May 16, 2016 — The sought-after red drum might be severely overfished since 2010 in the Southeast but not the mid-Atlantic, according to the latest survey. Or the reverse might be true.
The problem is in the metrics: Just how do you count all the fish in the sea? That’s what a federal commission in charge of regulating the catch told its staff recently while not approving — yet — an assessment that would suggest the Southeast stock is in trouble again. Improve the metrics.
At stake is whether or how to tighten management, and potentially catch restrictions, on one of the most popular game fish in the Lowcountry.
The bottom line is that some sort of tighter management is expected to be mandated of that stock, said Robert Boyles, S.C. Department of Natural Resources deputy marine resources director and a member of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the federal group in charge of maintaining the fishery.
“The results basically suggest there are reasons to be concerned. The questions are how concerned should we be and what do we do about it,” he said.