Another cut in the number of red snapper days has local fisherman scratching their heads.

On Wednesday, word came down from the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council that the red snapper recreational season in federal waters will be nine days starting June 1.

Just weeks ago, fishermen were advised that their season was being cut from 44 days to 11, now they're taking another hit.

"It's another typical move by the wacko environmentalist," said Capt. George Eller of the Checkmate II.

"It's absolutely crazy. I had trips scheduled for 40 days. Luckily I haven't had anything cancel yet, but we'll see," he said.

Eller said he's called a few folks and gave them a chance to back out. Thus far the response has been, "we're coming anyway and we're going fishing."

"When schools out we'll run everyday anyway," Eller said.

Capt. Dennis Kendrick of the Finest Kind says he hasn't been as lucky.

"Some of mine have already canceled," he said.

In April, the fishery management council requested an emergency rule to revise the recreational accountability measures for red snapper by applying a 20-percent buffer to the recreational quota, which results in a recreational annual catch target of 4.312 million pounds whole weight. This emergency rule will not affect the commercial harvest of red snapper in the reef fish fishery.

Read the original post:

Red snapper season gets clipped again