RedSnapper_RodsandReels_Sikes_David_CorpusChristiTX_17October2022_Reel4132.mp3

David Sikes [00:00:00] The commercial / recreational divide - the red snapper was really contentious.

David Sikes [00:00:06] I mean, I wrote about that, and I, I kind of sided with Ocean Conservancy and the Nature Conservancy and groups like that, that really gave a nod to the commercial fishermen.

David Sikes [00:00:19] Because for a while there, commercial fishing for red snapper, it was limited, but what it was limited to was all the boats could go out on the first of a month and try to catch as many red snapper as they could. And then the National Marine Fisheries Service made a determination of when they reached their quota, as a fleet.

David Sikes [00:00:44] And, which meant that, you know, there'd be a hurricane in the Gulf the first three days of that season, you know, and nobody would, in their right mind, would or should go out in the Gulf, but they did because they had to make a living.

David Sikes [00:00:58] And, what the commercials agreed to do was essentially make individual fishing quotas their mantra. And so each boat captain, or boat outfit, or company, or whatever that fished for red snapper would submit their historical catches over the past several years or whatever. And then, they would be issued, "Okay, you can catch this many pounds of snapper this season, and you can do it whenever you want. We're not going to tell you you have to go out and five-foot seas. You know, you can go out when the market price is good and the seas are safe".

David Sikes [00:01:36] And that was revolutionary.

David Sikes [00:01:38] And it really threw the recreational anglers, particularly CCA, for a loop because they thought that the commercial fishermen were killing all our red snapper, and giving the recreational guys the leftovers. When, in fact, commercial fishing effort in Texas was a fraction of the recreational effort in Texas.

David Sikes [00:02:05] And CCA used to always say, "We're not going to kill the population by rod and reel". Well, you multiply those rods and reels by millions, yes, you will. Yes, you can.

David Sikes [00:02:19] And especially since Texas had a year-round season in state waters, which is nine and a half miles offshore. And nobody believes that a year-round fishery for red snapper in state waters is being honored by the fishermen who go out past state waters to catch them and just tell everybody they caught him in state waters.

David Sikes [00:02:39] So, I mean, I'm not going to vilify an entire recreational sector of fishermen, but I mean, it's kind of a wink and a nod kind of thing when you come in with snapper that weigh 12 or 15 pounds, and you tell people you caught them off of this little reef that's eight miles offshore. Nobody believes you. But they can't prove it.

David Sikes [00:02:59] So that was a divide there.

David Sikes [00:03:01] And I think finally, ultimately, Texas got its way. They still have a year-round fishery for red snapper and they still get to regulate their own snapper seasons and they get to decide when they reach their quota. And if the feds find out that they misrepresented what they caught, they're subtracting that from the following season.

David Sikes [00:03:25] You know, so I guess it's pretty much died down. But I think the one thing that I realized in all that is you can't always side with the perceived villain, which in this case would have been the commercial fishermen, who really bent over backwards to essentially count their fish.

David Sikes [00:03:46] It was the only fishery who was doing that. I mean, there was no measuring system for how many red snapper recreational fishermen caught in Texas. Virtually none.