Sound off about grouper

Anglers will get their last chance tonight to tell federal fishery regulators how they feel about a proposed three-month closed season for grouper. The National Marine Fisheries Service wants to shut down all grouper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico from Jan. 15 to April 15, the height of the tourist season.

Biologists say that gag grouper stocks are in trouble and that the closure, and a one fish bag limit, are needed to restore the population to healthy numbers. But on Tuesday, the reef fish advisory panel to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, the federal agency that will actually vote on the proposed rules next month, recommended that no action be taken.

An independent scientist, hired by recreational and commercial fishing groups, pointed out errors in the government data, noting that overfishing for the species has already ended. But this isn't the first time the federal government has been wrong about grouper.

The NMFS once said red grouper stocks were in trouble, only to reverse course after new information came to light. The problem is that wheels of federal bureaucracy move slowly. Stock assessments proceed at a glacier-like pace, and by the time action can be taken, the situation has already changed.

Recreational groups, such as the Seminole based Fishing Rights Alliance, have maintained for more than a year that a bad economy and sky-rocketing oil prices have reduced the fishing pressure on grouper. It now appears that the recreational anglers were right all along.

But this issue still must be voted on and anglers have on last chance to let their feelings be known at a public hearing tonight at the Radisson Hotel, 12600 Roosevelt Blvd., in St. Petersburg. The discussion starts at 6 p.m.