More governmental restrictions on liberty are seldom an effective path to less governmental restrictions on liberty.
Getting the feds out of gulf fisheries seems to require a more direct path.
Dividing the recreational and commercial interests has served the feds well in their expansion of governmental powers where ultimately both the commercial fisheries and recreational fisheries lose big time.
Wisdom suggests all parties focus on making a bigger pie rather than focusing on who gets a bigger piece of the existing pie. Experience shows that federal management does a tremendous disservice to red snapper management (and many other things). In contrast, several Gulf states have done an excellent job at managing their fisheries and can likely be trusted to continue if their management authority is broadened to completely encompass reef fishes within their waters.
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