Comment from Ron Strich

Point 1. Recreational quota should not be tied into for-hire commercial businesses. Instead, they should be part of the commercial quota as they are in fact a commercial enterprise. Point 2. These notices are always accompanied by squishy statements that are NEVER backed up by data such as "preliminary recreational landings data for 2010 indicate the quota was met." Why am I, as a taxpayer, paying for a service that never can give hard data to back up your decisions? Why can you never provide your data sources? If an employee came into a business meeting with this type of nonsense, they would be fired. As our government looks for ways to cut back funding, it seems to me that your agency should be fired as well. Provide the data to backup your statements. Point 3. Commercial fishing is the real culprit in adversely impacting fishing stocks. Take a harder look at the impact commercial fishing has on any of the species you "protect". Long lines should be outlawed. They are wasteful in that they do not target any particular fish, yet they kill many unintended species. Point 4. Spend your money on providing more habitat to increase populations. Put out more deep (over 100 feet) artificial reefs in the Gulf of Mexico.