Did y'all see Thursday's Chronicle?

[WestEndAngler]

November 12, 2008 — Dickinson, Texas — Public Meeting - Flounder Regulations — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Coastal Fisheries Division hosts this public scoping meeting seeking input regarding potential changes to existing flounder regulations or strategies for managing the fishery. Input will be utilized in preparation of the Statewide Hunting and Fishing Regulation packet which will be proposed at the TPW Commission meeting in January 2009. Staff will present the most recent data trends regarding the flounder fishery. Held at the TPWD Dickinson Marine Lab, 1502 Pine Street (FM 517 East) at 6 p.m. For more information, contact Tonya Wiley at tonya.wiley@tpwd.state.tx.us or (281) 534-0131 or Art Morris at art.morris@tpwd.state.tx.us or (361) 825-3356. [Public Comment] [Events at the Same Site] [Events in the Same Region]

I think we (the club) should try and make it to this event...

Any thoughts??? Free T-Shirts for those that want to come and have there voices heard... Otherwise don't complain when they stop us from gigging or place game fish status on Flounder!!!

[Muddskipper]

Flounder population has dropped, and without out pointing fingures.......it is a problem that effects all of us....and generations to come

That's the reason you have Chester Moore on a soap box saying lets get together and make a difference......

There are numerous events that invlove the public bringing in live flounder for the TWPD restocking program.....

Sabine Lake is this weekend, and next weekend we have the Galveston Bay event at Lutes Marine in Chocolate....

West End Forum has a bunch of guy who have committed to helping out....

So, don't be the guy talking about how many YOU used to catch, instead, be the fisherman who steps up and has a hand in bringing back the flounder population.

Special Thanks goes out to Coe our main man here on this site, and Capt. Greg Francis aka: Aqua Pimp.....for there help so far...

Capt Greg has donated a fishing trip as a prize

and

Coe has allowed us a forum that cares about this great program.

[kenny]

When we gigged with gas lanterns on foot the impact was probably not as bad, of course there was more habitat and more flounder.
Now a lot of people have flounder boats, many tricked out with air motors and gig every night that conditions allow. There are quite a few here in Jamaica Beach.
It definitely has put a dent in the rod and reel catches here.

[aqua pimp]

Here is an interesting read I found on the Flounder.


ADVERTISEMENT
TPW's attention turns to flounder
Numbers down by half since the '80s
By David Sikes (Contact)
Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Fisheries management in Texas generally follows an established pattern.

When Texas Parks & Wildlife biologists detect a sustained downward trend -- not a single-year dip -- in a particular population of fish, this triggers an alert to regulators. The next step usually is to check and double check the data.

If the trend proves valid, then fisheries managers examine a list of factors that might explain the drop. Identifying a cause is the first step toward finding a solution. Tests are conducted in an attempt to isolate the most likely reason for the decline.

For example, in the case of falling speckled trout numbers in the Lower Laguna Madre, biologists discovered that other fish species in the region were not declining. In fact, other species were thriving. This all but eliminated causes such as poor water quality, which would have negatively affected other fishes.

Actually, the population of juvenile speckled trout were not involved in the downward trend either. And spawning success was good. Something was happening after the fish matured.

Indeed, the depletion was isolated and involved only larger trout. There was no big-trout disease to blame. This left a single reasonable answer. Anglers must be removing these fish faster than nature could replace them.

And so department officials proposed to reduce the harvest by lowering the daily bag from 10 trout to five. A vocal group of Lower Laguna Madre anglers, guides and business owners in favor of this solution helped cultivate confidence within the department that this solution would fly.

Combine this social acceptance with solid numbers, and by the time TPW Commissioners voted on the issue they were convinced it was the best attempt at a solution. It's too soon to test their wisdom, though some improvement has been seen.

Now the collective attention of the state's Coastal Fisheries biologists has turned to flounder.

Based on 30 years of bag seines, gillnet and trawl surveys, angler interviews and boat ramp counts, flounder numbers statewide (except for Sabine Lake) have dropped to about half the population level we enjoyed during the 1980s. This should be no surprise to Coastal Bend anglers. It gets worse the farther south you go.

The most restrictive proposal involves a three month flounder closure. If this passes, then no commercial or recreational harvesting would be allowed during the fall-winter spawning season. Of course, lowering the bag limit or raising the minimum length also could be part of a management proposal.

But these have been tried.

There was a time when commercial giggers could harvest as many as they wanted. Now they can take 60 flounder per night. But the flounder decline continued.

There was a time when bay shrimpers were blamed for killing too many flounder in their nets. Now they must use bycatch reduction devices. And they may keep only 10 legal size flounder per day. Most notably, the bay shrimping effort has been reduced by more than 90 percent since 1994. Most of this reduction of the fleet has occurred within the past several years.

And yet the state flounder population has not rebounded.

There was a time when the minimum length on flounder was 12 inches. Now the commercial and recreation minimum length is 14 inches statewide. By the way, this means that almost all harvested flounder are females.

The bag limit on flounder once was 20. Now it's 10.

And just a couple years ago, recreational giggers could fish before and after midnight and legally keep 20 fish. We've since closed this double-dipping loophole.

A three-month closure from October through December would double the flounder population within four years, according to the department's computer models. A one month November closure would result in a 54 percent increase in population after four years. An October-November closure would boost the population by 84 percent, according to the model.

Regarding any reduction in the daily bag or length, I'm told the recreational daily quota would have to be reduced to say two fish for this measure to do much good, according to Mark Fisher, science director for the Coastal Fisheries Division.

So why is it that we're catching more flounder this year compared with the recent past?

TPW biologists say the rise in harvest success was predictable and is not expected to last. They've seen this before.

We know the spawning success for flounder rises during cooler winters. We can see this in population graphs. There is a distinct bulge in the year class of flounder following each cold winter.

Two years ago, the winter of 2006-07 was colder than usual. Flounder that were born that season have reached about 15 or 16 inches by now. And so we're catching more legal fish. Biologists don't know why this occurs.

Conversely, mild winters also affect the flounder population. Warmer bays limit spawning success in flounder. It's important to note that flounder, comparatively speaking, are not very prolific breeders to start with. Mild winters also result in greater predation. Populations of sub-tropical species such as mangrove snapper, grouper and snook benefit from our mild winters and all predators become more active in warmer water. They all prey on small flounder.

What would you do?

If you'd like to address the flounder issue, then please attend one of the meetings I've listed with this column, call or write.

TPW Public Meetings

Coastal Fisheries biologists will reveal their flounder data and seek input on management strategies. All meetings begin at 6 p.m. If you can't attend a meeting, direct your comments to: Art Morris at 825-3356; art.morris@tpwd.state.tx.us

Tonya Wiley at (281) 534-0131; tonya.wiley@tpwd.state.tx.us

Nov. 18

Calhoun County Extension Service Auditorium

Nov. 19

Aransas County District Courtroom, 301 North Live Oak St., Rockport

Nov. 20

Port Isabel High School Lecture Hall

David Sikes' Outdoors column runs Thursday and Sunday. Contact David at 886-3616 or sikesd@caller.com.

[Moonpie]

Isn't there a meeting on Wednesday(12th) in Dickinson?

November 12, 2008
TPWD Dickinson Marine Lab
1502 FM 517 East (Pine Drive)
Dickinson, TX

I want to go.

need directions please. (from I45)

[aqua pimp]

Yes at 6pm in Dickinson. As of right now I am planning on attending. This should be very interesting.

AQUA PIMP

[aqua pimp]

if comming from Galveston take a right on 517 towards Dickinson. Its down on the right about a 1/4 mile or so. You can't miss it.

AQUA PIMP

[WestEndAngler]

AP- I will do my best to be in attendance... I will be trying to get off work early and make the run from Downtown to the meeting.

[aqua pimp]

I'll give you a shout on this Wednesday Coe. Moonpie is gonna try and make it too.

AQUA PIMP

[WestEndAngler]

just spoke to yan he is going to try and make it too

[Moonpie]

I plan on being there.

Look for the guy in a Moonpie t-shirt!

[WestEndAngler]

What does that look like

[Moonpie]

Big, strong, handsome guy wearing this.

Bwahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!

[nokatchin]

Scarey,very scarey
NK

[aqua pimp]

You got another one I see!!!!! The last one went flying out of the Black Jack along with JTs cooler LOL. My bad!

AQUA PIMP