Red Snapper History

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The crews that populated the fishing crews were predominantly from New London when the trade was centered in Destin. As time wore on, the center of the industry pivoted to Pensacola, and fishermen from New England returned home. Fishermen from the South became more prominent after the civil war; Pensacola’s status as a deep water port led to crews becoming more diverse in make-up. Transnational ships would stop in Pensacola, those on board would jump ship or otherwise depart, and remain looking for work . Smack captains largely had to deal with an unreliable crew in the later years of the industry. In the mid to late 1800s, catching a good amount of snapper was expected. Upon arrival back in Pensacola, the fishermen were given a share of the …show more content…
As one can derive from the name, the Northern Red Snapper is a distinctive shade of red. Northern Red Snapper is also highly prized as a game fish, because they put up a strong fight and have a desirable flavor. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, Northern Red Snapper prefers ladyfish and squid, but are called snappers because of their tendency to eat almost anything when they are hungry . The best place to find Red Snapper are “snapper banks”, because the fish reliably feed there. Snapper mostly feeds on crustaceans and small fish, which are more common on these banks than in other places. In order to catch snapper on these banks, fishermen would lower their lines near rock or gravel formations, otherwise known as “lumps .” Silas Stearns, of Pensacola indicated that “Each man handles a single line, which has two large hooks and several pounds of weight attached. When the fish are hungry, they bite as fast as the lines are lowered to them, and even rise near to the surface of the sea in their eagerness, biting at bare hooks or anything that is offered. ” Red Snapper is traditionally caught with hand lines, bottom trawls, or bottom lines. Eight million pounds of Red Snapper are caught in American waters each year. However commercial fishing, sport fishing, shrimping, and ecological disasters result in