| 05 September 2010
FWC Commission Takes Cautious Approach to Snook Management.
Snook Foundation vows continued cooperation with state gamefish biologists.
Pensacola—The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted last week to open snook fishing on the Atlantic Coast, but to keep the Gulf Coast population a catch-and-release fishery until further notice.
The Atlantic season will open on September 17, and the one-fish, 28- to 32-inch slot limit will be in effect.
Snook fisheries on both coasts have been closed since fish kills caused by January’s record freezes raised grave concerns about impacts on snook populations.
For info on Snook Stamp Refund Options read on...
Snook Stamp Refund Options ...... Refund Application
Data collection efforts using seine nets and other methodologies suggest that the freezes killed more of the total biomass on the Gulf Coast than on the East Coast. The losses do not seem to have been as significant on the Atlantic Coast due to the proximity of deep water and on shore winds. However, mortality levels were probably higher towards the northern end of the population ranges on both coasts, and in Monroe County.
“Our members had mixed feelings about what should be done,” said Chairman Brett Fitzgerald. “Most anglers on the Gulf Coast want the season to remain closed. A small majority wanted the season open on the Atlantic Coast. The Snook Foundation is all about science-based management, and the science supports reopening the season on the Atlantic Coast, and keeping it closed for safety’s sake in the Gulf.”
“We respect these science-based decisions, but our knowledge base can always be improved,” said Director Rick Roberts. “We look forward to working with FWC biologists since the commission has emphasized that the season is closed to harvest but is not closed for catch-and-release recreational fishing.
Logging your fishing trips makes sense. The Angler Action Program
has been instituted to make fisheries dependent data more robust and
accurate. Those data will compliment their seine sampling and other
independent methodologies. As volunteers help state biologists better
understand the dynamics of our snook populations, managers will have
a more concrete understanding of the impacts of phenomenon such as
freezes or red tides, and less uncertainty about how to proceed when
faced with unexpected emergencies.”
Through the Angler Action - SnookWatch Program, anglers can log hours and areas fished by county or location, number of fish caught, and enter length data. Though data collected by anglers in part reflects the skill of that angler submitting data, the goal is to provide the measure known as “catch per unit of effort,” a vital standard in any stock assessment.
“Sheer volume reduces bias in such data,” said Fitzgerald, “and we’ve already surpassed more than 1,100 hours of fishing effort recorded.”“The best thing you can do for snook is to handle them and all fish you intend to release like you would a good friend”. Grab the kids, get them out fishing in law-abiding ways, and teach them how to record their efforts through the Angler Action Program,” said Linda Roberts, Administrator of the Snook Foundation. Recording trip information just takes 2 minutes on this page - www.snookfoundation.org/data and there is an explanatory video at the top of the page.
Remember to watch your boating activity in
shallow water, no additional prop scars are needed, and gamefish need that habitat now, more than ever. More about Snook Regs
