fisheries management concepts like “maximum sustainable yield” and poundage-based “annual catch limits” that are monitored in real time. Given the nature of recreational fishing, which is based more on the experience than maximizing harvest, this type of management is generally not feasible or appropriate. Due to the inability to manage it in real time due to inability to collect real data the old phone surveys should be made illegal, it should be criminal to still be using this type of data collection to limit our federal seasons

This commercial based focus through IFQs will not work for the for hire or recreational sectors, because these two sectors must be managed under traditional management measures, seasons, bag limits and size limits NOT IFQs or fish tags. The opportunity to fish needs to be sustained, the fish tag or IFQ philosophy will not work for these sectors because out of the 100% of the rec efforts only 20-30% will catch fish and the remaining effort is all about the opportunity to catch fish and this effort supports bait shops, tourism and more. This opportunity needs to persist and the only way it can is through ensure this IFQ commercial system is not pushed onto for hire or rec sectors

We personally still identify as recreational anglers, and if you’re reading this at home thinking to yourself, “yeah you might identify as recreational anglers but you have 46 days more of red snapper” again this is NOT OUR FAULT and we vehemently opposed it from the start.

disappointed these issues have allowed NOAAs NMFS to divide and conquer our fishery I hope to one day help pave the way for the sectors to unite and stand up against these heinous management practices and the poor data being used to reduce our federal recreational seasons to nearly NOTHING

Remember my grandpa’s saying? “If you’re too busy to go fishing, you’re just too busy!”
Hoping my future generations will be able to fish offshore… we need your help!

JOIN THE FIGHT TODAY!

For more updates and info join my new FREE Facebook group I plan to use to disseminate helpful info and dates for upcoming meetings and such: https://www.facebook.com/groups/271053860022072/
Want to join Florida Guides Association, The Fishing Rights Alliance or the Coastal Conservation Association Florida?

Check out this page and click their respective logos to join TODAY: https://hubbardsmarina.com/fishing-regulations-gulf-of-mex…/

REGULATIONS NOT UPDATED YET FOR ARS**
FOR HIRE FED PERMITTED SEASON opens 6/1/17 and closes 7/20/17 12:01am (49 days)
recreational angling season is sadly only 6/1/17 until 6/4/17 at 12:01am (3 days)

NEXT MEETING THAT YOU CAN JOIN AND SPEAK YOUR MIND:
June 5 – 8, 2017
Naples Grande Beach Resort
475 Seagate Drive
Naples, FL 34103

Related Video: How To Catch Red Snapper Like A BOSS

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The post The Truth About The 3-Day Red Snapper Season In The Gulf [VIDEO] appeared first on Salt Strong Fishing Club.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.hardcoregamefishing.com/10-stops-along-the-fall-run/