New rule proposals for red grouper fishermen will be unveiled today for consideration by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council — likely to the distaste of everyone at the table.

Red grouper represent the biggest portion of grouper species fancied by seafood lovers, and they also are prime targets for recreational fisherman.

In the years since grouper have been managed by the Gulf Council, under the supervision of the National Marine Fisheries Service, recreational and commercial fishermen never have caught the maximum number they have been allowed.

In 1999, red grouper were determined to be overfished — but no management changes were instituted despite federal laws that require a recovery plan within one year of a fishery being declared overfished.

Now, recreational fishing interests likely will have their daily bag limits reduced to two red grouper from five. That closes the barn door too little and too late, according to some.

“Now it’s been five years and the (commercial fishing) guys are still fishing almost unrestrained while the stock has been in trouble. It’s been a perfect scenario for those guys,” said Punta Gorda Capt. Ralph Allen.

Allen owns two offshore charter boats and sits on the Gulf Council’s Reef Fish Advisory Panel.

Bob Spaeth also sits on the advisory panel, as executive director of SOFA — the Southern Offshore Fishing Association — and an owner of Madeira Beach Seafood in the Tampa Bay area. Spaeth’s fleet of six full-time commercial boats soon may be faced with restrictions designed to reduce the commercial catch by roughly 10 percent.

“Any reduction in an industry that has been hurt like this industry is not good,” Spaeth said.

Spaeth estimated his boats bring in an average of 1 million pounds of red grouper per year — an amount he said leaves them only marginally profitable because of great operational expenses.

“If we didn’t own our boats and hadn’t been in the business a long time, you couldn’t do it,” Spaeth said.

“If you had to buy and amortize a boat, buy insurance and equipment including EPIRBs (emergency overboard electronics) and other things, you would not make it, I guarantee.”

Sport fishing Capt. Chris Shoemaker said he no longer can afford to take red grouper charters. Such trips necessitate running at least 30 miles offshore to catch the dozen or more legal-size fish that would satisfy his customers.

“When gas went to $2 a gallon (at marinas), I had to give those up a lot,” Shoemaker said of the trips he ran out to depths of 90 feet or more.

“Now, the grouper fishing is so poor, you can’t make a living at it.”

Shoemaker said customers either quit calling or booked fewer trips when he had to raise his price to $450 per day — a problem that only will be compounded by further lowering the limit.

“It’s going to hurt. If you can only go out and catch two fish, they’re not going to go,” Shoemaker said.

Allen said he didn’t think the two-fish bag limit would make a big difference in his business. That’s because the six customers on his offshore boats rarely catch more than two red grouper each on trips they take out to a maximum depth of 70 feet.

“Nor will it save a whole lot of fish,” Allen said.

He is distrustful of the National Marine Fisheries Service study that indicated only a 10 percent reduction in the red grouper catch will lead to full recovery from overfishing.

“It’s just been lousy the whole time. Grouper fishing is nowhere near what it used to be,” said Allen, who has fished local waters since the mid-1970s.

Spaeth is equally distrustful of the data the Marine Fisheries Service produces from recreational fishing surveys. The data shows sport fishermen account for an increasingly smaller proportion of the annual catch — down from a historic average of about 25 percent, to a 2002 ratio of 19 percent recreational, 81 percent commercial.

Indeed, the NMFS Marine Recreational Fishing Survey cites its own red grouper statistics during the past 10 years as having a margin of error ranging between 9.4 percent and 100 percent.

“I think it’s junk,” Spaeth said, citing a dramatic increase in boats that can reach the far-offshore red grouper fishery in little time.