Red snapper season in the South Atlantic got shut down the night before it opened — and most anglers still don't really know why. In this one, I sit down with David Moss, Fisheries Project Manager for The Nature Conservancy, to break the whole thing down in plain English: what an EFP actually is, the lawsuit that closed the season, why managers and anglers see two completely different oceans, and the surprising reason keeping your spots secret might be the very thing costing you fishing days.

David's a Florida-born fisherman first and a fisheries guy second, and he makes the case for why the catch data you throw away — including the days you get skunked — is exactly what the fishery needs to open more seasons, not fewer.

We get into:

Get in touch or get involved:

Brought to you by Star brite — makers of Salt Off and a full line of boat care products, and a company doing real work in conservation. starbrite.com

Chapters:

Everybody keeps asking me about red snapper — why they're everywhere and you can't keep them in one place, and nowhere to be found in another. So I brought on someone who lives on both sides of that fight.

Dylan Hubbard is VP of Hubbard's Marina in Madeira Beach — a fourth-generation, nearly 100-year-old operation — and he's also president of the Florida Guides Association, VP of the Charter Fisherman's Association, and chair of the Gulf Council Reef Fish Advisory Panel. He's one of the only guests we've had who's both a working charter operator and deeply embedded in the federal fisheries decision-making process. That combination makes this one of the clearest breakdowns of what's really happening with our fishery that I've heard.

In this conversation we get into:

"If you're not in the room, you're on the menu." If you care about the future of the fishery, this is the one to watch.

Connect with Dylan & Hubbard's Marina:

This episode is brought to you by Star Brite — makers of Salt Off and a full line of products to take care of your boat, and a company that gives back through conservation. Check them out.

Rich Hernandez can do 5,000 push-ups without ever touching his knees — and he's

Captain Brandon McGraw is a Space Coast fishing guide who runs Space Coast Sport Fishing out of the Melbourne area, working the Mosquito Lagoon, the Indian River, and Sebastian Inlet on Florida's east-central coast. A retired firefighter with 20 years at Orlando Fire Department, he now guides full time for redfish, seatrout, and some of the largest snook in Florida. In this episode he explains how the Mosquito Lagoon clawed back from its seagrass collapse, why the Sebastian area grows oversized snook, and the small details that decide light-tackle tournaments.

Shark depredation is when a shark eats a hooked or landed fish before an angler can bring it in, and in Florida it has become one of the most contested issues on the water. In this episode I sit down with Dr. John Carlson, a research fish biologist with NOAA Fisheries who has spent 25 years studying shark and sawfish populations, to work through the question anglers keep asking me: how can there be too many sharks and a global shark decline at the same time?

Press play above to watch, or scroll down to listen to the full conversation.

Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 1022 is a conversation with Dr. Kevin Stone, the San Francisco orthopedic surgeon behind The Stone Clinic, about biologic knee replacement — rebuilding a worn joint with donor meniscus cartilage and regrown articular cartilage instead of replacing it with metal. We also cover what “bone on bone” actually means, partial versus total knee replacement, robotic cementless implants, PRP and stem cell recruitment, the truth about BPC-157, and why he thinks most people told they need a total knee replacement do not.

Jonathan Godbout is a four-time American Ninja Warrior competitor and three-time national finalist who is now training to break the 24-hour Murph world record: 21 Murphs in a single day. That's 40 miles of running, 2,000 pull-ups, 4,000 push-ups, and 6,000 air squats — all in a 20-pound vest.

We get into how he's training for it, why he's chasing a sub-35-minute Murph, how he plans to pace one Murph every hour on the hour, and what four seasons of Ninja Warrior taught him about doing hard things.

Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 1020 is a conversation with Adria Gutierrez, a Venice, Florida charter captain who live-streams her entire fishing charters on TikTok. She runs inshore, nearshore, and offshore trips out of Venice, Boca Grande, and Charlotte Harbor, holds federal permits, and has turned a full-day live stream into a booking engine, a shirt business, and a source of viewer tips.Listen now: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube

Andy Strelcheck is the Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries’ Southeast Regional Office, working with federal fisheries throughout the Gulf, South Atlantic, and U.S. Caribbean. I brought Andy back on the podcast to get a direct explanation of what happened when the proposed South Atlantic red snapper season was stopped less than a day before Florida’s opening date.

We break down exempted fishing permits, recreational catch surveys, discard mortality, descending devices, fish tagging, red snapper stock assessments, and the frustrating situation where fishermen can see more fish while receiving less access. Andy also explains why anglers should participate in fishing surveys, how missing information increases uncertainty, and why there is encouraging news for several grouper and snapper fisheries.

If you liked this episode, share it with a friend, rate the show, and stay tuned for more unfiltered conversations.

Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 1018 is a conversation with marine life artist Dennis Friel, host of the Connected by Water podcast, on what it actually takes to paint fish for a living — from the Star brite SeaSafe event and a live-painted mahi, to leaving a 17-year music-business career, to whether AI is the next Napster for working artists, and where he really stands on Florida's shark debate.