Editorial

from July 2021

Gulf Coast Kitchen

During my fishing guide days I grew to despise can bring to the dock. Trying to understand the rest of it isn’t worth the customers bringing cell phones on my charters. heartburn. We can however play a key role in helping manage the fishery, Smartphones hadn’t been invented yet; about the and that’s where iSnapper comes into the equation. only useful purpose mobile devices served back Someday, hopefully soon, the management of Gulf red snapper will be then was calling for assistance in emergencies or handed over to the individual gulf states, but the path thus far has been mechanical breakdowns – if service was available. rocky. The fly in the ointment has always been National Marine Fisheries I would get annoyed to no end when clients spent Service’s allegations that recreational anglers are not accountable when it time talking on their phone instead of fishing. A comes to reporting their landings. Which brings us to “buffered” harvest lot has changed since then. allocations, short seasons, and two fish bag limits. All while snapper are I participated in a Catch-Photo-Release incredibly abundant (see Great Red Snapper Count). tournament at Port Mansfield this past weekend I heartily encourage snapper anglers to download iSnapper to their that utilized the Fishing Chaos app and it worked Smartphones and report their landings as soon as cell service becomes flawlessly. Fish are photographed on a measuring available when returning to the dock. I see it as a “beat them at their View The Video Open Camera & hover stick with a “unique identifier” included in the photo – in our case a wrist band. Photos are own game” strategy. Honest reporting will always trump NMFS’s harvest estimates. And let’s be real, states only have so much manpower to over QR Code. When transferred to the app for score keeping. The conduct dockside creel surveys. link appears, tap to angler with the most inches is the winner. Fish are I also encourage the use of descending devices to reduce release open in YouTube. released as soon as photos are made. How’s that mortality, which is another reason for short seasons. The Seaqualizer

TSFMag July for a game changer? Kudos to Getaway Lodge for (seaqualizer.com) or similar is the answer. Florida now requires

Highlights - hosting and contributing to fisheries conservation. descending devices in their Atlantic red snapper fishery, that’s how

Smartphone Apps in Fishing The iSnapper app is another fine example. I effective they are. It’s as simple as keeping a rod rigged for descending could go on forever trying to explain the politics fish to depths where they will survive and not die on the surface. surrounding the Gulf red snapper fishery, suffice to say most anglers Happy Independence Day and Take a Kid Fishing! only really care to know when the season is open and how many they

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