Hogfish

[diverlen]

Originally Posted by RichT

Hogfish have been studied extensively by really good scientists and not people with an agenda FYI. In fact... a lot of really good spearfisherman have/have been collecting the data for these scientist for many years.
I should know as I was one of them!

I would ask people to take a few minutes to get familiar with the multiple scientific papers from many different sources that say hogfish in certain locations are in serious trouble.
And FYI, they don't just study hogfish by asking people what they caught!
They look at a variety of factors that include age,growth,fecundity, as well as population dynamics.

Like Kenny said, part of the problem is perception. Many people who have been shooting in the Keys and South Florida have no idea what it was like 20+ years ago.

Hell... I stopped going to the keys 20 years ago because it was already shot out then compared to what it was when I was younger!
And when I was younger the guys who were older than me said it was nothing compared to when they were younger!
Now... think about the huge population boom South Florida has seen in the last 30 years and think about how modern electronics have completely changed the game.

Nobody likes more regulation but something needs to be done unfortunately...

This is well said. Nobody likes rules but in this case, they are long overdue. I fully support the new regulations even though they will decrease my catch. Bottom line, people are greedy and will destroy everything to get that last one in the bag