BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- Fishermen say an effort to protect the red snapper could kill Brevard County's fishing industry. They're gathered in Cape Canaveral to fight a ban on "bottom fishing."

The fishermen are out fighting for their livelihoods and the right to fish off the shores of Central Florida. Some are saying, with the shuttle layoffs, this could create the perfect storm and lead to thousands of more jobs lost in the area.

The Internet is filled with videos of red snapper catches. But reeling one in off the coast of Central Florida could soon land you with a hefty fine if a new rule is put in place. The proposition has commercial and recreational fishermen fuming.

"There is one word to describe it, absurd,” fisherman Jimmy Hull said.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is considering four proposals, all of which would ban all bottom fishing in large swaths of the sea off the coast from Cape Canaveral to South Carolina. Environmental groups say catching and releasing won't work and the only thing that will save the red snapper, and eight other species, is to close off the section of the ocean.

"This is a species, red snapper, that has been undergoing overfishing for forty years,” said Holly Binns, a spokesperson with the Pew Environmental Group said.

Fishermen and boaters protested outside a hearing on the ban Wednesday. They say the studies, suggesting snapper populations are low, are flawed.

"I'm 50 years old and I'm catching more than I ever caught,” fisherman Chuck Dillingham said.

They came out in numbers to testify before government regulators.

"It's my livelihood. I will not have it taken away from me by some charitable foundation that has one thing in mind and that is to eliminate recreational fishing,” said Capt. Lou Augusta, fisherman.

More and more commercial fishing is being done by foreign countries. This, fishermen fear, could sink businesses inside and out of the port.

Some estimates from fishing groups say 130,000 could lose their jobs from Central Florida to South Carolina if the ban is put in place. Government regulators are not expected to make a decision until March 2010.