From: kjun@typhoon.atmos.colostate.edu (Pat Fitzpatrick)
Subject: Re: those damned environmentalists
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 19:50:44 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University -- Atmos Sci

In article <picou.702835905@trojan> picou@convex.com (Michael Picou) writes:
>if you're any good at fishing for redfish, the size limit is no problem.  They
>are having to throw back more oversized fish these days than undersized.
>
You must be referring to the fishing guides when you write this. No one I knew
was catching oversized redfish in the bay itself.

I'm very good at catching redfish where they exist -- Louisiana and maybe the 
lower Texas coast -- but Galveston sucks. But even where fishing sucks, if you
are a fishing guide or live on the coast, you can still catch fish because
you can follow their activity day-to-day (I noticed you live in Richardson)

But the average fisherman who must drive two hours pulling a boat to fish is
NOT catching fish. I remember reading a statistic that showed that for eight
hours of fishing in Texas, the AVERAGE fisherman  catches 1 trout or redfish.

Or let me put it this way -- how come the columnists in the Houston Chronicle
spend more time writing about fishing in Canada, Louisiana, overseas, etc.
than in Galveston?
Because they can't even catch trout or redfish unless they get a guide. They
(the writers) tried to be optimistic for a couple of years, writing articles
about how fishing was improving, but they weren't fooling anybody,and finally
quit stretching the truth. In fact, Joe Dogget (one of the writers)
remembers the days when he could go to San Luis Pass and catch 50 speckled 
trout. Now you are lucky to catch one.

>Think back to when we had severe freezes down there and the redfish population
>took a serious hit. 

The redfish population was low BEFORE the freeze.
The estuaries were gone!
 >To add to the hit, purse seiners were taking in tons and
>tons of redfish illegally daily.  
I'll agree on this point. This also strongly contributed to the depletion
of redfish. The GCCA has done a good job stopping the commercial harvest of
redfish and trout, which has helped a little, especially for the little redfish.
But where can they go? The estuaries are gone! It does no good to have lots of
little redfish that will DIE before they spawn due to lack of marches, 
estuaries etc. This point has been overlooked.

When I was in GCCA, I suggested to some people that what is needed is a
vigorous wetlands restoration program. There has been considerable
success in this type of program. You volunteer for a day and plant
Spartani grass (sp?) in the marsh. In many cases, not only is wetland
depletion stopped, but the marsh actually KEEPS GROWING. What a wonderful
concept!!!

But it seems that many of the members just wanted to keep pushing stricter
and stricter laws on fishermen. This is a dangerous trend that will eventually
destroy the sport. Look what has happened in ten years in sports regulations!
Though most of it is good, I think it has reached the point where ENOUGH is
ENOUGH. The trend for the next ten years is scary. Some envoronmentalists
just want to keep passing stricter laws.

My wetland idea was met with scorn. Seemed it was "too much work." So I
guess we will just keeping treating the symptoms, not fixing the cause.

I know my discussion here wil be met with lots of scorn, but I'm afraid that
ten years from now my scenario will be accurate.
>The "enviormentalists" as you call them have done what was neccessary to 
>keep redfish in the bay.  I remember 3 or 4 years ago it was hard to even find
>reds, now it is back to the way it was before the freeze.  
You keep talking about BEFORE the freeze, but there weren't hardly any 
fish before the  freeze. The freeze only made a bad situation worse.
 >If the only reason
>you go fishing is to stock your freezer, fish for trout or croaker or flounder.First of all, the trout fishing is just as bad. When fishing guides have trouble catching 5-10 trout, that is bad.

Secondly, I release most of my fish. But I WANT the option of being able to 
keep some fish. Why not have the option to be able to keep 2 or 3 fish, 
regardless of size, instead of slot limits. This way you stop freezer stocking
yet allow the fisherman some fish to take home. Two or three fish will not
make that much of a difference.

>we have
>plenty of redfish in the bays and surf again.

No we don't. You are suffering delusions.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I'm tired of not catching fish, yet having
people telling me how great the fishing is. And I'm tired of stricter and
stricter regulations that are supposed to help, but don't. When you go
five years without catching a legal redfish, get ignored by the GCCA for
an alternative to over-regulations, yet seeing more development on the coast,
I have a right to be pissed.

I'm glad you are having no trouble catching legal redfish, but I and many
other people are, and I suspect that you are stretching the truth.

Oh well, maybe my kid will see good fishing one day once all the insanity ends,
but I guess i won't (not in Galveston, at least).

Pat