Public_Comment_Display


2	General Comment
3	2024 General Comment
4	Submit Date	Email	Name	City	State	Zip	Affiliation	Comment
6	1/29/2024	Tomtccollins@comcast.net	Tom Collins	Largo	Florida	33771	Private Recreational Angler	I am joining the council on line Wednesday, do I need to be logged all day? I have fished in the area for 8 years now, I have caught 1 gag grouper and 2 red grouper (legal size in season) I've fished on 2 different trips (once each week) from November thru April, with either 14 or 50 persons on board. I can only remember seeing 2 keeper grouper on the boat a few times in 8 years. Given my observations, I find the council data to be very unbelievable. With all due respect, Cheers!
7	1/29/2024	Elcapitanosoffshore@gmail.com	Chad Hickman	Saint Petersburg	Florida	33707	Private Recreational Angler, Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire), Commercial	The data collection numbers are getting out of control. They are really far-fetched from reality.. you must consider how these affect our businesses. Cat grouper for example, you asked us what season we wanted. We chose later in the year so we could fish when we can actually catch gag grouper on our coast and you gave us that season and then shortened it so pretty much we did not land any gag grouper last year..So how was that quota even met in that sort of time. Then I see that these numbers come from just pulling over 30 people. How does that make even sense?
8	1/29/2024	Jufootball@yahoo.com	Mirco Zanella	Clearwater	Florida	33755	Private Recreational Angler, Commercial	Your numbers are fatally flawed, I dive the skyway bridge (Tampa bay) commercially and recreationally. Although we have a healthy gag population there. That figure being caught in 49 days from land is absurd, furthermore; if that formula resulted in these numbers - I can only imagine how inflated the recreational catch estimate for private anglers must be. Please please review this data and make people accountable for their findings. I work very hard to enjoy a day on the water, don’t take away my ability to enjoy dinner because of false information.
9	1/29/2024	Scottstark78@gmail.com	Scott Stark	Brooksville	Florida	34601	Private Recreational Angler	How can anyone honestly think this survey is correct. And how on earth can you think these numbers are correct. Showing a 100k caught on shore you should of throw away this data. It seems like someone higher has an agenda to stop fishing in the gulf. My question with the Chevron doctrine being challenged will this strip away NOAA's and the council's power? With using such a terrible study I think it needs to be taken away. If this goes through the fishing industry will take hit that most won't be able come back from. Also will put new pressure on other species of fish.
10	1/29/2024	Snooker5@aol.com	Glen Taylor	St Pete	Florida	33711	Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	My comment is about the flawed data. My take is that All fisherman should be required to report there catches. It has been painfully obivious that the system in place is flawed or corrupt. The only numbers that are accurate are the headboat numbers,why??? They report. Simple as that. Make everyone that fishes report what they caught. Easy solution to this mess. My 2nd comment is how do you shorten a season,Gag, then shorten it again. Most every charterboat capt was booked everyday in the 1st week of Nov. The Gag bite is actually good then, and you guys go and close it on us. We had charters lined up that whole week coming in from out of town. Impossible to run a business like that. A stoppage inside a stoppage. It has devesated the offshore charter industry. We plan on the short season, and then u shorten it again with zero warning. No business can survive like that. Where is our federal funding like the farmers get?? I will end with this. The data is flawed, and you and I know this. Just make reporting mandatory. Only way anyone can make an informed decision. Please remember this, the best stewards of our fishery, is fisherman. No one cares more. Thank you for your time. Capt Glen Taylor
11	1/29/2024	frank.e.bonifacio@gmail.com	Frank Bonifacio	Indian Rocks Beach	Florida	33785	Private Recreational Angler	My name is Frank Bonifacio and I am a Florida private recreational angler with a passion for offshore fishing. I live in Indian Rocks Beach on Florida’s West Central Coast and I average about 24 fishing/diving trips a year in the Gulf of Mexico on my own boat with my sons and friends. My trips range from 50 to 200 miles round trip (day and overnight) to specifically target reef fish. On my boat we use the FishRules App and Return ‘Em Right best practices and we simply don’t keep any illegal fish. In sum, we follow the rules and try to do the “right thing” to ensure our fisheries stay healthy for future generations. Like many of my fellow recreational anglers I have invested a significant amount of time and money into my hobby while supporting many local businesses along the way. I follow Captain Dylan Hubbard as he is a local charter business owner, a member of the GOMC Reef and Data Collection Advisory Panels, and is highly regarded as our local champion and voice of the recreational anglers in West Central Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and for the many visitors around the country that look forward to fishing on his charters. Captain Hubbard has called our attention to the latest reports on the 2023 grouper landing estimates and on his January 28th live show he provided an excellent overview of NOAA’s stock assessment and catch limit processes which he highlighted the difficult challenges that NOAA faces regarding private recreational landing estimates. He asked all recreational anglers to provide feedback on the 2023 grouper landings report. The MRIP process to calculate landings has resulted in unreasonable 2023 grouper estimates. For gags this is primarily due to an insufficient sample (intercept) size for each area (charter, headboat, private, shore) and the compounding effects of having to rely on several assumptions. As for red grouper data, the Wave 4 landings are so high in just a short period of time that it just doesn’t seem to make sense. Simply put, there is a high probability that the 2023 grouper landing estimates are materially skewed and it would be irresponsible of NOAA OST and NOAA Fisheries to use this data to make any decisions that reduce the 2024 ACLs and length of seasons from the 2023 levels. Doing so would only drive a wedge further between the fishing community and these groups with all credibility being lost and would put the GOMC in the very unfavorable position of having to implement those decisions. Above all, it would have a direct negative impact on charter captains and other local businesses and would result in more fishing pressure on other Gulf species. Contrary to what many might infer from the negative feedback on social media about NOAA and the GOMC, many private recreational anglers recognize that this is a serious problem and we want to be a part of the solution to improve the process in order to protect something we love or we risk losing it without any input into the matter. There are many of us willing to help once it’s clear from NOAA and the GOMC as to how best we can do that and we can also provide valuable insights on our fishing practices to improve the overall reasonableness of the data. I personally am willing to share catch and effort data from every trip if it will lead to more reliable outcomes. Respectfully, Frank Bonifacio
12	1/29/2024	lschenavar@gmail.com	Larry Schenavar	Crystal River	Florida	34429	Private Recreational Angler	I'm Larry Schenavar from Crystal River, FL. I fish gulf waters out to the middle grounds. We fish for gag grouper and red grouper. I want to state my opinion on the data collected for red and gag grouper that you plan on making decisions off of. There is NO way it's accurate. The number of gag grouper caught off land alone is laughable. There's simply no way it is right. I do NOT want our policymakers making decisions for us recreational anglers off this data. The gag grouper fishery is a solid as I've ever seen it in the nature coast (15 years). Please make the right choices here. Thanks Larry Schenavar 3528956838 lschenavar@gmail.com
13	1/29/2024	Russracing128@gmail.com	Tyler Russ	Chiefland	Florida	32626	Private Recreational Angler	The Gag grouper and red grouper fishing has been really good in my region in cedar key fl. gags as close to 15 miles out and reds 50 miles out. So how the quota was shone and how everyone else has been doing nothing makes sense. So just my positive and negative opinion on the fisheries.
14	1/29/2024	Cdjohns21@gmail.com	Chris Johns	Naples	Florida	34104	Private Recreational Angler	The data provided for this past year's harvest studies are beyond imagination. 106k lbs of land based harvest while charter/headboat fails to deliver any substantial number related. It's very clear this data along with majority of the gag / red grouper data is vastly misconstrued. As a former charter captain from other states and now a recreational Florida angler it's disappointing to see how mismanaged the gulf fishery is. The percentage of fish now having to be returned that actually survive is minimal by any device. The Goliath grouper situation is exploding daily and it's become almost impossible to go fishing and keep anything. I couldn't imagine being a charter captain in this fishery to try and make any living. I believe there needs to be more accountability and accurate data surveyed as a collective for accurate reporting and seasons. There are numerous species in this fishery exploding with life seen by spending any amount of time on the water.
15	1/29/2024	Andrewm@climatizer.ca	Andrew Molcar	Naples	Florida	34108	Private Recreational Angler	To whom is may concern, MRIP data is no where near accurate Floridas FES data is 20% of MRIP these numbers will effect thousands of peoples live’s and are wildly inaccurate. We Demand better data on gag and red grouper, 32 respondents is no where even close to sound science. Thank you for your time and efforts to help correct these regulations.
16	1/29/2024	donschuett@gmail.com	Don Schuett	Big Lake	Minnesota	55309	Private Recreational Angler	The possibility of closing GAG Grouper has far reaching consequences. First and foremost it is a great opportunity to introduce the outdoors to kids and keep them off the streets. Second: it brings families and other individuals together for a weekend or day to enjoy God's great gifts. Third: it helps establish a family tradition and teaching opportunities about proper conservation. Fourth: There is a huge economic impact caused by the closure. Starting with license fees, bait shops, travel industry, and the recreational fishing industry. The surprising thing to me is you are making these decisions with very inaccurate data.
17	1/29/2024	John.king@cityelectricsupply.com	John King	Dunnellon	Florida	34431	Private Recreational Angler	Please do not shut grouper down using pre covid data as in 2019 , you know it's wrong . We all know it's wrong . Obviously there is higher powers at work here and we all know as fisherman there is no shortage of Gags period . Don't do it give us our fishery back. We The People ....
18	1/29/2024	Doloresbeers307@gmail.com	Dolores Beers	Riverview	Florida	33579	Private Recreational Angler	How are fish tagged and for what info is provided with these tags?
19	1/29/2024	Jbharrison239@gmail.com	Blake Harrison	Everglades City	Florida	34139	Private Recreational Angler	This data is horrible. 106k pounds of Gag Grouper was caught from SHORE in 49 days? Someone needs to look into this immediately. MRIP data is completely wrong here. This will hurt the recreational fisherman but more importantly the commercial/guide industry.
20	1/29/2024	Mattcruce@gmail.com	Matt Cruce	Perry	Florida	32348	Private Recreational Angler	Hi, I scuba dive off the big bend coast and we normally make 12-15 trips per year. The past 2 years have been the best gag and red grouper number we have seen since I have been diving since 2018. If anyone on the council wants to see the fish numbers there is a spot on my boat for you. I don’t think there is enough fish for a 12 month season for gags but there is plenty for 5-6 months. I don’t understand wh red grouper is not open 10-12 months per year . There is a ton of them out there. On a trip in October we caught 50-60 15-20 inch red grouper the numbers of juvenile is very strong
21	1/29/2024	larench51@tampabay.rr.com	lawrence j white	st petersburg	Florida	33714	Private Recreational Angler	There should be a better way to get a better number of grouper being caught. I fish on charter boats and we are always releasing gags out of season. The stock of gags seem to be heathy.. I have fished under the Skyway bridge and caught many under size gags and red grouper I hope you rethink the 2024 season
22	1/29/2024	Ksarahsarah35@yahoo.com	Sarah Schenavar	Crystal river	Florida	34429	Private Recreational Angler	Subject- Any additional limits on gag grouper this data is false there is absolutely no way this is true. You shouldn’t make decisions on bad data. We all know that men will catch a fish and tell you that it is 10 times bigger than what it is. Please don’t make everyone suffer over these fabricated numbers. You know I’m right.
23	1/29/2024	chrislarosa82@yahoo.com	Chris LaRosa	Land O Lakes	Florida	34639	Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	Hello there, I am Capt. Chris LaRosa and I fish out of Hudson Florida for the Reel Gulf Predator Fishing Charters. I primarily fish for reef species and would like to give my input on the recent catch numbers I am seeing. First and foremost, the Gag fishing here in the West Central part of Florida has never been better. Over the past few years, I am seeing more and bigger Gag Grouper that I have in the previous 10 years. Even after a very bad red tide a couple years ago. After seeing the "catch" numbers released by the Gulf council, I am just appalled! The fact that in your, supposed scientific studies, land based Gag catches "far exceeded" head boat catches. Anyone with half a brain knows that is nonsense. Maybe it is because your data is severely flawed. I'm sure it's because head boats have been reporting all of their catches so you cannot fudge those numbers like you are with shore catches and also private sector catches. Do you genuinely think private anglers are outfishing head boats? Charter boats? Just because there are X amount of private anglers, that does not mean they all are catching fish. As a matter of fact, I would be willing to bet a MAJORITY of them aren't taking home keeper Gag Grouper. Another factor I am not seeing in these studies is the amount of fishable days. I know for a fact, that at least half of the days during that minuscule 49 day Gag season, were not fishable weather wise. From the data I'm seeing, there was a 7x jump this year. How is that possible? Something needs to be done and soon. You are taking livelihoods away with these Grouper closures. It's not just us Captains, but the tackle shops and also tourists that normally come from out of town to take home a fresh fillet of grouper. They no longer have a reason to come down. The trickle down effect of these closures are being felt by a LOT of people. Please do the right thing and get this data issue fixed. -Captain Chris LaRosa -The Reel Gulf Predator Fishing Charters
24	1/30/2024	Bburghardt@live.com	Brian Burghardt	Jacksonville	Florida	32233	Private Recreational Angler, Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	Good morning. I am primarily a head boat angler in the gulf. Normally I do 3 to 5 multi day trips a year. This year with the closure of ted and gag grouper I did 2. Here are my thoughts on gag grouper. 32 intercepts is unacceptable - we need bigger sample sizes a PSE of 98% is asinine for the shore landings for gags its not possible we landed the number of gags that MRIP wave 5 data reflects look at the head boat numbers the only ones from real data collection program it only constitutes 1% of landings... that's a huge glaring sign there's major issues in the mrip survey state data and mrip data has been steady the past 3 years for it to jump to 7x higher from its typical around 3x higher is a big sign of the issues that need to be addressed we need more sample sizes to reduce data outliers skewing results the red grouper issues with wave 4 data is also a huge challenge, there isn't a possible way that 1.2 million lbs of red grouper were caught in just a few weeks especially with bad weather during that period... wave 1-3 averaged around 400K lbs why would we be able to land 70% of the quota in less than 3 weeks when it took us six months to land 60% of the quota with 30% of our fleet out of operation due to hurricane Ian post effects decimating our red grouper fishing fleet
25	1/30/2024	fester_95@yahoo.com	Damien Adams	Clearwater	Florida	33761	Private Recreational Angler	I have recently become aware of the estimation numbers on gag grouper catches based on extremely small sample sizes. As you should be aware, a proper statistical sample size should be relative to the size of the population you are trying to measure. What you are basing your estimates on is absurd. Stop basing decisions based on a handful of collections and do the work necessary to collect factual data. Partnerships with folks who are trusted in the fishing community will go farther to collecting this data rather than relying on fisherman’s feedback from a small number of individuals.
26	1/30/2024	Kris.howell14@yahoo.com	Kris Howell	Land o lakes	Florida	34639	Private Recreational Angler	Zero supporting data for any of the project plan forward. This need a complete overhall on concept to back the data to be able to make decisions with top Capt that are on the water almost daily. Common sense 101 that is info is all wrong
27	1/30/2024	Robertmulero1@gmail.com	Tony mulero	Brandon	Florida	33511	Private Recreational Angler	Of all the topics I couldn't pick just one so let's talk about mismanagement of our fishery, shall we. The numbers are wrong the stats lie and there is never a consideration of the actual bio-mass when an "arbitrary" number of fish are caught. The real consideration from fisheries management is that if that number is exceeded that means the fishery is actually healthy and you along with NMFS have underestimated the sustainable bio-mass. The agenda is always toward closures as well, never any consideration of increasing size limits to ensure males are in enough numbers for the reproduction of a sustainable bio-mass. We see the agenda, (beyond sector separation to get rec, comm, and for hire groups focused on fighting each other) close one species, have the fishermen focus on another species, conduct a bogus stock assessment on that new species, declare that species is now over-fished and issue closures. Rinse and repeat ... THAT is NOT proper or good fishery management. In addition, why is there never any involvement or incentives for improving the habitat, inshore there are lots of ways to assist there, offshore there are always lots of abandoned vessels that would make great artificial reefs. There should be statewide and gulf-wide initiatives for this to ensure more habitat = more fish for everyone. We have one of the preeminent artificial reef experts here with plenty of data to show this would be a far better management process than what we are doing now. I'm opposed to any and all of the closures you are planning, I support increases in length and real science that shows from the evidence below the surface that we have way more fish than your stats show ... do the right thing, fix your science, improve your management objectives and drop the agenda-driven policies. Get involved in building artificial reefs so you are contributing to the success not stopping it!
28	1/30/2024	Kyle.paulhus87@gmail.com	Kyle Paulhus	St Petersburg	Florida	33703	Private Recreational Angler	The early closure of gag grouper. in the fall was unacceptable. Hurricane and severe weather conditions the first 3 weeks of the season. Combined with clearly flawed data in that head boats caught less than shore based anglers, with only 1 shore based angler being interviewed shows a lack of effort for clear and precise data.
29	1/30/2024	jackfields17@gmail.com	Jack Fields	Clearwater	Florida	33764	Private Recreational Angler	In recent months, NOAA has presented some statistics that caught my attention. According to their estimates, there's a possibility that the Gag grouper could be closed throughout 2024. The figures they've released for the total gag grouper catch in 2023 are as follows: 1.68 million lbs. in total, with 1.4 million lbs. for Private Rec, 163,000 lbs. for Charter, 106,000 lbs. for Shore, and 8,600 lbs. for Headboat. Interestingly, FWC conducted its own study (SRFS) and found that the total recreational catch, when combining all these numbers, is only 240,000 lbs. This indicates a significant discrepancy of over 1 million lbs. between NOAA's and FWC's calculations. What's even more concerning is that the 106,000 lbs. attributed to Shore are based on a single data point – an interview with a fisherman on the Skyway Pier. Extrapolating such a substantial figure from a lone interview raises questions about the reliability of their model. Shifting gears to the 2023 Red Grouper catch estimates, NOAA's MRIP data suggests 1.8 million lbs. while FWC's SRFS reports 780,000 lbs. Once again, there's a discrepancy of 1 million lbs. between the two sets of data. This is particularly noteworthy as the closure of red grouper was implemented early based on these numbers. The divergent figures from the two agencies prompt concerns about the accuracy of the data being used to make critical decisions in fisheries management.
30	1/30/2024	mickdodge001@gmail.com	Mick Dodge	Apollo Beach	Florida	33572	Private Recreational Angler	32 intercepts is unacceptable - we need bigger sample sizes for the type of data we need to make the best, informed, complete decisions. only 32 intercepts to make up the info? Thats unacceptable... 1 intercept of a shore angler resulted in 106,602lbs caught 15 intercepts of private anglers resulted in 1,399,513lbs caught 16 intercepts of charter boats resulted in 162,832lbs caught meanwhile, headboats have to report, their reporting showed 8,644lbs caught only landings not estimated the head boat reporting program has been in place since the mid 80s. Let’s do the right thing and use the proven data at hand while we work to figure out how to significantly increase the number of intercepts going forward.
31	1/30/2024	captainbillhardman@gmail.com	William Hardman	Saint Petersburg	Florida	33713	Private Recreational Angler	Dear council members, appointed and elected officials, After reviewing the last Gulf gag grouper catch data, I am writing to you regarding the alarming issue of the federal Gulf fishery council's ongoing reliance on a flawed fishery catch estimate system (MRIP-FES) that continues to provide erroneous and false data concerning the catch estimate (over 2.5 x the estimate of the FWC's State Reef Fish Survey aka SRFS over the past couple years). It is extremely evident in the latest Gulf council gag grouper data- this system is unbelievably off target in its outlandish factor of extrapolation and inaccuracy making enormously wide assumptions on extremely limited (and therefore useless) input data. In 19 days in October (including several poor weather days), the survey conclusion was that the rec sector caught more grouper than the commercial fleet catches in five years. How is that possible? Private anglers caught an estimated 1,399,113 lbs. vs estimated 162,000 lb's for charters. From 2012 through 2016, an average of 228,122 directed angler trips were estimated to be taken annually by private anglers Gulf-wide (about 624 trips per day). For this data to be accurate 228,122 annual trips would have to be taken over 39 poor weather days including two weeks of hurricane impacts (5,849 trips per day) to get a 6lb trip average. Also, according to the data, Head boats caught 8,644 lb.'s of gag grouper and shore fishermen caught 106,000 lb.'s of gag grouper (Hint: the prior year was zero lb.'s from shore by the way). All of this shore caught data conclusion was apparently based on one boat ramp survey intercept. How can you accept this data as even remotely scientifically valuable? This is fraudulent science at best. Your action and leadership in addressing this issue may mean going against the flow of the federal/NOAA leadership "herd" mentality, but now is the time for bold and outside the system solutions- including looking to expand the emphasis given to the more accurate FWC (SRFS) data and similar targeted data models (which narrow the pool of users to actual grouper fishermen). A continued inaction and apathy by this Gulf Council in speaking out against this wasteful, broken and flawed MRIP system will continue to cause lack of fishery access to countless users and cost millions of dollars in lost revenue for tourism, fishing and boating industries and priceless loss of opportunity for the next generations. Sincerely, William Hardman, A Recreational fisherman and spearfisherman and officer of the Tampa Bay Spearfishing Club
32	1/30/2024	captdanielmedina@gmail.com	Daniel Medina	CAPE CORAL	Florida	33914	Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	Good afternoon. MY name is Capt Daniel Medina. I am a licensed captain/business owner based out of cape coral, FL. I run a 6 pack offshore charter boat. I am also the founder and current VIce President of the SWFL Fishing club which consists of over 500 active local men, women and families who actively fish. I 100% support the conservation of our resources while also supporting the rights and ability to land and harvest fish within practical, legal limits. There are several isuses to address but here are a few key points: -a PSE of 98% is asinine for the shore landings for gags -its not possible we landed the number of gags that MRIP wave 5 data reflects -look at the head boat numbers the only ones from real data collection program it only constitutes 1% of landings... that's a huge glaring sign there's major issues in the mrip survey -state data and mrip data has been steady the past 3 years for it to jump to 7x higher from its typical around 3x higher is a big sign of the issues that need to be addressed -we need more sample sizes to reduce data outliers skewing results The 2023 catch data that was used to make drastic closures for the recreation sector is asinine. From a young age, we are explained in our science and math classes that you need to have a reasonable sample size in order to be able to get a more accurate value of what statistics may be. We know that flipping a coin generally is accepted as a 50/50 chance of landing on heads or landing on tails. If we only flip the coin one time, it would show that 100% of the time it would land on one of either heads or tails. The same theory is being applied to our gag grouper fishery. There was 1 land based survey/intercept that showed gag grouper had been landed by a land based fisherman. I can tell you without a doubt, there are NOT VERY many keeper sized groupers being caught from land. Are there some? Sure! But 106,000 lbs in a very shortened season with some severe weather days not allowing anglers to get out? I absolutely, without a doubt can tell you this number is impossible! Our headboats, which are required to report their landings and have been since the 90's, reported a little over 8600 lbs. Tell me how this is possible?? The fact is the data collection and management is complete rubbish, and anyone with 1/2 a brain can look at this and make the same conclusions. Red Grouper were closed on July 21st, 2023 as there was a claimed "overage of red grouper landed" and to ensure we didn't cross this threshold, the season was significantly shortened. As a small business owner based out of Cape Coral, Florida, the red grouper is one of our areas most highly saught, and is essentially our " bread and butter" fish. Closing red grouper down 5 months early has had a detrimental affect on both my business and my family. Now the scary part is here again, the report comes out for our landings for July 1st thru July 21st and the numbers say that we landed more fish in a 21 day period than we did in the full 7 months prior. There are giant issues with the red grouper issues with wave 4 data, There is no possible way that 1.2 million lbs of red grouper were caught in just a few weeks especially with bad weather during that period... wave 1-3 averaged around 400K lbs why would we be able to land 70% of the quota in less than 3 weeks when it took us six months to land 60% of the quota with 30% of our fleet out of operation due to hurricane Ian post effects decimating our red grouper fishing fleet. The next issue is there is never a sensible fix to the problem. Instead of looking at the science and the math with a common sense approach, there is always a knee jerk reaction to automatically shut down the fishery with no care for the businesses nor recreational anglers that pump millions and millions of dollars into our local economies. IT takes months and months for you to figure out that your data is severally flawed and skewed, only to tell us well we will try better next time. This is not acceptable. Some one needs to be held accountable for this piss poor management of PUBLIC resources. It starts from the top and each member should be ashamed of their sad excuse for the management of our resources. It is time to stop the excuses and get your acts together. If your "scientists" look at this data and are able to put their stamp of approval on it, they need to go as well.
33	1/30/2024	Codywatt4@gmail.com	Cody watt	Ovala	Florida	34475	Private Recreational Angler	I am a recreational fisherman that harvest gag grouper out of Homosassa and Crystal River Florida every year. We fish hook and line and also spearfish. Over the past 10 years we have seen the numbers and size of gags increase each year. The last two years was the best gag fishing we have ever seen since grouper fishing for 17 years. Our local communities and families who live off of the water would take an extreme hit from a closure to this species. Guides rely on this as a large portion of their income. After years of being in the water and seeing these fish grown over the years I do not understand how this should even be a thought to our community. I hope your take consideration of this message and others like it to help save these families living off of this fishery including the captains, local hotels, rental properties, restaurant staff, gas stations, bait shops and everyone else who would be fee t d by shutting down a thriving species such as the gag grouper
34	1/30/2024	Andersonholdings941@gmail.com	Ian Anderson	Bradenton	Florida	34212	Private Recreational Angler	I'm all for reasonable regulation in regards to protecting our fisheries. But this is an absolute overstep that's based on bad data. I urge you to use more data before making such a rash decision
35	1/30/2024	Christopherkeller36@gmail.com	Chris Keller	St. Petersburg	Florida	33707	Private Recreational Angler	The data being presented to estimate the grouper catch is very disappointing. To get an accurate representation of what is being caught there needs to be a much larger sample size. Basing the shore landing estimate on 1 intercept in 1 location does not make sense. 15 intercepts of recreational vessels does not seem like it would be statistically significant given the number of recreational vessels fishing for these species. The estimated catch of gag grouper seems unrealistic with the high winds during the open season. We need to have better estimates to base regulations on.
36	1/30/2024	teamflatliner@yahoo.com	Jose D Borrego	Clearwater	Florida	33764	Private Recreational Angler, Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	My name is Jose D Borrego, a native from Clearwater, FL. I am a full time Pharmacist with Publix Super Markets, Inc and a part time charter captain with Flat Liner Adventures, LLC. I fish many areas from Crystal River along the West coast of FL to the Keys. I fish both inshore and offshore with recreational trips out past 100 miles primarily fishing live bait. I am reaching out in regards to the recent reporting of red and gag grouper catch amounts from the 2022 and 2023 Gulf of Mexico Recreational Landings and Annual Catch Limits and Annual Catch Targets. While reviewing the data published, there appears to be information on gag catches that may have been misreported or improperly interpreted such as the 2023 shore landings being ten times that of head boats. Yes, grouper can be caught from shore and local bridges but the catch data appears to be inflated versus those fish caught from a vessel. Legal, keeper fish are not as common from shore in my over 40 years of fishing experience. The nineteen day season from 2023 stating that 750,000 pounds of gag grouper being caught is difficult to believe, especially when there were numerous poor weather days that did not allow for anglers to participate in fishing for them. During this open season, fish in our area were still deeper and not accessible by smaller boats that could not safely venture beyond 20 miles. I believe that it is not possible that anglers landed the quantity of gags that MRIP Wave 5 data reported. I strongly feel that more sample sizes need to be collected to help keep this data more accurate. As far as red grouper are concerned, a report of 1.2 million pounds were caught in just a few weeks of open season. Again, poor weather conditions and Hurricane Idalia were factors for recreational, for hire and commercial boats to be able to go off shore. Catching 70% of the allowed quota in less than 3 weeks clearly shows that there is a flaw in the reporting. I urge the Gulf Council to read the data on grouper with an objective view an dissect this information carefully. I am certain that the data will be found to be flawed and "lacking common sense." All anglers I deal with as a charter captain, consultant captain and recreational fisherman follow the rules of catch quantities, proper measuring of the fish and use of a venting tool or descending device to ensure under size or out of season fish are returned to the water safely. I do not know of any persons who do not take care of our fishery but know that all want proper data and reporting used so that we can continue to enjoy our resource. Thank you for your time. Jose D Borrego, RPh, Captain
37	1/31/2024	Daviddun79@gmail.com	David Dunsmoor	Homosassa	Florida	34448	Private Recreational Angler	The numbers simply don’t add up !!! Keep the season the same and document the next 2-3 years and use the data from a 3 year average.. it’s pretty simple if you actually think about it .But yall already have your decisions made up and our comments probably won’t change anything!! When We as anglers lose a species or have limits and seasons shortened we never get it back !
38	1/31/2024	jrf1950@hotmail.com	Jonathan Frye	Forest City	Florida	32703	Private Recreational Angler	Please re evaluate your information of red and gag grouper
39	1/31/2024	david.pruitt@icloud.com	David Pruitt	Buford	Georgia	30518	Private Recreational Angler	Hello! I am writing to voice my concerns regarding what I view to be inaccurate data reported for recent Gulf of Mexico Red Group and Gag Grouper recreational landings and the how using this data will potentially shut down the fishery for these grouper for many years. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend the virtual webinar for comment on Wednesday so I have listed some of my concerns below. How does this impact me? I live in Buford, GA but travel to Florida all throughout the year, primarily taking trips on headboats to do reef fishing for grouper and snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. Grouper are my favorite fish to target and they are a large reason for why I am willing to spend thousands on charter trip fares, hotel accommodations, food & beverage, etc.. MRIP Wave 5 Gag Grouper Landings Estimate Landings estimate does not seem possible compared to past data Sample size is insufficient for thorough and accurate statistical analysis, 32 intercepts is unacceptable especially when you are gathering data from different sources which represent different types of fishing, different effort levels and opportunities for catching the target species A land based angler off a sea wall or pier does not have anywhere near the same chances of catching a gag or red grouper as an angler out on a charter or head boat under direction of an experienced captain There was only 1 intercept/survey of shore based data, with an PSE of 98% yet they are still including 106,602 lbs based on this one data point. At a minimum there should be 30 intercepts per category to determine landings for shore, charter, private, headboard, and then add those to get a total Head boat numbers are the only ones from real data collection program it only constitutes 1% of landings. This makes it very obvious the MRIP data has errors and is grossly exaggerated. MRIP data is 7x the state estimate. For the past 3 years MRIP has on average been about 3x higher so what explains the sudden increase to 7x ? Red Grouper The 2023 wave 4 data for red grouper also appeared to be in error. From what I heard only 60% of the quota was landed in the first six months and somehow in just a few weeks after that an additional 1.2 million lbs were landed. This was also during a time when the weather was bad and after a hurricane so the number of people fishing was lower than expected. Impact Considering saltwater recreational fishing has a multi-billion dollar economic impact to Florida, and even more all along the Gulf Coast, I would hope the council will not make any recommendations for payback or changes to further limit quotas or season dates until this landings data can be audited by a third party. To ignore the obvious unexplained spikes in the estimated landings and inconsistencies in the data would be irresponsible and have major financial impact on many charter fishing businesses. If the only fish we are able to harvest other than red snapper are smaller species, mangrove snapper, “heads & tails” and maybe an occasional scamp grouper, then I and probably many others will most likely cut back on how many fishing trips we book. I am aware that you were not in charge of creating the landings data but I do hope you acknowledge the concerns over the accuracy of the data and postpone making any recommendations until the data can be verified. Thank you for your time and contributions to improve our fisheries. David Pruitt Buford, GA
40	1/31/2024	caleisgood12@gmail.com	Cale C	naples	Florida	34108	Private Recreational Angler	The sample size of gag grouper taken from shore is one.
41	1/31/2024	Glangler72@gmail.com	Jeff Hanover	Estero	Florida	33928	Private Recreational Angler, Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	Is commercial shark fishing on the agenda to return to the gulf
42	1/31/2024	edward.brantley@gmail.com	Edward Brantley					Hello, I'm writing to provide you with my public comment regarding fishing in the gulf of Mexico. In my opinion, commercial fishing should be banned altogether. There is no need for wild caught seafood in today's society. Commercial fishing monetarily benefits a small group by exploiting a public resource. In my opinion, based on my observations, commercial fishing significantly impacts the environment. I encourage you to support a ban of commercial fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. I do support recreational fishing. The public should have access to the fishery, they just need to go get it themselves. Regards, Ed
43	1/31/2024	jerrylmarion@hotmail.com	Jerry Marion		Florida		Private Recreational Angler	I currently winter here in fl and part of the reason I pick fl is for the fishing. Near shore or off shore. Grouper in particular. We only catch a handful of full a year but that keeps us happy along with the other species we pull up for the fun. If the grouper fishing is continued to be closed we will find else where to winter. No point in spending my money here or dragging boat down if I can’t fish for the types of fish I like. Thank you for your consideration Jerry marion
44	1/31/2024	Cside6614@verizon.net	Chris Williamson	Apollo Beach	Florida	33572	Private Recreational Angler	This is in response to the discussion of data gathering and analysis to limit Grouper season. I live on the bay and am a recreational fisherman so not an expert at catching Grouper by any means. However I do know something about statistics and what you folks are doing has little to do with any data gathering and analysis I have studied. This would not be acceptable in any industry- manufacturing. Pharmaceutical. Food production or any wildlife management. Effective statistics are based on correct data gathering. The math is well known. An example of what you are doing is like sitting in a couple back yards during deer season and if no deers are seen call them endangered species. If you don’t want people to catch groupers just say so but trying to convince folks this is based on relevant data and analysis is ridiculous. Recommend you enlist one or more of our universities to do an appropriate study before limiting a very robust industry that brings much tourism and excitement to our state. I will certainly be communicating with my elected officials about these committees and vote appropriately next time.
45	1/31/2024	Briantsai.16@gmail.com	Brian Tsai	Lakeland	Florida	33813	Private Recreational Angler	Your red grouper recreational catch data is unrealistic. I will give you a simple supercharged number example below: Take the number of days this year where wind was less than 15mph, number of registered boats over 20', and mutiple that by 8. Compare that to your estimated recreational catch and its an obvious discrepancy. Realistically, one needs a 20'+ boat and winds under 15mph to run offshore to catch keeper red grouper. Keeper size red grouper are rarely caught inshore and even harder for shoreline anglers. My example is on the assumption the average small boat crew of 4 people limit out every trip.
46	1/31/2024	Rach2sos@gmail.com	Nicholas McIntosh	Orlando	Florida	32789	Private Recreational Angler	To in whom it may concern, The data provided for the gulf fishery assessment has been vastly skewed and or Misinterpreted. There are hidden agendas in the background falsifying logs. Diving this fishery on a regular basis, I am positive these numbers provided are not factual and strongly advise of a second assessment provided by unbiased party.
47	2/1/2024	Jhartley4181@tampabay.rr.com	Jack Hartley	Inverness	Florida	34452	Private Recreational Angler	The Gag and Red Grouper fishery along with the inshore species is a staple here on the nature coast. This is one of the reasons i moved her 30+ years ago. I am an avid recreational angler that looks forward to spending most weekend on the water fishing and i also have fished multiple tournaments a year for many years the abundance of Gag and Red grouper have not seemed to deminish over the time i have lived here. I can understand trying to control populations with bag limits but total shut down in my opinion is totally unwarranted at this time. Infact both of my kids and myself have all caught our personal best Gags all with in the 39" class with in the past 3 years, to me this shows not only increasing populations but numbers of quality fish in our area.
48	2/1/2024	chuckpitck@yahoo.com	Charlie Pitcock	Port Richey	Florida		Private Recreational Angler	I had my hand raised, hoping you guys would pick me to be able to speak. I just wanted to relay some information about the kingfish. The issue we have with kingfish is they’re not a hard enough fish to release safely once you catch them exhaust them and then take your pictures with them most of the time you’re releasing a dead fish. I don’t know how to resolve that besides what you do with tarpon and goliath grouper where you cannot take the fish out of the water that would give it. It’s best chance of survival. Also, I’ve been primarily targeting hogfish and snapper because the red grouper are so deep. It is very hard to go out to the hundred plus feet of water from where I live in West Central Florida Port Richey to be exactly it’s a 70 mile boat ride but when I’m fishing for snapper, I’m on average catching 15 to 20 gag grouper with over half being keepers and multiple being over 30 inches I have photos to prove it I release the fish safely this gag season. I was only able to go out three times due to weather. Also, did anyone ever take an account that maybe somebody accidentally added a zero to the tally for October that would change everything. I’ll be looking forward to the meeting tomorrow. If you have any questions, you can email me chuckpitck@yahoo.com or you can call me at 727-505-1097. I own my own business but I try to be on the water at least 75 days a year and I would be happy with using an app to login the fish I catch the depth of water I catch them in, so you guys can have accurate numbers I am a recreational fisherman. Please do not take my favorite away.
49	2/1/2024	Mark.Scaglione@yahoo.com	Mark SCAGLIONE	Lutz	Florida	33549	Private Recreational Angler	The data they are using is clearly not accurate. When you based shoreline landings for the entire state, the entire gulf off of stopping and interviewing ONE PERSON at the skyway fishing pier ONE TIME then somehow extrapolating those numbers, arriving at over 100,000lbs of grouper landed it becomes difficult to claim that this is anything short of absolute trash. For an agency (NOAA) that receives 1.2 billion dollars of funding annually for all operations, certainly they could handle multiple intercepts, some phone calls, something to obtain a clearer picture of landings; they are either lazy or truly do not care. To put the magnitude of these landings in comparison NOAA's claim is the recreational "fleet" landed more gags in six to seven weeks than the entire commercial fleet landed in the prior three years combined. Out of those 6 -7 weeks how many days were fishable versus blown out due to weather? More importantly if the fishery is in the dire straits they are claiming then how is it even possible for such landings to be made? The gag resource should be scarce, not capable of supporting a 1.6 million pound harvest in such a short period of time. Furthermore, as a diver, if such great harvest did occur then we would likely have noticed severely reduced gag grouper populations while spearfishing between August and now which is simply not the case. Keep in mind if these numbers and this data are adopted by the gulf council the recreational sector WILL BE CLOSED to gag harvest for multiple YEARS as a result. If you do not voice your opinion, attend meetings, call in, write comments in the appropriate online comment sections then DO NOT COMPLAIN about how this is unfair, how the commercial guys pulled a fast one on you, etc. The commercial harvest for last year was roughly 165,000 pounds, I don't recall the exact number and it's proving difficult to find on the NOAA website. According to the feds, people fishing from shore could have landed that amount in two or three months which is utterly insane.
50	2/1/2024	katie@livetheislandlife.com	Katie A. Fisher				Fish House Owner	Regrettably I was unbale to provide public comment yesterday because I had to work and missed the time cut off to sign up, so I am writing in my comment. I am not going to talk much about FES because you all got hammered on it pretty hard yesterday. But I do want to point out that FES has now affected every sector and their access, therefore every American now has less access to Gulf seafood because of this poor calibration method. FES had heavy public comment opposition in Key West 2021 by the commercial sector which was ignored, and it was still implemented. It really bothered me yesterday listening to the rec comments. They have no understanding of why the landings are what they are. They do not understand that with FES catch history was literally rewritten which will has affected future catch estimates. You don’t change history; you learn from history. This is also evidence that the members on this council represent the recreational industry NOT the recreational fishermen. The only thing FES is doing is uniting the rec, the for hire and the commercial sectors in their shared distrust of this system, management, science and the extreme lack of transparency. I am going to focus most of my comments on the National Seafood Strategy. We own a fish house with a retail market and several of our own vessels. My passion in the industry is educating and providing our customers and community with the freshest gulf seafood possible. For our market to be able to do that we need to have a strong commercial fleet, unfortunately that is not the case. The commercial fleet has been greatly diminished over the years. Implementation of the IFQ programs was the start of the downfall. Rationalization is a great disservice to the American seafood consumer. With a diminishing fleet their options and ability to access fresh gulf seafood are diminished. Everyday our fleet is getting weaker and less diverse in favor of corporate style fishing. This push to consolidate has wiped out the small owner operator fleets and small fish houses in the Gulf. I was encouraged to hear talk about protecting working waterfronts at the meeting, but it may be too late. Coastal development and increased populations have made these working waterfront locations prime real estate. In our area hurricane Ian took out 5 fish houses, most with catastrophic damage. We were denied fisheries disaster assistance so many of them are in danger of being sold out to the highest bidder. We are in desperate need of reform of our disaster assistance program. If you want more American seafood on plates we need to protect our current fishermen and encourage recruitment of future generations. Protecting our current fishermen means NOT supporting programs that harm them. Industrialization of our oceans is one the biggest threats allf fishermen face regardless of their sector. The wind lobby is an anti anti-fishing lobby. How does this council and NOAA support wind being installed in our waters while saying the are protecting our waters? The two simply can’t not coexist. Why is management not raising the red flag on this? It is clear what the effects are, look what is happening in the NE and other parts of the world. Wind represents lost fishing grounds to fishermen. A poor job has been done to educate fishermen on wind, I am sure this is on purpose. These structures damage the seabed forever, they do not hold fish like an oil rig and these areas are closed to fishing. Any fishermen who support wind clearly have alternative motives. Fishermen cannot be replaced with aquaculture. In our eyes aquaculture and farm raised seafood are equal in quality to import seafood. Encouraging aquaculture is a slap in the face to our nations fishermen. Offshore fish farms also damage our waters with pollution and put native fish populations at risk through escapement and disease. Our nations fishermen need support and respect just like our nations farmers receive. We need protection from imports just like the farmers have. I am encouraged by the National Seafood Strategy however I think more emphasis needs to be placed on protecting our fishermen in this country before we can have a strong American seafood market.
51	2/14/2024	tccibula@yahoo.com	Thomas Cibula	Tallahassee	Florida	32311	Private Recreational Angler	My friends and I, based on our fishing experiences over the last year, believe that your gag grouper regulations are based on flawed data. There are lots of gag grouper in the Gulf of Mexico off of Carrabelle and Apalachicola. Please correct your data and data gathering methodologies and reopen recreational gag grouper fishing. Thanks.
52	3/20/2024	bkardos@premier-security.net	Bill Kardos	Palm Harbor	Florida	34683	Private Recreational Angler	I've been fishing the Gulf waters off Pinellas County for over 35 years. I have NEVER been boarded and checked for fish or safety. I'd like to know what "fuzzy " math you use to determine catch. You even admit there aren't enough FWC agents to monitor the catch. I'm getting a little sick and tired of govt. agencies, using my tax dollars to push for inaccurate and sometimes simply made up catch quota numbers. By the way, the people making up these figures, how many of them have been Grouper fishing... or even know what a "Grouper " is. Your method of managing the recreational Grouper catch is a joke. You have no business being in the position you're in.
53	3/21/2024	Wolffcpa@gmail.com	Darryl Wolff	Cape Coral	Florida	33904	Private Recreational Angler	Until an app can be developed, send paper survey in ADVANCE of the month, not in arrears
54	3/25/2024	tsshuff@verizon.net	Tim Shuff	Plant City	Florida	33565	Private Recreational Angler	There needs to be more surveys done before estimating catch
55	3/26/2024	tracy.lambert01@gmail.com	Tracy Lambert	Ocala	Florida	34481	Private Recreational Angler	In terms of gag grouper limits, we need a better way to collect fish harvest data in order to set season limits and durations. I suggest that a mobile device application be developed to collect harvest information directly from anglers. For example, the Florida FWC has an app for collecting deer harvest reporting directly from hunters via self-reporting and this has worked quite well for harvest reporting purposes.
56	4/9/2024	cbruger@oceanconservancy.org	Catherine Bruger	St Petersburg	Florida	33701	NGO	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT38jTSCkxGRnPLIuXGcf6yXk0eM3eWb/view?usp=sharing
57	4/9/2024	eric@shareholdersalliance.org	Eric Brazer	Galveston	Texas	77550	NGO	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YT6ivZJu1SLqbNKJBoe18KNDEBGuxIZZ/view?usp=sharing
58	4/9/2024	eric@shareholdersalliance.org	Eric Brazer	Galveston	Texas	77550	NGO	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YT6ivZJu1SLqbNKJBoe18KNDEBGuxIZZ/view?usp=sharing
59	4/9/2024	eric@shareholdersalliance.org	Eric Brazer	Galveston	Texas	77550	NGO	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YT6ivZJu1SLqbNKJBoe18KNDEBGuxIZZ/view?usp=sharing
60	4/10/2024	dhubbard@hubbardsmarina.com	Dylan Hubbard	Madeira Beach	Florida		Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1odnHeg1yqPXGLU53zkg1_0nXaHPmsrVz/view?usp=sharing
61	4/18/2024	eodpolicaro@gmail.com	Gregory Policaro	Destin	Florida		Private Recreational Angler	I fish out of Destin, FL, is there any chance the Gulf Gray Trigger Fish limits are going to ease up a bit? 15” and 1 person is tough to pull off. Not impossible but rare. I’ve vented and released more 14.5” to 14.75” in this area than I can count. I run heavier weight to try and get my bait past the warms of them on our reefs.
62	4/18/2024	fintasticcharter@yahoo.com	Steve Papen	Madeira Beach	Florida		Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	A few yrs back we were told we had a bountiful King Mackerel fishery, good enough that we were rewarded with an extra fish on the bag limit. Now we are talking about going to a 1 fish bag. The rec/charter sector has not once caught or exceeded its portion of the TAC EVER. I feel like a bag limit reduction is an absolutely unnecessary plan which will do nothing to help that fishery. Rec and Charter fisherman very rarely ever keep a limit of these fish because they do not freeze well and the vast majority of fisherman do not eat them. After chasing these fish for more than 30 yrs professionally I feel these fish are in a cycle, as it has happened in the past.
63	4/18/2024	flchartertour@outlook.com					Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	What kind of gag group or season are we gonna have? Are we still on track for 2027 being the end of the shortened season?
64	4/18/2024	jwhiz@pine-net.com	Jerry Whisenhunt	Dauphin Island	Alabama		Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	My name is Jerry Whisenhunt, I have 3 federal for hire charter boats located on Dauphin Island, Alabama. My concern is that we start our fishing date on June 1, is it possible to start the Friday before Memorial Day each year. Reasoning for this is that our business revolves around vacationers visiting our great fishery and beaches. The vacation season kicks off every year big on memorial day and last until mid/early august. Adding days late in the year in later months does not help us much as most of our customers have headed back to school. 70% of the customers on my vessels (all 6 pack) are families who make this part of their annual summer vacation. We are family oriented and love to watch young anglers get hooked on fishing. The reefs are ideal for this as they always have opportunities as some fish. The Memorial Day groups catch and release many snapper even though we try not to target them and we all know the problems with releasing, especially big fish. Myself and the other charter captains on dauphin island would very much appreciate your consideration on this matter.
65	4/24/2024	orleysinkler@outlook.com	Orley Sinkler	Marco Island	Florida	34145	Private Recreational Angler	Hello, I’d like to discuss along with the venting of my and everyone else’s frustrations with your group’s decisions. I’m not sure where you obtain your information on an area being overfished or not and cannot imagine it being very accurate. I live on Marco Island and usually will head out close to due West at least 40-50 miles and Red Grouper is our targeted fish as it’s difficult to know where to go for Mutton Snapper, Black Grouper, Cobia and etc. as one usually simply runs into them while fishing Red Grouper. We seem to always catch at least 40-50 Red Grouper per person and ‘not’ filling our limit. We always make sure they get released in the water asap with means necessary making sure of their living. This leads to my question of WHY the closure?? This area that I live in is Certainly NOT overfished, I’d rather see limiting the catch to one in place of the current two and/or increase the size to match other groupers of 24”. My next question is how does this apply to commercial and long-line fisheries? Are they closed as well since they without a doubt catch the majority of Red Grouper and I’m also sure well above their limit and sizing ? It’s hard for me to even consider going out when Red Grouper is closed. Everyone I talk to that are good fishing friends of mine along with the captains at the docks are extremely frustrated by what appears to be unclear and illogical thinking by a group feeling and liking it’s ‘Power’ (Sadly).
66	4/26/2024	dvause@comcast.net	George David Vause	Tallahassee	Florida	32309	Private Recreational Angler	Miss Management of Red Snapper over the years has created this problem. I fish mostly out of Apalachicola. There are so many snapper on most of my fishing spots and they are such an aggressive feeder that grouper don't have much of a chance. You have to be willing to catch snapper until they quit biting to get to the grouper. This fall after the hurricane, red and gag grouper closure. I went out with two friends for one last snapper trip. We fished from 90ft to 140ft. The storm had cause the snapper to move. We caught red and gag grouper at every location and not a single red snapper. At 160ft we found red snapper and the bite was hard. I catch so many red snapper that usually I don't keep one unless it is over 28 inches. All those years of 8 and 9 day seasons created this problem. Listen to the fisherman, we are out there. I believe in management, but you are not using correct data.
67	5/2/2024	leel33ml@yahoo.com	Michael Lee	Tavares	Florida	32778	Private Recreational Angler	Gag grouper season is being cut short. I reviewed the catch numbers and they are so clearly skewed. Shore landings for gag grouper 106,000 pounds? This must be a joke! It seems as if these numbers are greatly exaggerated. Please consider extending the season.
68	6/24/2024	cbruger@oceanconservancy.org	Catherine Bruger	St. Petersburg	Florida	33701	NGO	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jO8G8tv1sunN-7C9F7bJMWCzKV5uI7WA/view?usp=drive_link
69	6/24/2024	eric@shareholdersalliance.org	Eric Brazer	Galveston	Texas	77550	NGO	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SHbgWJ5UaQH0WUb7vKCOEK3kZlweHDwZ/view?usp=drive_link
70	6/25/2024	snooker61282@gmail.com	Jeffrey Reidy	Gibsonton	Florida	33534	Private Recreational Angler	I support the removal of the 20 fathom closer. It is ineffective and unenforceable.
71	6/25/2024	thehinkle4@gmail.com	Jessica Hinkle	Schaumburg	Illinois	60194	Private Recreational Angler	Please consider the removal of the 20 fathom closure. It is ineffective and unenforceable.
72	6/25/2024	darlingangi@live.com	Angelina Darling	Saint Petersburg	Florida	33709	Private Recreational Angler, Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	Our household supports the removal of the 20 fathom closure, it is ineffective and unenforceable.
73	6/25/2024	Chriscollins67@yahoo.com	Christopher Collins	New Port Richey	Florida	34654	Private Recreational Angler, Partyboat fisherman	We would like to see the removal of the 20 fathom closure, it is ineffective and unenforceable. Not sure how you can prove someone was not out deeper than 20 fathoms unless you physically follow them, but seems to not be an effective rule. Thank you for consideration.
74	6/25/2024	alltshaw1@gmail.com	Tim Shaw	Tampa	Florida	33626	Private Recreational Angler	I want to see the removal of the 20 fathom closure, it's ineffective and unenforceable. Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
75	6/25/2024	Baddabjr@gmail.com	David A Bruns Jr	Sebring	Florida	33870	Commercial	I want to see the 20 phathom closure stopped.
76	6/25/2024	keithjhinkle@gmail.com	Keith Hinkle	Schaumburg	Illinois	60194	Private Recreational Angler	You guys should get rid of the 20 fathom closure. The coordinates provided by FWC has nothing to due with depth, so really it makes no sense. Also it seems like it's not all that enforceable. Please start talking about getting rid of this, at least on a trial basis to see what the actual impact is.
77	6/25/2024	angelparentperez@gmail.com	Angalette (Angel) Parent-Perez	Winter Haven	Florida	33880	Private Recreational Angler	We want to see the removal of the 20 fathom closure, it is ineffective and unenforceable.
78	6/25/2024	The fathom closure has proven to be very inefficient. It only works for the people who are willing to follow the rules. And there really isnt anyone out the far to enforce the closures. So in summation, your only punishing the ones who follow the rules	Lance Hall	St. Petersburg	Florida	33713	Private Recreational Angler, Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	The fathom closure is very inefficient and ineffective and needs to be removed
79	6/25/2024	Leewillis@hotmail.com	Lee willis	Zolfo springs	Florida	33890	Private Recreational Angler	I would like to see the removal of the 20 fathom closure, it is ineffective and unenforcable. Thank you
80	6/25/2024	rtmiller59sr@gmil.comm	Robert Miller	Newington	Georgia	30446	Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	Like to see the 20fathoms closure removed.
81	6/25/2024	Fishon713@yahoo.com	Nicky Nieves	Valrico	Florida	33596	Private Recreational Angler	Need to open this closure
82	6/25/2024	amajor3595@gmail.com	Adam Major	Clearwater	Florida	33765	Private Recreational Angler	Your corruption is now longer a mystery. Truly showing your colors with NOAA ruling on gag, which you are 90% responsible for. Enjoy whatever the commercial houses are stuffing in your pockets. Typical corruption.
83	6/25/2024	Michaelaparadiso@gmail.com	Michael Paradiso	New port richey	Florida	34655	Private Recreational Angler	we want to see the removal of the 20 fathom closure, it is ineffective and unenforceable
84	6/25/2024	Justin.santillo@gmail.com	Capt. Justin Santillo	Lakeland	Florida	33810	Private Recreational Angler, Dealer, Tackle Manufacturer	With The 15 day Season for Gags in the gulf just being announced for 2024, could the 20 Fathom Closure of grouper in Spring of 2025 Consider being lifted? The short seasons and closures make it difficult on us in the tackle industry to support a strong economy if the products we produce won’t be used as the target species are closed. Thank you for this consideration.
85	6/26/2024	Cspreeman13@gmail.com	Corey Christopher Spreeman	Bradenton	Florida	34203	Private Recreational Angler	In regards to the recent Gag Grouper season. I along with MANY others think your 2 week season is garbage. Right at the peak of hurricane season. Your data and decisions are innacurate and I demand a longer season.
86	6/26/2024	Smiller0621@gmail.com	Sean miller	Apollo beach	Florida	33572	Private Recreational Angler	The 20 fathom grouper closure is ineffective and should be abolished
87	6/26/2024	captjoenash@gmail.com	Joe Nash	Orange Beach	Alabama		Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	Joe Nash charter fisherman for 38 years. I oppose to the split red Snapper season for the charter for hire sector, this will only redistribute the red Snapper to other areas that actually have business that time of year . The northern Gulf coast does not have business in November and December. We like the season the way it is all consecutive days in summertime. Possibly zoning the Gulf in 3 or 4 sectors so we can all enjoy seasons when it is good for each zone, just look what south Florida did to our grouper season, because they didn't want to loose days of fishing now they have 16 days , zones would help this. Joe Nash Cool Change Charters Orange Beach Al Can't attend meeting during our season
88	6/26/2024	Spnkyjeep@gmail.com	Michael Myers	Schaumburg	Illinois	60194	Private Recreational Angler	Stop the 20 fathom closure
89	6/26/2024	dhubbard@hubbardsmarina.com	Dylan Hubbard	Madeira Beach	Florida		Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1516z_4K6VCuYokLMu_LJQdScJ1mc-QZz/view?usp=drive_link
90	6/27/2024	Mparks27@gmail.com	Michael Parks	St Petersburg	Florida	33714	Private Recreational Angler, Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	We want to see the removal of the 20 fathom closure, it is ineffective and unenforceable.
91	6/27/2024	rod_mct@gmx.com	Rod McTaggart	Venice	Florida	34275	Private Recreational Angler	All RG and ARS seasons should be combined to avoid killing the out of season fish as happens just now.
92	6/27/2024	fintasticcharter@yahoo.com	Steve Papen	Seminole	Florida	33772	Private Recreational Angler, Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire), Commercial	I have been in the offshore charter business for almost 30 years out of Madeira Beach Florida. I definitely support getting rid of the 20 fathom closure as it literally does nothing for our fishery. It was put in place after the fisherman became unhappy because the commercial fisherman were able to fish these areas due to IFQ. I have always thought this rule was quite lopsided because while I was fishing in 119 ft and couldn’t go to 121 ft due to this spawning closure there would be a longline boat stringing gear in that same area I wasn’t able to fish. I also know there is some talk about landings increasing if the fence is taken down. This is absolutely incorrect. If I take my boat and catch my customers limit in 119 ft or catch their limit in 150 ft, nothing changes. The average size Red Grouper in 150 ft is smaller than the fish we catch in 110, so realistically the total poundage would go down since the fish are smaller beyond the fence. Again, I’m basing this opinion on my 30 years of fishing this area professionally and primarily targeting Red Grouper. I would really love to hear why the FWC and others feel like the numbers would go up if the fence is taken down because I totally disagree with that. In my opinion Red Grouper are not in any trouble as we are seeing fish of all sizes in all depths which m, from what I’ve learned is the sign of a healthy fishery. Furthermore I feel they should be back open yr round. Please feel free to contact me I can help in any way with real-time on the water experience.
93	6/27/2024	kelia@charterfishpanamacitybeach.com	Kelia Paul	Panama City Beach	Florida		Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m8CgkyJ5P1Nm4wBomHnxiPU3OON8jF41/view?usp=drive_link
94	6/28/2024	jakealbert1@gmail.com	Jake Albert	Holiday, FL	Florida	34691	Private Recreational Angler	I’m in support of doing away with the 20 fathom shallow water grouper closure because it’s unenforceable and only hurts anglers that consistently follow the rules. Many anglers are able to keep grouper beyond the 20 fathom line and return to port without an enforceable check, so those of us who follow the rules to the letter are left limited in our ability to fish when compared to the majority. I think doing away with this rule helps maintain public trust in the intent of fishery management decisions.
95	6/28/2024	dvause@comcast.net	George David Vause	Tallahassee	Florida	32309	Private Recreational Angler	2024 Gulf gag grouper season is a joke. I have caught and released more gag grouper this summer than I have in 10 previous years. Last fall gag grouper season had so many days of east and northeast winds that very few people got to fish. Yet you still closed the season early. Your catch assessments are fabricated.You shortened Red grouper with fabricated results. Most people are targeting Grouper and snapper. January thru the end of May, I don't fish because I am not going to spend money on fuel to catch two Red Grouper. There are many fisherman that feel the same way. Very few people are fishing during this time. Just look how many boats are going to the coast, check boat landings and will see mostly inshore fisherman. It is my opinion that you are slowly cutting down seasons so that Gag Grouper, Red Grouper and Red Snapper will never be in season at the same time. By doing this you will stop most people from fishing and put Charter guides out of business. Folks will not pay thousands of dollars to catch two fish. Your goal is to limit fishing not manage fishing. I believe in management not mismanagement. This council should not be in control of fish management and hopefully the politicians will soon realize this.
96	6/28/2024	jeff.dixon83@gmail.com	Jeffrey Dixon	Tampa	Florida	33647	Private Recreational Angler, Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	There is no reason for this closure and it doesn't help the fishery. If it did there would be data to back that up but there is none. This is another example of an overreach of government
97	6/29/2024	Ms.wanguzi@gmail.com	CARRIE CARTY	Belleair	Florida	33756	Private Recreational Angler	The 20 fathom rule is an example of ineffective management that is totally impossible to enforce.
98	6/29/2024	Bigdot100@yahoo.com	Scott Carty	Belleair	Florida	33756	Private Recreational Angler, Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	Fish don't know the difference between 20 or 21 fathoms but the fish in 17 to 20 fathoms get hit hard. Seems like an arbitrary number that is in fact un-enforcable.
99	7/2/2024	fshngguy969@gmail.com	Eric Topole	Tampa Bay	Florida		Private Recreational Angler, Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	I appreciate the willingness to participate in fisheries management, however you are missing shark management. Over the weekend people on my boat experienced loss of 18-20 red snapper and red grouper while fishing 8 different locations several miles apart. Most anglers will express the same concerns and believe opening sharks for commercial and recreational harvest would be beneficial. I fish out of Tampa Bay 20-60 miles and they are everywhere. We had 3 sharks hooked at the same time at one location. They are making it tough for anglers to get a 2 fish limit. Thanks, Capt Eric ( 865-363-1388)
100	8/20/2024	Dara.Cancel@klgates.com	Dara Cancel/Tim Hobbs	Nashville	Tennessee	37203	Attorney for A.P. Bell Fish Co., Inc. v. Raimondo.	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PPjHorLtNvT3Uz5FMCXFlFi68zdvbDRT/view?usp=drive_link
101	8/20/2024	dcba@hookedondestin.com	Jim Green	Destin	Florida		Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KKJxjSHc3-EXKUxFpnqWiIIfpVfFxMOb/view?usp=drive_link
102	8/20/2024	eric@shareholdersalliance.org	Eric Brazer	Galveston	Texas	77550	NGO	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K7SZizvT8n3F6FI5v8Z-LLTmqEXAvSgz/view?usp=drive_link
103	8/22/2024	dhubbard@hubbardsmarina.com	Dylan Hubbard	Madeira Beach	Florida		Charter/Headboat (Federal For-Hire)	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RbZb26ONmNWCq0ozdgJgThvqjxe1QD8a/view?usp=sharing
104	9/7/2024	dvause@comcast.net	George David Vause	Tallahassee	Florida	32309	Private Recreational Angler	I hope you folks are paying attention to the weather going on in the gulf since opening gag grouper on 9/1/2024. I attempted to fish out of Apalachicola on 9/2. Marine forecast was East wind at 5 to 10, seas 1 foot or less. Started heading offshore, it was a little bumpy. Got 15 miles out, waves are starting to white cap. At 20 miles wind is now NE at 10 to 15, 2 to 3 foot seas. After 30 minutes of waiting wind is now a constant 15 out of NE seas are 3 foot with occasional 4ft. Turned boat around and went back to the boat landing. It is now 9/7/24 and there has not been a decent day to fish yet. Marine forecast is not good for the next 4 days. The whole gulf is in bad weather, so I hope you are not going to project all the hundred thousands of pounds of gag grouper caught during this time. No one is fishing.
105	9/13/2024	itchn4fishn@gmail.com	Edmund Lucarelli jr	pembrpoke pines	Florida	33025	Private Recreational Angler	Why is red gruper seanon off floridas west coast closing , when the atlantic is still open
106	9/26/2024	Jimrapp@rocjwtmail.com	James rapp	Redington shores	Florida	33708	Private Recreational Angler	I live in a $25m home in the beach. Have a $2m freeman 47 offshore fishing boat. Brought 300 jobs here in my company. I came here to fish and golf as did most of us here in Florida. I can now fish for grunts and little else. With you guys at the helm why am I here? Likeminded people like me are the backbone of the economy. You need to consider keeping seasons open for rec fishermen. Change the size limit and leave it open. Current Bag limits are fine. Just leave it open. Also please regionalize the gulf into sub regions. We in clearwater federal waters do not have the same species issues your scientists are seeing elsewhere. At least try this and see if it works? Red snapper have become so prolific they are pests you can’t keep off the hook. I’m seeing no shortage of any species of grouper. I dive a lot to see for myself. The species shortages are not here. Magnusson is bad law and is administered in such a way that the easing backlash will be as overdone as your current Shogun undiscerning overprotection. Of the gulf. We need more recs on your council.