The New Year brings glad tidings of nature – and local businesses – rebounding after the oil spill.

Boat shows kick off 2011

With winter weather upon us, and a new season dawning after the New Year’s celebrations, now is the time for boat shows to provide us with a means to stay connected to the boating lifestyle during what I usually call “a bit of an off-season”.
Ringing in the New Year is the 54th Annual Houston International Boat, Sport & Travel Show, January 7-16. One of the country’s longest running shows, it is held in Houston’s Reliant Center, with over 1,000 boats displayed in an indoor setting. This is the boat show I am most familiar with, and it rarely disappoints. Even in “off-years” for new boats, and during slow economies, the Houston Show has enough variety of displays and offerings always to be worth attending. Along with boats of all types and sizes there will be exhibitors displaying travel trailers and campers, all sorts of accessories and equipment, and the ever popular “guy who cleans your glasses” booth. I worked this show many years, and always found new items to consider there, as well as visiting with old friends in the boating industry.
The 2011 New Orleans Boat Show will be held January 27–30 in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. In the past, the New Orleans Show has had a strong commercial fishing flavor, which offers a different view of boating than many other shows – as might be expected from an area where so many people depend on boats from pirogues to shrimp boats to offshore crew boats to make their living.

One fish, two fish, red fish….

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission is open to comment on changes to red drum (red fish) regulations within state waters, including increasing the daily limit of these popular fish from one to two per person, per day, as well as creating regional management areas for reds. Public meetings were scheduled for December in St. Petersburg and Crystal River. For more information on the current fishing regulations, visit myfwc.com.

Grouper regs to see some changes

In late November, a reduction in the recreational quota for gag grouper to “0” was announced, meaning no recreational harvest for gag beginning January 1, 2011; with the commercial harvest cut to 100,000 pounds – until further notice. A meeting within the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council was scheduled for December to re-examine the status of gag as “overfished and undergoing overfishing”. The daily bag limit for red grouper remains at two per person, but the TOC has been reduced, which will hurt commercial fishermen more than recreational anglers.

New hope for 2011

As we head into the New Year, the Gulf’s worst “natural” disaster – the Deepwater Horizon oil spill – has been capped and cleanup is progressing. Some areas of marsh on the Louisiana coast that were heavily hit by oil are already showing signs of new plant growth, and virtually all of the Gulf’s waters have been reopened to fishing and boating. The area’s economy was adversely affected, of course, but that too is rebounding. Perhaps most important, in a season predicted to have above normal storm activity in the tropics, no major hurricanes hit the Gulf, and the tropical storms and smaller hurricanes which did come our way mostly went into areas of Mexico and South Texas that needed the rain, without creating a major impact there. Speculation is that we will have a drier, warmer winter along the Gulf Coast for 2011, which should be more conducive to boating than the floods of last winter.