Comment from Walter Stone

The gulf council is proposing to close the Red Snapper in just under 40 days AND also close Amberjack season for the rest of July (a 20 day gap) -- doing this means there are no “Trophy” fish to fish for most of July – the Peak of the Charter Season. And from what I’ve heard the commercial and Charter captains are way past mad about the snapper situation already. This is Not a good situation for the fishery or the fishermen. The following solution gives them their Snapper early, adds about twenty days to the proposed AJ season, lets the pregnant female AJ lay their eggs, adds about 300,000 # of AJ to the buffer, AND opens AJ for the summer rodeos. Right Now we have: Snapper Opens June 1 Closes July 10? (40 Days) AJ Closes June 1 Opens July 31 Note: The AJ are breeding in May Fla catches 300,000 lbs of AJ in May IF WE WENT TO THE FOLLWING EVERYBODY SHOULD BE HAPPY (?)!!!!!!!!! Snapper Open May 1 Closes June 10? (40 days +-) AJ Closes May 1 Opens June 10 PROBLEMS SOLVED: 1.) You don’t over fish the snapper 2.) The breeding AJ get to breed 3.) You add approximately 300,000 lbs to the AJ buffer 4.) You add approximately 20 days of fishing to the AJ season (which means more trips for the charter fleet) 5.) The charter captains sell their extra trips at the PEAK of the fishing season 6.) AJ is open for the summer Rodeos