On Wednesday, both U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, and David Nelson, a Port Orange fishing captain, testified about the dubious science behind the ban to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs.
A lifting or partial lifting of the federal ban seems imminent. We believe it is overdue.
Mica noted the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council imposed the ban by a narrow 7-to-6 vote. It came after a 2008 study by the federal government that showed depleted stocks of red snapper off the coast of the Southeast.
But the science of that study was immediately questioned.
The plight of the fishermen is one reason there is bipartisan support for a change in policy. Some legislators have proposed a change in the scientific standards applied to the red snapper estimates.
Conservation is important in this debate. Mica himself said he would support the ban if red snapper were indeed in danger and overfished.
Mica doesn't believe they are in danger. The existing studies apparently don't prove it. With the livelihoods of thousands of people in the fishing industry at stake, the government should ease the snapper ban and then make sure it has valid data before issuing any more fishing edicts.
Read the complete editorial from The Daytona Beach News-Journal