Snapper Showdown

Shawn Phillips has nine reasons to oppose a shorter season and lower bag limit of red snapper in Florida’s waters.

Phillips, the wife of Destin charter boat Capt. Stan Phillips, is the mother of nine and fears for her family and other Destin charter boat families as the industry faces tightened restrictions.

On Thursday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet in Panama City. Among the items up for a vote will be a recommendation from FWC staff that the state fall in line with the federal government’s much-maligned red snapper regulations. FWC has jurisdiction in the Gulf of Mexico waters within nine miles of Florida’s shoreline.

The rules being proposed by FWC staff include measures to reduce the recreational bag limit from four fish to two and prohibit captains and crews aboard for-hire vessels from maintaining a bag limit. The rules would also shorten the recreational season. Formerly, the snapper season started on April 15 and ran through Oct. 31. The proposed season would run from June 1 through Sept. 30. The state of Florida has traditionally fallen in line with federal regulations, and an FWC report authored by William Teehan suggests that the trend will continue.

“The success of the red snapper rebuilding plan depends not only upon compliance with the bag limit, size limit and the fishing season regulations in federal waters, but also with the five states in the Gulf of Mexico adopting rules that are consistent with the federal rules,” the report reads. “If the states do not … further restrictions (will have to) be placed on the red snapper fishery in federal waters.”

Members of the charter industry fear such a decision could be devastating. Phillips said her husband’s boat, the Sea Winder, has customers that book charter trips to fish for snapper exclusively. Phillips fears that if those anglers aren’t able to catch snapper, they won’t be going out fishing at all.

“They do not want other fish. These particular individuals charter us over 20 times per year and most likely we will lose them as customers. No one is going to charter a boat for over $800 to come home with 12 fish,” she said. “The shorter season, the loss of those trips directly impact our family. We have nine children to support by fishing.”

The contingent pleading its case will be similar to one that traveled last year to Point Clear, Ala., to make a pitch to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. The group ultimately passed tighter restrictions on red snapper despite pleas from commercial and recreational fishermen, local government officials and environmental groups.

Capt. Kelly Windes, a Destin city councilor and longtime charter boat captain, said he hopes Florida makes a stand similar to one made by the state of Texas.
“If they maintained the status quo that would help us a lot, that would be our economic stimulus,” he said.

Destin Mayor Craig Barker said he is planning to make the trip to Panama City to speak on behalf of the city and the City Council. A letter Barker will read includes a claim that Destin’s charter industry contributes $24.3 million in state tax revenues annually, and cutting into the snapper quota would endanger the industry and put those much-needed tax dollars in jeopardy.

“As a mayor of a community whose history and heritage is predicated on the health and vitality of the fishing industry, I can attest firsthand that Destin’s charter captains alone will lose more than that ... and our entire community will suffer the consequences,” the letter reads.

Shane Moody, president and CEO of the Destin Area Chamber of Commerce, said anything that’s bad for the fleet is bad for Destin business. “Anytime something could happen to affect a major part of why people love Destin — and great snapper fishing is one of the great things about Destin — you have to be worried about what it could do for the entire business community. The chamber doesn’t want to see anything happen that could negatively affect our charter boat fishing,” he said.

A cutback on snapper in state waters would also impact Destin’s annual Fishing Rodeo. If approved, the new red snapper season in state waters would end on Sept. 30, one day before the start of the Destin Fishing Rodeo, which lasts the entire month of October.

Helen Donaldson, executive director of the Destin Fishing Rodeo, said the Rodeo has already begun to make a contingency plan if anglers cannot win awards for bringing in big snapper.

“This certainly isn’t good for the Rodeo, but we are looking at some of our other awards and we are going to beef up some of our other species,” she said. “This is not good for our industry, this is not good for the local fishermen because the snapper are out there. If they were legitimately overfished, we would be the first ones in line trying to rebuild the species.”

Published on Saturday, February 2, 2008