From the TPWD website:
Why not set a bag limit for mangrove snapper? Sometimes fishermen in the Port Isabel area bring these fish in by the dozens.
Thank you for your comment and question posted to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept. web page. Your concern over mangrove snapper (also called gray snapper) is appreciated and shared by biologists. Gray snapper are most commonly caught by anglers on the southern Texas coast as this fish is generally considered to be tropical in range. Because of this it is managed as a marginal species in Texas. Management efforts such as bag and size limits may have minimal effect in improving the fishery because annual meteorological conditions likely play the largest role in gray snapper production.
Additionally, the life history of gray snapper makes it difficult to manage. Adult fish occur offshore in the Gulf while juveniles occur in the bay and near passes. Most of the adult population actually occurs in waters under federal jurisdiction and are covered by Gulf of Mexico federal bag and size limits. Those regulations are minimum length of 12 inches and bag limit of 10 in an aggregate of several species of snapper (not including red, lane, or vermillion). More information on federal rules can be found at www.gulfcouncil.org.
The Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept. routinely monitors gray snapper and other species through our resource monitoring program and harvest monitoring program. Data collected through these programs aid fishery managers in determining if changes in the fishery merit adjustment in the management strategy.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/faq/fishboat/fish/index.phtml#FM4
Why not set a bag limit for mangrove snapper? Sometimes fishermen in the Port Isabel area bring these fish in by the dozens.
Thank you for your comment and question posted to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept. web page. Your concern over mangrove snapper (also called gray snapper) is appreciated and shared by biologists. Gray snapper are most commonly caught by anglers on the southern Texas coast as this fish is generally considered to be tropical in range. Because of this it is managed as a marginal species in Texas. Management efforts such as bag and size limits may have minimal effect in improving the fishery because annual meteorological conditions likely play the largest role in gray snapper production.
Additionally, the life history of gray snapper makes it difficult to manage. Adult fish occur offshore in the Gulf while juveniles occur in the bay and near passes. Most of the adult population actually occurs in waters under federal jurisdiction and are covered by Gulf of Mexico federal bag and size limits. Those regulations are minimum length of 12 inches and bag limit of 10 in an aggregate of several species of snapper (not including red, lane, or vermillion). More information on federal rules can be found at www.gulfcouncil.org.
The Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept. routinely monitors gray snapper and other species through our resource monitoring program and harvest monitoring program. Data collected through these programs aid fishery managers in determining if changes in the fishery merit adjustment in the management strategy.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/faq/fishboat/fish/index.phtml#FM4
