ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — After 25 years in the charter fishing business, Jack Murphy has seen hundreds of satisfied customers cap off their day by posing for a photograph with the fish they've hauled in from the ocean. It's a bittersweet scene for Murphy, owner of Alabama Deep Sea Fishing, because he's glad the customer is happy, but he's sorry to see the fish won't live to swim another day.

Murphy, 62, wasn't always so sensitive. He's harvested his share of fish and hunted for deer, and he understands that the photograph is, for many, an essential part of the thrill of victory .

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"A guy comes down here to fish with us, it costs a lot of money, and he may only get to do it once a year," Murphy said. "I know he wants to catch as many fish as he can and keep it all. But if he comes back and hangs it all up and takes a picture, those fish are dead, and nobody will ever catch them again."

Conservation is now a bigger issue than it was when Murphy was younger. The government has limits on the number of fish that can be caught and kept from the Gulf of Mexico — some species are more protected than others — as well as the size the fish must be.

"I'm not a tree hugger," he said. "But we all have to do our part. If you don't protect it, there's not going to be anything left."

That may seem like an overstatement, considering the size of the Gulf of Mexico, but advances in technology have made it easier to catch vast quantities of fish. Marlin, for instance, cannot be brought ashore unless it's a record size.

"As charter fishermen, we hate to see big catches come in," Murphy said. "We love to see you catch all you can, but we hope you'll release a lot of it and only keep what you really want and need.

"On a good day in the summer, there will be 200 to 300 boats going out to the gulf. To one guy, he might think, 'I'm not hurting it too much. I'm only doing it one time.' But you multiply that by 200 or 300 boats."

Regardless of how he feels about the issue, Murphy leaves the decision to the customer.

Alabama Deep Sea Fishing is one of many charter fishing operations in the Gulf Shores area — so many, in fact, that the National Marine Fisheries Service has put a moratorium on any new businesses. Murphy has five sport fishing boats to charter, each capable of accommodating up to 22 people; Murphy, however, usually won't take more than 15 because it's too crowded otherwise. His normal charter is 10-12 people.

His business is 95 percent bottom fishing, and charter companies have their own private reefs to fish. Murphy says those excursions range anywhere from five to 50 miles offshore. He also will take deep-sea charters up to 100 miles out.

Closer to shore, the catch will include red snapper, grouper, trigger fish, king mackerel, cobia, vermilion snapper and amberjack. Farther out are dolphin, wahoo, marlin, yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna and occasionally bluefin tuna.

Excursions range from six hours to all day; the most popular, Murphy says, is the 10-hour outing. The cost for a 10-hour charter is $1,250 for seven people; for each additional person, the cost rises $125. There's also a mandatory 15 percent gratuity for the mate and an optional gratuity for the captain. In ballpark terms, that's about $200 a person.

"I know it sounds expensive," Murphy says. "We get a lot of people who call and can't believe the cost. But when you figure it per hour, it's not so bad."

Murphy was more than happy to explain why his excursions aren't cheap. For starters, a boat costs about $380,000 to build, he said, and the electronics add $50,000 more. It costs to rent the slip — "about $500 to $700 a month, 12 months a year, to dock a boat," he said.

Then there's insurance, and salaries for the captain and mate, and the cost of bait, ice and tackle — "the bait is unreal sometimes what it costs," he said.

There are rods and reels to buy. "The cheapest on the boat is $150, and we've got 30," Murphy said. "And you've got to keep them clean and in working condition."

Additional costs include maintenance of the boat and its engine.

Then, and only then, Murphy said, "you're ready to go fishing."

"I don't think you can find any better place in the country to do this kind of business," he said. "We have more business every year than the previous year. In terms of what we offer, you can't beat it."

For more information on Alabama Deep Sea Fishing, call 1-877-783-3474 or go to Alabama Deep Sea Fishing or Alabama salt water fishing.