Help! The redfish are destroying our bays!
Big regulation fights like the one going on with flounder bring out some interesting comments from people. Since I am at the epicenter of this whole issue I probably hear more than most and thought you would get a kick out of hearing some of the things I have heard since last fall on the flounder issue.
One flounder gigging guide said if we really want to do something about flounder, we should control the dolphin populations as they are eating so many of them. I can see it now, "Save a flounder, shoot flipper!" Not!
A man with serious ties to the commercial side of the flounder industry told me that the science is all wrong on the flounder issue, "just like it was with redfish." While debating me he then went on to say we should have never banned commercial redfish operations.
"You really think that?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I rest my case," I told him and then joined some friends who had arrived just at the nick of time.
While guesting on fellow outdoors journalist Doug Pike's radio show a kind gentleman who identified himself as a commercial fisherman called in and said we should be targeting the redfish because, "they're eating up all the specks and flounder."
That reminded me of when a few years back Louisiana commercial fishermen tried to get redfish back on the harvest list by saying they were the reason the blue crab populations in Louisiana are on the decline. It's not the hundreds of thousands of crab traps operated 365 days a year and the shrimping bycatch. It's the redfish! Why didn't I think of that?
I guess I'll go grab my rod, catch a bunch of reds and cook them up to do my part in conservation. With all of the reds around these days its a wonder we have any resources left.
Wanna join us in our quest to save the bays from the ravages of redfish? Let us know.
One flounder gigging guide said if we really want to do something about flounder, we should control the dolphin populations as they are eating so many of them. I can see it now, "Save a flounder, shoot flipper!" Not!
A man with serious ties to the commercial side of the flounder industry told me that the science is all wrong on the flounder issue, "just like it was with redfish." While debating me he then went on to say we should have never banned commercial redfish operations.
"You really think that?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I rest my case," I told him and then joined some friends who had arrived just at the nick of time.
While guesting on fellow outdoors journalist Doug Pike's radio show a kind gentleman who identified himself as a commercial fisherman called in and said we should be targeting the redfish because, "they're eating up all the specks and flounder."
That reminded me of when a few years back Louisiana commercial fishermen tried to get redfish back on the harvest list by saying they were the reason the blue crab populations in Louisiana are on the decline. It's not the hundreds of thousands of crab traps operated 365 days a year and the shrimping bycatch. It's the redfish! Why didn't I think of that?
I guess I'll go grab my rod, catch a bunch of reds and cook them up to do my part in conservation. With all of the reds around these days its a wonder we have any resources left.
Wanna join us in our quest to save the bays from the ravages of redfish? Let us know.
I like the comment from the commercial fisherman about the 'dolphins eating all the flounder'. My brother who has his degree in Marine biology from TAMU often makes that same comment (I think tongue-in -cheek though sometimes I don't know). He says that nothing controls the dolphin/porpoise population and all they do is procreate (he uses a harsher term) and eat (feed on flounder). It is fun watching them flip flounder in the air while I'm wade fishing.
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Funny thing is they do flip those flounder, but I don't think the public would support a "Shoot Flipper, Save a Flounder" prorgram. LOL Plus, there are more pressing issues facing the fishery.
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I don't know about flounder but while fishing for trout in Port O, I saw several dolphins gorging themselves on trout. It was a slow day for us and when we threw back undersized trout, the dolphins would eat them as fast as they could!!
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