In the case of Molzan's network, "it was off season and the boat was way over the limit,” Ruiz says, making the watercraft an obvious target for a finfish raid. Most work in pairs, but sometimes they're even sent out on boats alone. That’s 600 square miles, but you might find only about 22 game wardens in Galveston Bay on a typical day. Wardens patrol the water off the coast of Texas through nine miles out. ![]() Wardens do everything from handing out boating DWIs to answering calls about alligators in swimming pools to policing poachers during dove and duck hunting season as well as protecting the waters of Galveston Bay from illegal fishing. There are a total of 550 game wardens in all of Texas, and they’re kind of like the highway patrol of the great outdoors. Currently, the population is considered the strongest it's been since 1968, but is at risk of being over-fished, with Seafood Watch moving its grade from red to yellow. While the Gulf's red snapper population is not really on the decline anymore (like David Lee Roth, red snapper reached its nadir in the late '80s but has since made a comeback), the population needs strict regulation to continue its return to glory days. We’ve been working on cases that are in line, or some that may even be worse than this current one," says TPWD's Fred Ruiz, a direct supervisor of the wardens who busted the fishing vessel carrying more than 1,900 pounds of illegally caught finfish - including 488 red snapper- earlier this year. The fish could be illegally caught, as was the case when game wardens busted Ruggles Black chef Bruce Molzan's seafood poaching network earlier this year for profiting off of $400,000 in unlawful catches. But here in Houston, with close access to locally sourced and highly regulated Gulf red snapper, shelling out the big bucks - $45 will get you a serving of grilled or fried whole fish at Starfish $32 is the going rate for an entrée portion at Reef - doesn't usually mean fraud, but there is yet another huge concern. It’s complete bullshit." For most diners around the country, this means shelling out big money for the risk of a sham. “What common person in America is going to spend $25 a pound on a damn fish? Nobody. On top of this, red snapper doesn't retail for cheap. “I have an issue when you hear these commercial guys saying, ‘We’re feeding America,’” one fisherman told Texas Monthly last summer. In January of this year, UCLA researchers also found that among 26 Los Angeles sushi restaurants, fish labeled as tuna was always tuna, but all orders of red snapper turned out to be other fish, with DNA testing to back up those claims. Among restaurants in America, the Congressional Research Service reported in 2015, 77 percent of red snapper being served in the country was not actually red snapper at all, with Pacific Rockfish and tilapia often used as menu counterfeits, Forbes reported last fall. Among Texas anglers, big-time regulations make it a contentious subject between recreational and commercial factions. Red snapper is one hell of a divisive fish. So far, we've covered the continuing saga of all things seafood: The is-it-too-smart-to-eat octopus, the oyster and its massive gonad, the sad plight of the disappearing freshwater eel, and now onward to the magnet for all things fraud, Red Snapper. This is for all you schadenfreude-obsessed killjoys out there. Everyone raved about how delicious the food was! Matt and I recently went back for dinner and were remembered by the staff.Welcome to Before You Eat That, which broaches all the annoying food subjects that make you highly uncomfortable. Josh made sure no guests visiting the restaurant for dinner that evening walked outside during our ceremony/cocktail hour. Everything was set up so elegantly! The day of our wedding all staff was excellent and attentive. We had our ceremony overlooking the water, cocktail hour at the outside bar/dock, and our reception in the beautiful pavilion. Any requests we had for that day were done perfectly! The grounds of The Snapper Inn are beautiful. All emails and phone calls were answered quickly and thoroughly either by Josh or Kerry. Customer service was beyond excellent throughout the year and a half planning process. We knew at that meeting that was where we were going to get married. ![]() He answered all of our questions prior to asking them, and had a plan a,b,c, and d should we have had inclement weather the day of our wedding. Our first meeting with Josh went perfectly.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |