Maggie's Farm

Grouper Wars

This kind of story is becoming common: battles between commercial and recreational salt-water fishing interests, and secondarily battles between different state and federal agencies. In this case, the fish in question is the big, fat, delicious grouper, but we have seen this happen with Striped Bass. A sustainable natural resource has to be carefully and conservatively managed. I like the idea of auctioning quotas. But what happened to catch-and-release? How many of these big guys do you need to take home? Story in CSM:

Red grouper in the Gulf of Mexico has become one of the nation's most sought-after fish, coveted both by commercial fishermen and rod-and-reelers in Bermuda shorts. But in an effort to safeguard the grouper, fishery management officials have driven a wedge between the two. In July they proposed closing the Gulf grouper grounds to sport fishermen this winter - while leaving the waters open for commercial operators. Read entire.