Well, they said it wouldn’t happen, couldn’t happen, and it would be unbelievable if it ever happened in our lifetime. Guess what; it happened. NOAA Fisheries Service filed and published a final rule implementing interim measures to reduce overfishing of Red Snapper in the South Atlantic. The final rule will publish in the Federal Register on December 4, 2009, today, and becomes effective January 4, 2010 already. Not even a month notice. Talk about a rush job. The interim rule will be effective until June 2, 2010, and could be extended for another 186-day period. The final rule establishes a prohibition on recreational and commercial harvest of Red Snapper for 180 days in federal waters off Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. However, provisions specified in the interim rule would also apply to a person on board a vessel for which a federal commercial or charter/headboat permit for the South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper fishery has been issued, regardless of whether the fish are harvested or possessed in state or federal waters.

Electronic copies of the final interim rule or Environmental Assessment may be obtained from the e-Rulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Web site at http://www.safmc.net. It’s a good thing we have associations like the Recreational Fishing Alliance. The RFA has filed suit in Jacksonville to stop or put a hold on this unreasonable ban. Let’s hope the judges who hear this have a little common sense about taking thousands of people’s livelihood away from them, at the stroke of a pen, with known flawed surveys. This is what really got to me. I attended the meetinrulg held here in Jacksonville on November 12th and saw all the photos of the huge Snapper being caught right off our coast recently.

The same photos that the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council saw in that same meeting and yet here’s what Roy Crabtree, Southeast regional administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service said: "Most of the remaining population consists of smaller, younger fish who produce fewer eggs than older fish. The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires us to manage fish populations so they grow to a size that can sustain the larger average catch possible for the long term. Unfortunately, the Red Snapper population has not been able to reach that size, therefore, closing the fishery is the first step toward protecting this species, rebuilding the stock and ensuring fishing for generations to come." WHAT ??? Did you NOT see the huge Snapper photos everyone else saw? What were you doing during that meeting? Playing solitaire on your laptop? It’s real funny that they say they’re mandated to make a decision within a year and so they rushed this closure thing, but they were also mandated by Congress to come up with a better research system by January 2009, and I guess they just can’t get to that.

So, I’m guessing that means that they think they have more power than Congress. We need more anglers to join the RFA to show what kind of numbers of anglers they represent. Captain Vic Tison http://vic2fish.com P O Box 28208, Jax., Fl. 32226 904-699-2285 Web Site http://vic2fish.com United States Coast Guard Licensed Captain International Game Fish Assoc. Certified Captain Regional Director for the Florida Guides Assoc. Member of the National Assoc. of Charterboat Operators Member of the American Professional Captain’s Association Sponsor of The Inshore Saltwater Anglers Club