Rejuvenating Redfish From The 1960 Massacre
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We all remember those beautiful mornings with the sun coming up over our backs, and our lines in the water, waiting for a fish to bite with a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll that you would buy at the local gas station in your hand. Although, back in the 1960s fisherman did not have to wait long at all for a nice red to take their line and send their spool singing. The redfish were in such great numbers that the fish were all but jumping in your boat. Due to recent unfortunate events, the redfish have been greatly reduced in numbers. The main cause of their reduction would be thanks to the commercial fisherman that used to set up gill nets in Southern Louisiana in order to mass harvest these fish in order sell them at the local market or supply the restaurants with seafood. The marine biologists in Southern Louisiana saw this problem and decided to do something about this quickly developing issue. Thanks to commercial fishermen and their gill nets, redfish were in very low numbers in Southern Louisiana; fortunately, marine biologists have brought back the redfish in great numbers and, the fish are now thriving in Southern Louisiana.
Fishing in the 1960s in the southern states, mainly Southern Louisiana, was some of the best fishing ever. During these years, the fish were in such great numbers that they were practically putting themselves in your ice chest for you. In the 1960s, the market for this fish grew rapidly and the few restrictions on how to harvest them made it allowable for fisherman to go out with gill nets and trotlines in order to load up on the delectable fish. There only concern was how much money they could make in one day. Thanks to the fishermen of that time, the redfish suffered greatly, and this led to their massive drop in numbers. “These fish were very flavorful and were on the top of the most wanted list for cooks in restaurants. With there nice texture and there succulent flavor, these fish were sought also by the single fisherman” (Bragg). They allowed for an unforgettable meal to anyone. Although, with this drastic decrease in number, the enforcement agents, marine biologists, and the state legislation have gotten involved to help bring the population back to where it should be. They did this by putting new restrictions on the size and length that a fish has to be in order to harvest it. With these efforts, the fish are starting to come back.
Gill nets were the main cause of this drastic drop in the redfish population. Gill nets are nets made out of nylon or monofilament with lead weights or rocks at the bottom of the net in order to make the bottom of the net fall straight to the ground and to prevent it from floating around in the water. Corks are placed at the top for two reasons: the first being to hold the net straight up, with the weight at the bottom. The second reason is to mark the net so that someone does not hit it with a boat. These nets are then stretched from the shore, where it is tied out into the river or stream with a buoy on the end to mark where it ends. Fisherman usually let the nets “soak” for about four to five hours then pull them up to check them to see if they have caught anything. Since the ban of these nets, researchers have done their own study by setting out these nets, in hopes of finding the impact that it had on the fish population. Their findings showed that the same amounts of trout were also caught as redfish. This goes to show you that the redfish were not the only fish that were affected by the terrible fisherman in the 1960s.
This fish massacre was brought to a screeching stop thanks to the marine biologists, law enforcement, the state legislation, and even congress. With all of these groups getting involved, they put a ban on the use of gill nets and also put very strict regulations on how many fish can be caught. Regulations were also put on how big the fish is and on how many they can keep. With the marine biologist realizing there was a problem, they then had the game wardens enforce the law stronger. By enforcing the law enforcement numbers, the police wrote more tickets and confiscated more monofilament nets. It is said that over 340,000 feet of illegal monofilament nets are confiscated a year. With this mass amount of confiscation, the fisherman just thought of it as an operating cost. It was also said that fisherman would be caught at night, and there nets would be taken along with being issued a nice hefty ticket for illegal fishing. However, the same fisherman would then be caught the very next day, fishing again. The fisherman said that this was all just “operating cost,” and the fisherman did not care because there was a lot more money to be made in this business. Many different laws and acts were passed in order to stop this massacre. “For example the Wildlife Conservation Act of 1983, Red Drum Act of 1977, and the House Bill 100 of 1981; in 1985 more bills were passed which gave the state the ability to revoke licenses or permits to anyone violating game and fish laws” (Holt). “In 1988, the parks and Wildlife Commission closed all Texas salt water to the use of any kinds of nets” (Holt).
The biologists have created a way by using different colored lights that make the fish spawn. This in turn, has created a way for biologists to hatch redfish in captivity. The biologists hatch the fish, and then sell the farm raised fish to the restaurants and the stores, for consumers to buy. According to biologist, these new regulations and restrictions have been a vital part in the returning of the redfish population. With the ban of the use of gill nets, the redfish have made a remarkable comeback.
So as you can reflect back on those early mornings and long days out on the water catching these beautiful fish and loading up an ice chest. Well, back than you did not think that it would end up that these fish would become