UWF Expert, Captains to Team Up for Snapper Study

By Patrick Donohue, Destin Log, Fla.

Apr. 7–New science on the red snapper fishery is becoming more of a reality in Destin.

Mayor Craig Barker said that Dr. Will Patterson, an assistant professor of biology at the University of West Florida, will meet with various Destin charter boat captains in the coming weeks to discuss the possibility of performing a study on the controversial fishery.

Patterson said he’s been working with snapper population ecology and dynamics for about the past 10 years.

Dewey Destin, a longtime Destin city councilor, said he was excited to see someone of Patterson’s experience coming on board to help the fishing community collect better science of the fishery.

“As far as I can tell, he’s very well qualified and has worked with snapper before,” Destin said. “How can you go wrong with good science to manage the fishery with, and so far we haven’t had that.”

Destin broached the need for a better red snapper study to a City Council meeting last month. His opinion, which he shares with many in Destin’s fishing community, was that the data on which new federal regulations on the red snapper fishery are based, is flawed.

Barker said Patterson will likely be the one who comes up with the methodology for the study and helps organize the effort to collect the data, along with the fishermen.

“Dr. Patterson’s going to come over within the next couple weeks and meet with some of the fishermen and see if we can come up with a strategy that everyone is comfortable with,” Barker said.

He said he’s been told that the study could include two facets. The first would be a near-term study in which spotters are put on several Destin fishing boats, and the spotters would record how many snapper are caught and released by fishermen trying to catch their bag limit.

The contention of many fishermen is that in trying to catch “keepers,” they are catching and throwing back smaller fish, many of which they claim don’t survive.

The long-term study would focus on the fate of the released red snapper and what happens to them when they’re thrown back.

Barker said Patterson has indicated the study would examine whether red snapper that are released survive or are eaten by dolphins or die of other causes. Such a study would use an underwater camera.

During last week’s meeting of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council in South Walton, Barker said he spoke with Dr. Roy Crabtree, administrator for the Southeast regional office of the National Marine Fisheries Service, about the value of the proposed data.

“Clearly this is data that needs to be collected and I met with Dr. Crabtree last week and he gave me some indication that this data does not exist right now,” the mayor said.

—–

Copyright (c) 2007, Destin Log, Fla.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.