Some of you may be aware of the proposed closure of Red Snapper fishing in the South Atlantic region of the United States, set to go in effect within weeks. Included in this closure will be partial closures on Vermillion Snapper (Beeliners) and some Grouper species. The link below goes to a website established by a number of local fishermen and allows you to submit comments to the State of Florida regarding said closures. I'm sending this out to you in the hopes that you'll submit comments against the closure, as it will have a disastrous impact on recreational and commercial fishing - and, importantly, the related economies - from the Carolinas to South Florida.

Main site: http://keepoceanfishing.com // Comment Submission: http://keepoceanfishing.com/index.php/write-comment

I know that most - if not all - of us are conservation-minded folk, but the data that's being used to justify this closure is from research done five years ago in the Gulf of Mexico --- not the South Atlantic. The National Marine Fishery Service does not have relevant or recent data to justify this closure and has instead based it upon population projections. However, if you've been fishing in the last couple of years or have spoken to any saltwater fishermen, you know that the legal Red Snapper population is higher than it's been in years. This ban is based on poor, lazy reasoning and should not happen.

Please take a look at the detailed information on the site and submit your comments. They can be as simple and brief as referencing your own fishing experience or your concern for the economy, which is clearly in a fragile state. There is also a prefix paragraph on the comment submission page that you can copy and paste before your comment.

These comments will be registered with the State, so please forward this email to anyone interested in fishing and/or preserving a vital aspect of our local economy. It's likely that more widespread closures will follow if this one goes through, so we all need to act now.

Thanks for your time! The fishing community appreciates it greatly.