CMR taking deeper look into trout decline

In its Tuesday meeting, the Commission on Marine Resources opted to review more data rather than make a decision on regulation changes for speckled trout fishing.

"My feel for it is they are being very deliberate about the process," said Joe Jewell, office director of Marine Fisheries at the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. "They want to evaluate the model output.

"They want to hear from the fishermen. They want to make sure they make the most and best informed decision."

Both the commission and DMR officials concluded fishing regulations pertaining to speckled trout need to be changed after a stock assessment revealed only about 10 percent of the population in Mississippi waters is old enough to reproduce. That number is well below the 20 to 30 percent Spawning Potential Ratio that is considered sustainable.

"Ten years ago the stock was considered stable or sustainable," DMR Executive Director Jamie Miller told The Clarion-Ledger in August. "Currently, we've seen an increase in recreational fishing and as a result of that, we're taking more and more speckled trout out of the population.

"The number of trips have gone way up since the 2007, 2008 time frame. It's the most targeted species in the Mississippi Sound I think, without a doubt."

To get the SPR to the target ratio of 20, which was set by the commission, biologists are running models dealing with minimum lengths, daily creel limits and season closures. Currently, speckled trout under 13 inches must be released and anglers can keep up to 15 fish per day. The most talked about change has been increasing the minimum size.

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According to DMR Finfish Bureau Director Matt Hill, changing the minimum length will get the trout age structure where it needs to be.

"At 14 inches, that increase will stabilize the stock, but it won't increase it," Hill said. "At 15 inches, that will rebuild the stock in the time frame they've requested, which is three to five years."

Another option that has been discussed is reducing the daily catch limit, but Hill said it would require a drastic cut to achieve the same goal.

"It would have a minimal impact on the rebuilding of the fishery," Hill said. "The reason is most fishermen don't catch the limit. Ninety percent of our fishermen catch less than five spotted sea trout (per trip)."

Given those numbers, Hill said the daily creel limit would need to be reduced from the current 15 to about five or six to meet the target SPR.

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Avid fisherman Bill Hancock of D'Iberville said he would support both options and feels most other anglers do, too.

"We haven't had any trouble catching speckled trout, but the size has been smaller," Hancock said. "I'm not opposed to changing the size limits or bag limits if that's what needs to be changed.

"If it's based on science, I'm certainly in favor of them increasing the size and decreasing the bag limit. I think everybody knows something needs to be done."

Hancock noted he does not support the option of season closures.

Hill said running models and evaluating impacts is a slow process and he and other biologists are currently collecting more impact data. Once the additional data is collected, Hill said it will be presented to the commission for evaluation in a workshop before the October commission meeting.

"Hopefully, at the October (commission) meeting, we'll begin to develop a plan to rebuild the stock," Hill said.

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Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com. Follow The Clarion-Ledger Outdoors on Facebook and @BrianBroom on Twitter.