2013 Snapper season changes

[BROWN FIN]

Originally Posted by Duck Butter

I am not arguing, it just may be that the fact is that there are more oil platforms in our region than in other regions and snapper like to be around the platforms. I just wonder about the 'facts' that there are more snapper here if all they are surveying/sampling is around oil rigs. The sampling should be performed near natural features. If you were wanting to sample for redfish in SW Louisiana you would not want to sample behind Grand Bayou weir because it would not show a representative sample of the entire area. It would overinflate the population sample.

Not trying to argue. The northern gulf does have oil rigs as well as natural limestone formations as in the Calcasieu Rock, Candy Mtn and Lost John to name a few as well as countless other rock formations. The NMFS and GOMFMC refuse to survey rigs and reefs. They pick x amount of square miles and survey that. In 2012 they surveyed 10 square miles south of central Tx. They base there snapper counts for the entire gulf by surveying pretty much a desert south of TX and west of South Florida.


BROWN FIN