by Jeff DuteThe National Marine Fisheries Service is threatening to further shorten the red snapper season in the Gulf of Mexico this year if Florida and Texas stand firm in their decisions not to match federal regulations in their state waters, which extend out nine miles.
Such a decision would be another blow to Alabama's once-lucrative charter industry.
As it now stands, red snapper season would run from June 1 until Sept. 30. NMFS says if the two states keep their waters open, the 2.2-million pound recreational total allowable catch will be reached much sooner, and the season would have to close Aug. 5.
NMFS is basing this assessment on its data from 2007, which suggests the recreational sector exceeded its share of the Gulf's red snapper bounty by 500,000 pounds.
NMFS says the vast majority of the overage can be attributed to Florida's refusal to reduce the red snapper daily bag limit, which went from four fish to two in federal waters, and to eliminate the captain and crew bag on for-hire vessels.
Apparently, few mature red snapper are caught in Texas' shallow state waters. Those same waters do, however, act as nursery grounds for juvenile red snapper, and according to NMFS are the site of the greatest bycatch mortality of that size fish caught in shrimp trawls.
No matter the reasoning, shortening the season would hurt the industry in Alabama.
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