If you want to see what we are losing, and what they are trying to protect with the weirs, open Google Earth and zoom into Cameron prairie refuge. At the top of the page on Google earth is a clock face, click it and it will bring up a slider. Use your mouse to slide the slider back and forth and you will see images over the course of time, you can see the marsh opening up, good productive nursery environment turning to open water. I fish back there a lot, it's my playground for years and I've been shocked at the changes I see year to year due to erosion. Sure I'd like to have access to get back there all the time, but not at the much greater cost of losing the marsh. I'm amazed at how short sighted "conservation minded" fishermen become when measures necessary to protect the resource over the long haul inconveniences them and their fishing for a bit.
Oh and a little info, the opening and closing of the weirs isn't controlled by "A Guy" it's controlled by the Coastal protection and restoration authority. Prior to hurricane Rita they controlled the weirs and they were often closed for large chunks of the summer. After hurricane Rita, they turned over control of the weirs to the SWLA refuge complex and they virtually never closed them. I saw the fishing change back there, numbers of redfish went up but size went down and I started seeing the marsh melt away. A few years ago (maybe 3 I'm not certain) operation of the weirs was turned back over to the CPRA and they returned to the management strategy used prior to 2005. It's not any different then it was then, I remember being disappointed when I couldn't get back there in the middle of summer back then just as now. They have their salinity benchmarks and that's what the opening and closure is generally based on. At times, even if salinity is above target levels they will open them if water is very high to relieve flooding. Also, in severe drought they will at times open them because in some conditions the marsh completely drying out is worse than salt intrusion.
Last edited by redchaserron; 05-07-2014 at 07:40 PM.
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