COLUMN: It doesn't take a fishhead to see the stupidity

Here’s what I know about amberjack: NOTHING!

Actually, I don’t like fish of any species, whether it’s fried, baked, poached, broiled, or grilled.

In fact, when my husband was a charter boat captain, I would tell him not to bring home any fish for me to clean or cook. However, if he caught a 40 pound lasagna, that would be great. But since the recent amberjack issue affects many fishermen friends, I have adopted a pro-piscatorial posture and am prone to pontificate.
Before jumping into this topic, I did research.

The jack family (Carangidae) includes amberjack (Seriola dumerili) also known as ambers, AJ’s, greater amberjack, lesser qmberjack, kahala (in Hawaii) and Almaco jacks. Denizens of the deep waters gulfwide, they are fond of reefs, wrecks, artificial reefs, and in the northern Gulf of Mexico, offshore oil and gas platforms.

The bigger ones are aggressive predators, prowling the water column near obstructions from the surface to the bottom, although they spend much of their time in the upper water column. Besides anglers’ baits, they dine on herring, scads, little tunny, crabs, and squid.

The larger ones are usually ill-tempered females that outlive the males by seven to eight years. Both genders, though, are powerful opponents and will test a fisherman’s endurance. They may weigh 20-50 pounds, but some whoppers weigh out at 170 pounds.

They are good food if you like fish, especially when grilled or broiled.

Having done the encyclopediac thing, I asked someone who really knows “jack” about jacks. My dear friend Captain Harold Staples discussed with me how the complete closing of greater amberjack fishing, also known as zero bag limit, diminishes his livelihood as well as the rights of anglers in general who enjoy the fun of catching a feisty fish.

Some varieties like the Almaco and the banded rudderfish are still allowed, but aren’t as desirable as greater amberjack. (It takes an experienced fisherman to tell the differences among the varieties by colorization, size, and mouth structure.)

The impact is tough on our fishing fleet because grouper numbers have been down. Customers are encouraged by catching big fish on live bait, and since amberjack, grouper, and snapper are the “bread and butter” fish for this area, the shutdown on snapper for recreational harvest has completed the three-fold predicament for fishermen.

Last year, there was a seven month season for snapper with a two fish bag limit; then this year, ten weeks with a two bag limit. Next year, it could be a one month season-one fish limit.

Worse, it is under consideration to completely close all fishing on the east coast from the Carolinas to Florida.

That means no recreational fishing in the Atlantic at all. While that doesn’t immediately harm local fishermen, it doesn’t take a prophet to see the possibility of its happening in Gulf waters.

With so many restrictions working against the fishing industry, visiting anglers have no motivation to spend their money on charters. Some don’t really come for the fish; they come for the enjoyment.

They return if the experience is good; if they keep hearing “No, you can’t catch this or that, they don’t come back.” Men groups (especially) who come for the meat are even less likely to find reason to come here and spend money.

From both customer groups, the loss of business to Destin’s fishermen is considerable.

If the National Marine Fisheries Service continues to limit amberjack and snapper catches and to use flawed data in establishing restrictions, by the time amberjack are allowed again in January, the damage will already have been done — especially to Destin’s Fishing Rodeo and to the visiting anglers who enjoy booking trips in the fall.

During the last week of the Rodeo, no snapper and no amberjack catches were allowed. Running parallel to that sad fact, the decreasing number of Rodeo entries is testimony to fish closures.

Ironically, the growth rate and number of amberjack is on the rise. Captain Harold says he’s finding big ones on certain pieces of bottom and wrecks with no problem catching them — even at the 30-inch rule. Furthermore, he feels that that these fish are in no danger of depletion or extinction.

Yet, the captains and mates who really know the business have no voice against the powers that be in the National Marine Fisheries Service. Once again, tree-hugging environmentalists and questionable politics are killing us.

It’s as if agencies such as this one don’t want anyone making a living of any kind from America’s great and plentiful natural resources.

With the national unemployment rate at 10 percent, The World’s Luckiest Fishing Village has a viable, healthy industry. But Captain Harold says it’s being “choked down” by the very people who should be helping hard-working fishermen while repairing a damaged economy. He compares these bureaucrats to giant anacondas squeezing the life out of every fisherman just trying to make an honest living.

Only two things are infinite: the universe and government stupidity.

Mary Ready of Destin is a twice-retired English teacher and long-time area resident. Her columns are published on Saturdays.