6 
Fishery Bulletin 11 7(1 -2) 
Discussion 
The intensity of derby-style fisheries has increased as 
fishing seasons shorten. In accordance with this notion, 
recreational anglers in coastal Alabama have respond¬ 
ed to the shortening of the fishery for red snapper by 
increasing daily effort. We observed the highest daily 
effort during the shortest season on record (3d). The 
late season in 2017 offered a test of whether daily effort 
would relax, given that this additional (long) season was 
unanticipated. Daily effort decreased in this long season 
in number of boat launches and anglers per day. The 
estimate for number of anglers per day was 60% higher 
during the short season in 2017. The 3-d season, which 
represented 7.7% of the long season in 2017, resulted 
in a harvest, estimated by using landings by weight, 
that was 16.6% of the harvest of the long season. This 
nonproportional response in harvest to the difference in 
length of fishing season must be considered when ex¬ 
amining the potential of changes in recreational season 
length to reduce catch. More broadly, the results of our 
analysis provide another example of dynamic responses 
of anglers to changes in fishing regulations (Johnson 
and Carpenter, 1994). Such outcomes are likely difficult 
to predict at the onset of a regulatory change; therefore, 
intensive monitoring of angler response following such 
a regulatory change is needed. 
In addition to season length, one weather condition 
was a significant factor in explaining fishing effort. 
Higher wind speeds decreased daily effort. Although 
this pattern is not surprising for an offshore-based 
fishery, it does provide some insight into the applicabil¬ 
ity of these findings to study of fishing effort in future 
years. Both the short and long seasons of 2017 were 
characterized by modest winds throughout the season 
(mean of 2.9 m/s, or 6.5 mph, per day for both sea¬ 
sons); hence, this weather condition did not confound 
our predictions for 2017. In earlier years of the study 
period, higher winds (4.5-5.4 m/s or 10-12 mph) were 
recorded and dampened daily effort. Currently, there 
are not sufficient data to determine the effects of high 
winds on angler effort during an extremely short sea¬ 
son; however, the negative relationship between wind 
speed and effort in our study period indicates that 
most anglers would not go fishing under conditions 
with high wind speeds. 
The red snapper is an immensely popular target 
species in the Gulf of Mexico. For recreational anglers 
with boats capable of going out to offshore waters, 
catching red snapper is almost viewed as a fundamen¬ 
tal right. The controversy over the management of this 
fishery will likely persist as the stock rebuilds because 
anglers will continue to observe first-hand signs of re¬ 
covery while they remain under the restrictive regu¬ 
lations of a stock rebuilding plan. As more fisheries 
experience stock rebuilding, similar issues involving a 
perceived disconnect between angler experiences and 
rebuilding regulations are likely to arise. Our analy¬ 
sis indicates that achieving rebuilding targets is even 
more challenging when fishing effort is compressed— 
when anglers take more trips over a short period of 
time as they anticipate shortened seasons. Effort com¬ 
pression and the fact that this compression varies with 
wind speed contributes to management uncertainty 
and must be considered in formulations of manage¬ 
ment strategies designed to maintain landings of red 
snapper below ACLs. The results of this study indicate 
that, as ACLs increase and longer seasons are war¬ 
ranted, effort compression may be relaxed and afford 
even longer seasons. 
Acknowledgments 
We thank C. Hightower for coordinating the many ana¬ 
lysts who examined hundreds of hours of video foot¬ 
age for this project. Funding was provided by grants 
from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Gulf 
Environmental Benefit Fund through subawards from 
the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural 
Resources, Marine Resources Division. 
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