SEAWATCH March 2003 Issue #94

Table of Contents:

• State of Florida Has Created More Than One Quarter of a Million Acres of Manatee Protection Zones-- by Rick Farren
  
• CCA Florida Joins State of Florida and Boating Interests in Blasting Federal Deal for More Manatee Speed Zones
• Three Hundred Snook Killed in Abandoned Gillnet in Southwest Florida -- Law Enforcement Update
• North Florida Netters Arrested in Ten Thousand Islands
• FWC Postpones Manatee Listing Decision
• Third Synoptic Survey to Count Manatees Complete
• 2002 in Review—Manatees, No-Fishing Zones and Net Ban Enforcement Dominate Issues

State of Florida Has Created More Than One Quarter of a Million Acres of Manatee Protection Zones

by Rick Farren, Communications Director of CCA Florida

The 298,817 acres under one or more manatee protections designations does not include zones established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other government entities.

Last year CCA Florida requested that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) calculate the total area of Florida’s inshore waters that are currently in state manatee sanctuaries, refuges and speed zones. The result was astounding. Currently, the state alone has established 298,817 acres under one or more manatee protection designations—more than 24 percent of the state’s inshore waters.

That figure does not include a currently unknown number of acres with identical or similar manatee zones that have been established by other entities such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or zones found within the state’s many national wildlife refuges and national parks. In addition, a number of Florida’s coastal counties have also established large manatee zones that are not included in the state’s figure.

“That’s more than a quarter of a million acres with state-designated protected status, plus untold thousands of others with federally-mandated protections,” said Ernie Hendry, past chairman of CCA Florida. “We have to wonder when enough is enough, especially with proposals out there to initiate new, wide-scale manatee zones.”

“We’re not opposed to manatee protection,” added Hendry, “but at this point there appears to be no end to the process of placing more and more restrictions on boaters and anglers.”

Recently, because of a lawsuit brought against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by the Manatee Club and other animal rights groups, additional large areas of inshore waters are slated for manatee restrictions. These include year-round restrictions in North Florida areas where manatees occur only part of the year. (See CCA Florida Joins State of Florida and Boating Interests in Blasting Federal Deal for More Manatee Speed Zones.)

“It doesn’t make sense,” said Ted Forsgren, CCA Florida Executive Director. “The never ending push for more extreme speed zones at a time when manatee populations are at record levels is creating a huge backlash against manatee conservation efforts.”

While the manatee and animal rights groups push for more restrictions on a federal level, an FWC review of the species status has already found that it doesn’t rise to the level of “endangered” under state rules. The review recommended listing the species as “threatened,” but the FWC deferred that decision until later this year. (See FWC Postpones Mantee Listing Decision.)

The FWC report clearly states that there is no evidence that manatee populations have ever declined over the past 45 years, and in fact, have expanded since the 1970s. CCA Florida believes that manatees might actually qualify to be listed as a “species of special concern.” Even so, the FWC has repeatedly stated that a change in status would not reduce state protection efforts for the species. It would only allow management plans to be drafted outside of the courtroom where science and not emotion can be applied, and where seasonal patterns and other important data can be fairly considered.
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CCA Florida has joined with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and boating interests in challenging actions by the U.S. Department of Interior that will ultimately undermine state manatee conservation efforts.

Objections filed by the FWC in February stated that remedies for the Department of Interior’s mishandling of the settlement agreement “should not be to prematurely create additional federal manatee refuges and sanctuaries” and that “it is unfair to the Commission (FWC) and to all Floridians to thrust burdens on them because of the alleged failure of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) efforts.”

“The issue here is not mismanagement of manatees, whose populations are at record levels of abundance, but of gross mismanagement of a manatee lawsuit settlement agreement by high level federal officials,” said Michael Kennedy, chairman of CCA Florida. “Federal judges shouldn’t punish Florida’s citizens and saltwater anglers for the incompetence of the leadership and legal staff of the U.S. Department of Interior.”

The federal deal includes extreme restrictions that would completely disrupt recreational fishing in the Caloosahatchee, Tomoka and St. Johns rivers. In addition, premier saltwater recreational fishing areas like Chokoloskee Bay, the Ten Thousand Islands and Whitewater Bay in Everglades National Park are on the hit list for more restrictions.

“The State of Florida alone has already established more than one quarter of a million acres of manatee protection zones and the manatee population is continuously expanding,” said CCA Florida Executive Director Ted Forsgren. “There is simply no justification or science to support federal action.”

As an example of the incompetence demonstrated by the federal officials, Forsgren noted that several areas targeted for year-round extreme regulations do not even have manatees in those areas year-round. “This is clearly a political deal created by Interior’s leadership to get them out of the legal mess that they created,” said Forsgren. “These federal officials do not care at all about the interests of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Commission or Florida’s recreational fishers.”

The whole legal battle began two-and-a-half years ago when the Manatee Club and others filed lawsuits claiming that the State of Florida and the federal government had not done enough to protect manatees and that such inaction had caused manatees to decline and “sink further toward extinction.”

“That representation by the Club was then, and always has been false,” said Forsgren.

In support of their strong objections to the federal plan, CCA Florida offered the following information:

• For many years, the State of Florida has taken the lead in manatee protection and their efforts have been a success leading to substantial increases in abundance. The FWC’s scientific report entitled “Re-Evaluation of the Biological Status of Manatees” clearly documents that there is no evidence of any declines in manatee populations over the last 45 years and that, in fact, manatee populations have been expanding since the 1970s. (FWC 2002)
  
  
• In January 2001, scientists counted an all time record 3,276 manatees in statewide aerial surveys; more than double the number counted 10 years previously.
  
  
• In January 2003, scientists counted 3113, the second highest count on record. The 2003 counts included the highest number of manatees ever counted on Florida’s East coast and in Tampa Bay. (FWC 2003)



• The state and federal governments have established “measurable biological goals” for manatee recovery. In three of the four subpopulations where complete data is available, manatee populations have exceeded the biological goals for recovery. (FWC 2003)
  


• The State of Florida alone has established MORE THAN ONE QUARTER OF A MILLION ACRES OF MANATEE PROTECTION ZONES. Those 298,816 acres represent 24 percent of Florida’s coastal and inland waters. (FWC 2002)
  

The manatee issue is being driven by manatee groups emotionally exploiting a single issue, the number of animals killed by watercraft. Twenty-seven years of data in the state carcass recovery program indicates that efforts by manatee groups to portray watercraft mortalities as skyrocketing out of control are deliberately misleading.

“The rate of increase in watercraft-related deaths is less than the rate of increase in natural mortalities and the rate of increase in the total of all non-watercraft deaths,” said Forsgren. “A steady increase in all forms of mortality validates and fits with what is being seen in the annual population counts which have more than doubled in the last 10 years. An increase in all mortalities is exactly what you would expect to see with a manatee population that has been continuously expanding for 45 years.”

Even with expanding manatee populations, CCA Florida has stated that conservationists and recreational fishers who share the coastal waters with manatees should support reasonable protection measures to help reduce accidental watercraft mortalities, which is why CCA worked cooperatively with the FWC to develop manatee zones that would protect manatees and still provide reasonable access for recreational fishing.

“From the beginning, our goal in this process has been to insure that the interests of saltwater anglers are fairly considered and to offer reasonable recommendations and alternatives based on facts, not emotion,” said Dr. Ernie Hendry, Past Chairman-CCA Florida. “We supported virtually all of the new zones created by the FWC last September. However, we are not about to accept federal government deals developed behind closed doors that are not science based and where no meaningful public input has been or will be allowed.”

CCA Florida urged all saltwater anglers to join CCA, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and boating interests in adamantly opposing the deal developed by the U.S. Department of Interior and Manatee Club.

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Three Hundred Snook Killed in Abandoned Gillnet
in Southwest Florida

In December, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers responded to a complaint of an abandoned gillnet in the water at Patricio Island in Southwest Florida. Upon arrival, they discovered approximately 1,000 yards of monofilament gillnet in the water with a large number of dead fish entangled in the meshes. The giant gillnet contained approximately 300 snook, 50 mullet, 30 sheepshead, and two redfish. The net appeared to have been partially pulled from the water then discarded when the suspects realized their catch contained little mullet. No suspects have been identified. In addition, the unmarked net was constructed with a floating head rope instead of cork floats so it could be deployed quietly and would be difficult to see when in the water.

Prior to implementation of the net ban in 1995, CCA Florida documented numerous incidents of lost and abandoned monofilament “ghosts” nets that kept catching and killing, possibly for months at a time. Twice since passage, literally hundreds of gill-netted snook have been dumped to rot along public roadways in Southwest Florida.

Incidents such as this one in Lee County, and the 7,000 pounds of Spanish mackerel that were discovered dead and abandoned in a net off Pinellas County, demonstrate the magnitude of the problem and the need to continue the effort against net poaching in Florida waters.

The following excerpts are from weekly law enforcement activity reports provided by the FWC between July and December of 2002.

In Brevard County investigators charged two men with possession of a 400-yard monofilament trammel net. In another incident two suspects were caught with approximately 500 yards of trammel net containing 204 pounds of freshly-caught pompano and various other species. The outboard motor mounted on the suspect’s vessel had the serial number removed.

In Charlotte County officers inspecting a vessel discovered seine nets which were greater than 1,000 square feet. The nets were also constructed in a peculiar manner where the meshes were greatly bunched approximately one foot down from the cork line and approximately one foot up from the lead line.

In Citrus County officers caught a pair of netters with 45,000 square feet of gillnet and 56 pounds of illegally-caught pompano. That same month officers stopped a netting vessel and seized 400 pounds of illegally-caught mullet and a 55,000-square-foot gillnet.

In Collier County officers arrested two Naples men during a late night boarding and seized a large quantity of mullet and a monofilament gillnet. A few days later officers stopped two vessels and seized six seine nets that were tied together, and five monofilament gillnets that were in hidden compartments.

In Dixie County officers observed two subjects using a gillnet from an airboat. The netters attempted to flee but were overtaken and a 300-yard monofilament gillnet along with 188 pounds of mullet were seized.

In Franklin County two subjects were caught with illegal nets as well as undersized redfish, striped bass, mullet and spotted seatrout. Officers working in rough waters also caught two shrimp boats violating the net ban against using large nets inshore and confiscated 10 shrimp trawl nets along with 1600 pounds of shrimp.

In Hernando County a netter was arrested in Indian Bay with 7,800 square feet of seine net.

In Hillsborough County officers found two subjects, including a well-known repeat violator in possession of a 2,423-square-foot seine net along with 450 pounds of mullet. Two gillnets were found within 50 yards of where one of the subjects was found returning to the area at daylight. In another incident an officer inspected an 18-foot commercial fishing vessel with 10 seines on board. The commercial fisherman claimed that it was legal for him to fish all the seines because he was using four plastic trays, 24 inches x 54 inches, as vessels. In a third case, officers found a 17-foot vessel with 11 seine nets tied together that created 8,885 square feet of total mesh.

In Indian River County an officer stopped a 16-foot vessel with one person on board and discovered a 1200-square-foot seine net filled with fish.

In Lee County officers inspecting a makeshift camp discovered and seized a 650-yard monofilament gillnet. Officers also located a mullet skiff pulled up on the beach containing 1,000 square yards of illegal gill and trammel nets. Officers responding to a call discovered several hundred square yards of abandoned monofilament gillnet containing blacktip sharks, pompano, Spanish mackerel and ladyfish all of which were dead.

In December officers initiated a stop of a vessel and discovered three seine nets each more than 1,200 square feet. A few days later officers responded to a complaint of an abandoned gillnet in the water off Pine Island Sound where they discovered approximately 500 yards of abandoned monofilament net.Also, in December officers arrested one person with five oversized seines with a combined square footage of mesh area of approximately 7,300 square feet.

In other incidents, an abandoned vessel was found with 500 yards of monofilament gillnet, and a second abandoned vessel was found containing a gillnet and 3,500 pounds of mullet. An airboat was stopped that had four oversized seine nets totaling 5,600 square feet on board. Following a brief chase, officers boarded a vessel and found 400 pounds of mullet and five nets measuring between 945 and 1,330 square feet apiece. That same night officers encountered a net boat with five seine nets measuring approximately 1,500 square feet apiece.

In Manatee County, as part of a special enforcement detail, officers seized a total of 24,535 feet of entanglement net and three vessels. The majority of the nets were found in fishing vessels docked at a fish house. In another incident, a 304-foot gillnet and 54 fish, mostly snook and redfish, were seized from two netters. Officers also observed two commercial fishermen in the vicinity of Sister Keys fishing with four seine nets. The nets were deployed from a registered fishing boat and a Sears cargo carrier the fishermen described as their second “vessel.” One of these same fishermen had been found not guilty for a previous arrest involving the same fishing scenario. The fisherman provided the court photographs of himself floating inside the cargo cover, with safety equipment and oars. The judge ruled the contraption met the definition of a vessel because it was capable of being used as transportation on the water. With knowledge of this previous court ruling, the officers watched the men gather their nets into the cargo cover “vessel,” then cited the captain for the commercial harvest of fish from an unregistered vessel.

In Sarasota County officers inspected a drifting craft and discovered a fisherman onboard with approximately 700 yards of unmarked, unstowed trammel net. The Coast Guard stopped a fishing vessel in Sarasota Bay that was found to have 600 yards of gillnet and more than 3,200 pounds of ladyfish on board.

In St. Lucie County a subject fled after discarding a monofilament trammel net that was 500 yards long and 10 feet deep.

In Taylor County officers discovered a hidden gillnet with 3,000 square yards of mesh.

In Volusia County a fleeing netter was caught and charged with possession of a gillnet while a second netter was able to jump from the vessel and escape into the woods. In December, an air patrol spotted 35 to 40 working mullet skiffs and called in water patrols. Although many fled, 400 pounds of mullet and 12 illegal nets were seized; seven citations were issued.

In Wakulla County an air patrol resulted in four arrests, two illegal nets and 175 mullet. That same night, officers on the ground observed two net boats about 50 yards offshore. The netters fled, trailing and abandoning a 1,000-yard monofilament trammel net. The net contained 140 pounds of mullet, redfish, seatrout, catfish and sharks.

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North Florida Netters Arrested in Ten Thousand Islands

In December, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers cited two North Florida commercial fishermen with a total of six net limitation violations and seized 8,360 square feet of illegal nets from boats working Fish Hawk Creek in the Ten Thousand Islands area.

Colonel Julie Jones, FWC law enforcement chief, described the arrests as a significant accomplishment in the ongoing battle against illegal netters.

The FWC officers were on water patrol with a Collier County Sheriff’s Deputy at approximately 7:30 a.m. when they observed crewmen aboard two passing commercial fishing boats untying nets illegally connected to exceed the legal 500-square-foot limit.

The officers pulled alongside the first craft and ordered a crewman to stop untying nets and prepare for boarding. The second vessel also drifted to a stop nearby.

During an onboard inspection of the first boat—a 22-foot mullet skiff—a total of six seine nets were discovered with one-inch bar and two-inch stretch still tied together in the stern. The nets totaled 5,517 square feet.

Acting on a suggestion from a fellow officer recently transferred from North Florida who was familiar with the netters, the arresting officers conducted a second search of both watercraft. They consequently discovered hidden compartments containing four illegal nylon gillnets with 4-inch stretch mesh aboard one mullet skiff and two monofilament gillnets tied together on the other vessel.

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FWC Postpones Manatee Listing Decision

— Adopts Measurable Biological Goals

In January, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) decided to postpone, until November, its decision concerning whether manatees should be reclassified from “endangered” to “threatened.”

Commissioners coupled the delay with a decision to ask federal authorities to defer to the FWC to spearhead manatee management decisions and protection measures. Executive Director Kenneth Haddad, who recommended the delay, said any attempt to resolve the issue immediately would further polarize the various factions. He said nearly everyone favored a delay to give them an opportunity to better understand and assess the scientific model used to determine the biological status of the manatee. Meanwhile, federal authorities are developing a modeling technique that may provide additional scientific information that could be included in the decision-making process.

“We felt there were some serious problems with the model that was developed to determine the status and predict the future status of the species,” said Ted Forsgren, Executive Director of CCA Florida. “And we didn’t want the decision to be based on a flawed model because of assumptions of future mortality rates. The FWC staff recommendation was to reduce the species status to ‘threatened’ even though the data would suggest it be listed as a ‘species of special concern.’”

“In addition,” added Forsgren, “there was an obvious focus on doom and gloom scenarios that hardly reflected a species that has been increasing in population for 30 years.”

At the meeting, Gil McRae, director of the FWC’s Florida Marine Research Institute, told Commissioners that scientists fed 1,000 simulations each of 16 different possible sets of circumstances into a computer for analysis. In no case did the computer conclude that manatees are in danger of extinction within the next 100 years.

Under a lawsuit settlement with the Manatee Club and other plaintiffs, the FWC has taken action to increase manatee protection. A similar settlement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has resulted in additional rules, sometimes in conflict with state action.

Nevertheless, the state’s manatee-protection efforts are not tied to the state’s classification process, so a change in classification does not mean a change in protection. The USFWS, on the other hand, uses different criteria, and that agency has no announced plans to change its classification of manatees as “endangered.” Manatees have the full protection of a federally listed endangered species, regardless of their classification at the state level.

FWC Adopts Manatee Recovery Goals
At the same meeting the FWC did adopt a set of “measurable biological goals for manatee recovery.” The adoption of such goals was mandated by the 2002 Florida Legislature which passed a law, supported by CCA Florida and a coalition of conservation organizations, requiring the FWC to develop the goals to define manatee recovery and to use the goals in developing management plans and evaluating progress in manatee recovery.

The three goals identified are:

• statistical confidence that the average annual rate of adult manatee survival is 90 percent or greater,
• statistical confidence that the average annual percentage of adult female manatees accompanied by first- or second-year calves in winter is 40 percent or greater, and
• statistical confidence that the average annual rate of population growth is equal to or greater than zero.

“We’ve consistently supported the establishment of biological goals as necessary to determine the level and degree of recovery needed to protect the species,” said Forsgren. “The goals are important to insure that the species is managed based on science and not emotion.”

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Third Synoptic Survey to Count Manatees Complete

According to biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI), optimal weather conditions contributed to the success of the January 26-28 statewide synoptic survey to count manatees. The count produced a total number of 3,029 manatees; the third highest count since the survey began in 1991.

On Florida’s Gulf coast, observers counted 1,324 manatees; on the East coast, observers counted 1,705 manatees.

Twenty-two teams, consisting of 15 air and seven ground crews and 14 agencies, participated in this year’s latest survey.

The first synoptic survey of the year conducted on January 9 produced a total count of 2,861 manatees: 1,166 on Florida’s Gulf coast and 1,695 on the East coast.

The second synoptic survey this year, conducted January 21-22, produced a total count of 3,113 manatees: 1,299 on Florida’s Gulf coast and 1,814 on the East coast, which is a new record for the East coast population.

The 3,113 manatees counted was the second highest number ever recorded, only surpassed by the 3,276 manatees that were counted in 2001.

CCA Florida believes the continued high counts are simply further evidence of the expanding population of manatees.

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2002 in Review—Manatees, No-Fishing Zones and Net Ban Enforcement Dominate Issues

Following is a brief review of the advocacy accomplishments of CCA Florida during 2002.

Early in 2002, CCA Florida worked with a coalition of fishing and boating interests to pass the first major amendments to state manatee legislation in the last 10 years. The new law directed the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) to establish “measurable biological goals for manatee recovery” and establish local review panels which would include recreational fishermen to comment on all proposed manatee zones.

Later in the year, CCA Florida worked with the FWC on Phase I of the state manatee settlement agreement to insure reasonable access for recreational fishing in 12 new manatee zones. Major amendments were achieved for the Terra Ceia Bay, Turtle Bay, Indian Trail and Peace River zones, and the Stuart Crossroads proposal was deleted.

In response to CCA Florida’s petition, the FWC staff completed a “Biological Status Review of the Florida Manatee.” Although there were serious problems with the FWC staff’s computer modeling for population projections, the report did make two major findings which have impacted public opinion on the biological status of manatees. For the first time, a governmental scientific report clearly stated that there is no evidence that manatee populations have ever declined over the past 45 years, and in fact have expanded since the 1970s. The FWC staff also recommended that manatees be reclassified from “endangered” to “threatened.”

CCA Florida also developed the “Fraser Report - Part II,” which provided detailed comments on and specifically described major problems and biases in the FWC’s status review.

Net Ban Enforcement
Work continued during 2002 to close loopholes in the rules enforcing the constitutional “net ban.” The effort included convincing the FWC to begin rule-making to address the problem of netters tying a number of seine nets together to create huge nets far in excess of the 500-square-foot provision. Rules will also be developed to stop an ongoing “toy boat” scam in which all sorts of items—from plastic trays to car top luggage carriers—are used as “boats,” to allow additional nets to be fished at one time.

During the legislative session, CCA Florida supported a new law that holds fish house owners liable for purchasing or having any fish on their premises that were illegally caught. The bill also holds the owners of vessels and commercial fishing licenses liable for fines and confiscation of gear for illegal activities carried out by persons fishing from their boat or under their license.

Ongoing gillnetting abuses were also documented with the presentation to the FWC of a video of a blatant illegal gillnetting operation occurring in broad daylight in front of a residential community. Photographs were also presented of 7,000 pounds of Spanish mackerel in a 600-yard gillnet abandoned by illegal netters.

No-Fishing Zones
CCA Florida representatives also convinced the FWC to adopt a policy position formally opposing the establishment of “no-fishing zones” in Biscayne Bay National Park. CCA also worked with the American Sport-fishing Association to obtain congressional sponsors to introduce the Freedom to Fish Act which would require federal agencies to exhaust other fisheries management remedies before prohibiting recreational fishing. The act died with the ending of the 107th Congress, but is currently being redeveloped for reintroduction.

Red and Gag Grouper
Early in 2002, CCA Florida generated strong public opposition to a Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council proposal to prohibit recreational harvest of all grouper for four months, as part of the red grouper recovery plan. Following the grass roots effort, the council withdrew the proposal. A second advocacy effort before the Gulf Council a few months later ended with passage of a regulation banning the use of commercial longlines in the Gulf. However, the rule was tabled when new stock assessments came out showing red grouper take reductions did not have to be as stringent as previously estimated.

Special Report on Federal Fisheries
In October 2002, CCA Florida completed a Special Report, “Failures and Exploitation Bias in Federal Fishery Management Programs - Recommendations for Systemic Change.” The report details commercial representation imbalance on the 11 federal management boards and the effect it has had on species and major fisheries.

Habitat Restoration Projects
Members of CCA Florida’s Orlando Chapter initiated a project that included the planting of more than 23,000 mangrove trees along the shoreline of the Indian River Lagoon. The volunteers also established a marsh grass nursery in cooperation with local high schools to expand the project into saltmarsh restoration. Tampa Chapter members continued to work with Tampa BayWatch to create a series of new oyster bars to provide habitat and stabilize small mangrove islands in the greater Tampa Bay ecosystem. A third project involved the restoration of a shoreline habitat in conjunction with a Tampa Area homeowners organization. The restoration projects were supported by a total of $55,000 in foundation grant funding provided to CCA Florida from the FishAmerica Foundation and the Duckwall Foundation.

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We are deeply appreciative of Mercury Marine for their continued support of CCA Florida
conservation initiatives. Mercury provides motors at a discounted cost for every CCA Florida banquet. The motors are used to raise significant and vital funds for the protection of our marine resources.

CCA Florida would also like to recognize:

FLORIDA SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE and the WICKSTROM FAMILY for their generous support for our membership growth program and their work for marine conservation in Florida.

CALUSA CAST NETS and CRACKER CAST NETS for their consistent and longtime support of marine conservation through donated and discounted cast nets provided for every CCA Florida fundraising banquet.

THE ORVIS COMPANY who continues to make a significant annual donation of merchandise to CCA Florida.

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