Crabs

[Goooh]

Originally Posted by simplepeddler

point made.........with current limits do you think a rod and reel can take too many?

I believe that the SPR and limits should be continually monitored and limits should be changed accordingly. To think that limits should remain the same if all things stay the same with the biomass and estuary, while human population continues to increase along with the number of anglers does not compute with me.

My observation and theory...


I'm 30 years old and have been fishing and crabbing from vermilion bay to holly beach since I was little, and the number of people out there has grown considerably since I can remember. I could tell the increase in people by the time I was 18 and even more in my early to mid twenties. Do y'all have a different experience?

With the continual expansion of refineries and influx of outdoorsmen that typically move here for those positions, along with regular old natural population increase, there has to be an affect on pressure. This coupled with the advancement of fishing technology that allows people to run places they'd never dream of without a true knowledge of a fishing area, and the Internet/social media eliminating the need for putting in your time at the local bait shops and marinas to learn from people with wisdom has to have introduced a large population of harvesters.

Without HD maps half of the idiots on the water would have been too scared to get that expensive boat and tear off into the abyss. A lot of people don't beat the snot out of an aluminum bait with zero electronics while learning to navigate before diving off into a full blown fishing boat. A lot of them have never dragged a boat out of bayou pigeon for 2 hours and bailed water in storms on the way back (navionics on a phone would have saved us that day), or high sided a skiff on an oyster pad.

For me, the expansion and addition of numerous boat launches and marina facilities around the coast is a testament to the increase in recreational fisherman.

Just my theory.