Quote:
Originally Posted by Montauk17
I say leave if like it is. 5 redfish is plenty of meat for one person. As for keeping more than one over 27".....why kill the breeding stock when the smaller ones taste way better. I love to catch the big ones but see no need to kill them. Personally I like to go out and catch 20-40 redfish in a day. If we raise limits and lower stocks that would be a thing of the past.
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WELL THE LIMIT WAS 50 REDFISH PER PERSON
and the point isn't about the amount of meat you or I or anyone else "feels" like is enough. the amount the limit is set at is designed to keep a good healthy population of fish and right now they are so overpopulated they are breeding like rabbits out of control and there isn't enough food to go around for all of them and other species too. as with any species you must thin out the herd to maintain a good healthy breeding stock otherwise they will harm things like crab and oyster populations and reduce the amount of spawn due to them being less able to eat as much from the competition of the shear numbers of them.
no matter what the limit is people will only keep what they want or need, the only thing raising the limits and reducing the size will do is create healthier large fish and they will breed a much larger spawn because of a healthier and better food supply for them and their young.
the mindset of "hey just put a small limit number on them for absolutely no reason" just because a few fish is all anyone should need, that is NOT how proper management of fish populations is done. by that reasoning I could make the case that all any one person needs is one nice speck or one nice red so take your choice you are now limited to only one fish per day limit over 16" for all fish (red, speck, drum, or flounder) so how does that sound for "feel good" for no scientific reason but "just because it sounds good" limitations?
leaving the limits where they are is hurting the red fish and drum populations as well as harming oysters and crab populations from over harvesting them by those overpopulated fish.
if they don't want to change the limits then they should force every redfish or drum caught to be killed regardless of its size, before its put back into the water to stop the overpopulation problem. they are overpopulated and becoming an infestation at this point and something needs to change.
they tried ingoring overpopulation issues before in florida with aligators until they ran out of food and gators were walking down the road and in front and back yards through subdivisions eating pets and living in peoples swimming pools. one 6 footer even came in through the doggie door and the lady found it in the kitchen that morning. they only yielded to public pressure then because kids lives were being endangered by it but the parallels are the same, either start mass killings of reds and drum to reduce the numbers or allow more to be kept by raising limits. however it is done large numbers of them need to start being removed from the water to reduce the overpopulation problem,.
this is not a thing were just ignoring the problem and pretending nature will work it out, nature will work it out by making crabs and oysters reduced to the point that they suddenly need protecting from their breeding stocks being reduced to near nothing.