https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/noaa-overestimates-recreational-catch-data/


According to the Great Red Snapper Count (https://www.harteresearch.org/snappercount), a 2021 report (https://www.harteresearch.org/sites...pper-Count-Executive-Summary-Aug2021.pdf) put out by
the Harte Research Institute with help from Southern universities, there are 118 million red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA had put that number at 36 million.

Every fisherman that’s ever fished the gulf knows NOAA’s numbers are way off. You can’t get a baited hook to the bottom without hanging into either the elusive ARS or Triggerfish.

^^^^I dont believe any of that for a minute. Say it aint so Joe. I was so sure that the FEDs numbers were 100% accurate. This is really a major shock.

I wish I could remember the source....I don't remember who it was but I remember at the time thinking they were reputable, stating that part of the problem with the snapper counts is that they only performed the counts in areas with a smooth sandy bottom and with snapper being reef fish, they obviously weren't as common in these particular areas as as areas with more structure.

I posted something on that exact thing a year or two ago. All fed counts include only natural bottom. Anything artificial, reefs, wrecks, ships, rig caps, oil platforms, coops, basically everything in the gulf that everyone fishes, that holds probably 65-70% of the fish, is 100% excluded from the fed counts.

That’s exactly what the feds did on their initial samplings. Randomized dots on the map, fish them. If they just happened to hit near an artificial reef they’d exclude that sample. And still came up with 30 million without accounting for any of the 4,000+(at the time) rigs and who knows how many artificial reefs or the mats that go over the pipelines.
I used to see Bradley Byrne a couple times a year at social affairs and stayed in his ear about it. Made the suggestion that if NOAA didn’t count the red snapper on artificial reefs as part of the gulf population, we should be able to fish those phantom fish without their oversight if we promised not to fish over the barren sand areas.

It actually is. Someone proved they were lying.

I applaud that group. It took a lot of money and a lot of volunteers to make it happen.

I don’t know how many snapper there are in the gulf. All I know is, when I started off shore fishing, there were rigs everywhere and a lot less snapper. In the 90s, we would pull up to a rig, drop down throughout the water column, we might catch a snapper, we might not. Find another rig on the horizon and run to it. We might have to hit 6-7 rigs to get on them and catch a 4 man limit. Which I think the limit used to be 4 but I might be wrong.
Nowadays, if you got a “private” spot, catch a 4 man limit with 6 pogeys at the first spot. If you are hitting public spots, you might have to hit 2-3 to catch a 4 man limit.

You must be young. I’m 41 and my dad would take clients and occasionally me a client and his son and we would load the freaking boat with snapper.

Wait til they figure out how many sharks need killed

They’ll never admit that.

That’s why there’s a long running shark tournament going on down here right now. The number of sharks is unreal.

I’m 44 and I’ve snapper fished the gulf since I was 16. Recreationally and commercially . I wouldn’t call a four man limit loading the boat up. Unless y’all were fishing illegally, Then yeah you could if you fished long enough. My point was, there’s WAY more snapper in the gulf now than there was 20 years ago. Used to a 20lb snapper was a real good one. Now you can catch 3-4 20lbers a trip.

Now we loaded the boat up while commercial fishing. Back then, he had a 600lb license and you could fish the first 10 days of each month. We would catch 600lbs, come sell them and then head back out for 600 more. The first one that broke out the electric reel had to wash the boat. Take turns sleeping on the ride.

I HATE sharks and shoot every one I can.