Not that I’m trying to get out of work (though that’s a fine idea) but a note from Editor Jeff Weakley should serve just right as most of this month’s Openers column:

To: Karl
From: Jeff
Re: Sending Staffer to Alabama

Karl, the way I see it, we had to cover this Gulf of Mexico red snapper thing (see lead article). It’s another case where anglers are being mistreated by our own fisheries management system.

You and I have long mused over that old artificial reef debate, where some science types argue that the manmade structures simply aggregate fish instead of increasing overall numbers.

The answer is obvious when you fish out of Alabama and spend time with anglers whose logbooks go back decades.

“These guys have built a fishery,” was the first comment from Managing Editor David Conway when he returned to Florida.

Conway confirmed what I had known during ten years of my own young life in ’Bama.

He found a network of fishermen placing new artificial reefs each year. The state of Alabama facilitates this amazing habitat enhancement. In Florida, we rarely get that kind of support from Tallahassee.

Aside from the artificial reef programs, federal fishery managers continue to fumble badly on two other fronts.

First, they mostly refuse to tame the incredible bykill of juvenile red snappers shoveled over dead from Gulf shrimp trawls. Only because of a court order are they starting to address the slaughter which takes up to 80 percent of young fish.

Secondly, the commercially influenced federal system gives fewer than a hundred commercial fishers a majority of all the red snappers taken. Then, to boot, commercials are given a considerably smaller minimum size limit. And more closures to the public are planned.

It should be emphasized that countless citizens have been spending millions of their own cash to develop red snapper fishing, only to face probable closures that could spell economic disaster for charter docks, tournaments, tackle shops and tourism. The average Joe’s enjoyment, of great value as well, also is cut.

We thank and commend Jeff, David and others who worked on the red snapper coverage. And we hope that readers and organizations will spread the good word and demand change.

Three recommendations: 1. Fix that bycatch scandal, now. 2. Place many more artificial reefs in Florida. 3. Change the allocation of fish to ensure year-around general public fishing.

--Karl Wickstrom