Yeah- You did see all that Effort on Red Drum

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Yeah- You did see all that gillnet Effort targeting Red Drum and Speckle Trout.

In December alone, red drum effort was up 500% based on landings when compared to 2013-2015.

...and we know from DMF's own data and research that there are at minimum 25% to 30% of active commercial fishing licenses (SCFL and retired SCFL) actively using commercial gears and harvesting commercial quantities of fish while not reporting those landings on trip tickets.

Red Drum, Speckle Trout and Flounder are prime targets with major unreported landings.

30% error in projected commercial landings is huge especially when you consider that a FMP only has to have a 50% chance of actually working. For a highly desirable fish like southern flounder, given that the commercial sector has no daily trip limit, the unreported landings could be significant enough to prevent the stock from rebuilding under the terms of the FMP.

What % of the 68% of commercial fisherman below who annually renew their SCFL or RSCFL are actively fishing commercial gears and landing commercial quantities while reporting no landings on trip tickets?  Way Too Many!

Edited by Rick - 05 March 2021 at 2:06pm