Table of Contents:

• CCA Florida Sets Strong Conservation Agenda for 1998

Legislation
Unification
Fish Traps
Snook
Federal Council Conflicts of Interest

• Awards Announced for Attorney General Bob Butterworth and Assistant Attorney General John Glogau

• Net Scams - Still Another Sequel

Other Litigation

• Closing In on Unification

Hearings Schedule

• Snook Management Considered for 1998

CCA Florida Sets Strong Conservation Agenda for 1998

At its January meeting, the CCA Board of Directors, expressing major concerns for the rampant poaching that continues to take place in state waters, approved an aggressive conservation agenda for the coming year that emphasizes improved net ban enforcement.

"Our number one priority for 1998 is to take on these poaching problems by taking a determined approach to net ban enforcement," said Tom Fuess, 1998 Chairman of the CCA Florida Board of Directors.

A large part of the effort will be directed at many of the numerous trouble spots along Florida’s Gulf Coast where enforcement, and in many cases the court system, is proving to be largely ineffective. Although it’s apparent that the illegal harvest of roe mullet is exceeding even last year’s rampant poaching activities, fewer arrests were made in 1997 than in 1996.

Of the arrests that are being made, however, many have included incredibly large amounts of fish along with netters working in teams. In one Panhandle case five men were caught with two tons of illegally caught roe mullet. In another case in Southwest Florida, Marine Patrol officers nabbed more than 7,000 pounds of mullet along with several nets and four mullet boats.

"We’re calling for action on a number of fronts," said Fuess, "including stepped up law enforcement on the water and in the fish houses, and a temporary or even permanent closure of mullet roe season."

Legislation

A substantial effort will be directed towards net ban enforcement legislation during this year’s two-month session which is scheduled to begin on March 2. Legislation is also being developed that would address the constant attempts around the state to circumvent the constitutional netting restrictions in local courts by claiming inconsistencies in defining a gill net or vagueness in the amendment (see Net Scams - Still Another Sequel). Senator Jack Latvala (R-Palm Harbor), who championed last year’s major marine fisheries legislation has indicated a strong interest in additional legislation to enforce the constitution.

At press time, Senator Latvala had already introduced SB 152, which is sponsored by Rep. Sandy Safley (R- Clearwater) in the House, and which is written to prevent Florida’s governors from nominating paid commercial-fishing lobbyists for selection to federal fisheries protection councils. The legislation comes as a direct result of the appointment of a commercial lobbyist to the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the subsequent weakening of proposed amberjack conservation provisions.

CCA members and the Grassroots Network will be busy during the upcoming legislative session providing a conservation perspective to legislators from their area. Members interested in becoming a part of their local Grassroots Network should contact their chapter president and should keep a copy of the Yellow Pages located in the center of this publication.  (Contact CCA Florida for information.)

In addition to enforcement issues, CCA Florida will be working throughout the year in support of the Constitution Revision Commission’s proposal to unify all fish and wildlife agencies (see Unification). CCA will also continue to monitor the commission to prevent any adverse impacts on Article X, Section 16 (net ban) of the Florida constitution.

CCA Florida and its sister state organizations along the Gulf Coast will continue the effort to rid the Gulf of Mexico of fish traps. An immediate goal is passage of a Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council reef fish amendment to prohibit all fish traps within two years.

On another front, conservationists will be working for passage of a Florida Marine Fisheries Commission rule that would prohibit use of fish traps in all state fisheries and prohibit their use for taking species in federal waters where no federal plan exists.

CCA representatives and members will be developing recommendations for the MFC Snook Management regulations and will be participating in statewide public hearings (see Snook).

In addition to support for passage of SB 152, CCA continues to seek the removal of and/or voting censure of a commercial lobbyist currently sitting on the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Along with other state chapters, CCA Florida will be pushing for changes in the financial conflicts rules and policies of the National Marine Fisheries Service in regards to council appointments.

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The Board of Directors of CCA Florida has voted to give Marine Fisheries Conservation awards to Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth and Assistant Attorney General John Glogau.

"These conservation awards are in recognition of the strong support and legal representation given by Attorney General Butterworth's office to defend and uphold the 'Save Our Sealife' constitutional amendment," said CCA Florida Executive Director Ted Forsgren.

Litigation on the major industry lawsuit challenging the amendment was resolved in September 1997 when the Florida Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the net limiting amendment. Throughout the two-year legal battle Attorney General Butterworth's office provided excellent legal representation with Assistant Attorney General John Glogau serving as lead attorney.

Additionally, the Attorney General's office, through John Glogau, continues to provide legal representation for the Marine Fisheries Commission on laws to implement the constitutional amendment which have been challenged by commercial netting interests.

Although CCA Florida has annually given Legislative Conservation Awards, this is the first time in its 13-year history that the organization has given major conservation awards to anyone in the executive branch.

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Representatives of a commercial fishing group are trying to convince Florida’s courts through a lawsuit filed in Wakulla County that a 500-square-foot gill net, with a small piece of seine netting is really just a seine net, which is allowed under the constitution. If it gills fish, well, that’s just an accident.

The argument is based upon the definition of a seine net in an outdated rule which says that a seine net is a net in which the "main body" of the net is composed of seine material.

Sound familiar? It’s the same scam that was used to trick the taxpayers of Florida out of millions of dollars in the net buy-out program by sewing a small piece of seine netting into a gill net and selling it back to the state as a seine net, worth many times the value.

In order to clear up the question the Marine Fisheries Commission passed a rule last year that defined seine netting as having mesh less than two inches. However, the commercial industry has filed a legal administrative challenge to that rule and tied it up indefinitely.

Despite the fact that the statute says seine material should constitute the "main body of the net," a circuit court judge has sided with the netters and has twice issued injunctions to allow the use of the gill nets. Each time the state has counter-filed to stop the injunction.

There are currently dozens of cases pending in North Florida in which commercial netters were arrested for gilling fish with the so-called seine nets. Yet the industry insists, and is trying to prove in court, that they are using legal nets.

There are currently five other lawsuits against the Save Our Sealife Amendment in addition to the seine-net scam and the related administrative challenge.

• In Franklin County a judge has ruled that the definition of gill nets is vague and unconstitutional.

• In Wakulla County a judge has declared the constitution vague in what it defines as nautical or statute miles, and in the definition of the "coastline."

• In Dixie County a judge has ruled that the statute passed in the previous legislative session requiring boats with gill nets to go directly to federal waters is vague and unconstitutional.

• Again in Franklin County a court order prevents the Marine Patrol from measuring the length of a shrimp net if the opening is at least 30 feet in diameter.

• And in Leon County there’s a challenge against the practice of harvesting ladyfish with tarp purse seines for use as food fish. According to Florida statutes, it’s illegal to harvest food fish with a purse seine.

Closing In on Unification

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The effort to create a Unified Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has taken a major step forward thanks to recent action by Florida’s Constitution Revision Commission (CRC). During a critical vote in mid-January, the proposed Wildlife Unification Amendment was unanimously approved 24-0. The next step will be three public hearings at which citizens can comment on the amendment before the CRC takes a final vote in May. If the proposal again receives 22 votes or more, it will go on the November ballot for public approval.

If approved by voters, the proposed amendment would combine the Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) with the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission to form the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The new agency would have constitutional status with final rule-making authority, allowing for independent management decisions based on science and conservation, not political pressure.

"CRC Commissioners Clay Henderson, Carlos Alfonso, and James Harold Thompson deserve special recognition for their guidance and leadership in making the vote a reality," said Dave Lear, campaign director for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee. Representatives of CCA Florida and the Florida Wildlife Federation also testified in support of the amendment. Members of both organizations also appeared at preliminary public hearings urging consideration of the amendment.

The CRC’s action was especially significant in light of a Florida Supreme Court Decision that took place just three days earlier. The citizens’ initiative to place the unification amendment on the ballot via a petition drive was temporarily stalled when the court narrowly ruled, by a four to three margin, that the ballot summary didn’t fully explain the amendment’s transfer of legislative powers.

"We were disappointed by the Court’s ruling, but the 80,000-plus petitions we gathered over the last two years demonstrated the popularity and public support of the amendment, so none of those petitions were wasted," said Lear.

The Wildlife Unification Amendment has been endorsed by the Coastal Conservation Association Florida, Florida Wildlife Federation, Florida Audubon Society, Sierra Club-Florida Chapter, Florida Consumers Action Network, and more than 200 conservation, environmental and animal welfare organizations in the state. It has also received endorsements from the city of Sanibel, the village of Tequesta, and four different county commissions, in addition to numerous major newspaper editorial boards.

CCA members are requested to immediately write the Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) in favor of CS/CS for Proposal 45, the Wildlife Unification Amendment.

Commend the CRC for initially approving the amendment and urge commissioners to recommend the proposal for a public vote in November. It’s also important for members to attend the three public hearings in March to demonstrate public support for Unification. For more information, please contact the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee, P.O. Box 5848, Tallahassee, FL 32314 or call (800) 647-9912.

Address your letters to:
Chairman Dexter Douglass
Constitution Revision Commission
Room B-11, Historic Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399
http://www.law.fsu.edu/crc

Two CRC public hearings are scheduled for March 6 in Fort Lauderdale (Hull Auditorium, Nova University in Davie) and March 12 in St. Petersburg (USF/DEP Joint Use Auditorium, University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus). Both meetings will be held from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. For more information on the meetings, call the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee at (800) 647-9912.

Snook Management Considered for 1998

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At the 1997 Summer Board Meeting, the CCA Florida Board of Directors voted to send a letter to the Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) urging them to examine an array of management options including a one-fish bag limit, changes in slot size, or no change at all. These possible options were for the west coast only, no changes were suggested for the east coast.

In response to that and other requests, the MFC held a two-day snook symposium last October to allow various interested parties to discuss their ideas for snook management changes. DEP provided information on projected management impacts covering a range of options.

Consequently, at their December 1997 meeting, the Marine Fisheries Commission voted to consider changes to snook management in 1998, and directed their staff to schedule a series of statewide public workshops to receive comment on proposals that would:

• reduce the daily bag limit for snook from two fish per person to one fish statewide;

• establish minimum/maximum size slot limits for snook of 26 to 34 inches, 28 to 36 inches, or 30 to 38 inches total length statewide;

• add either the month of February or May to the snook statewide closed season;

• allow the harvest of snook by spearing, as requested by a representative of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)Ccurrently snook may only be legally harvested by hook and line.

CCA Florida chairman Tom Fuess has also appointed a subcommittee to review all snook information and prepare a draft CCA Florida Snook Management recommendation that will be submitted to all chapters for review and comment and then finalized for formal Executive Committee review and approval.

Members with knowledge of snook populations in their area should plan to attend the snook workshop nearest them. Initially workshops were held in February in Cocoa and Orlando. Additional workshops will soon be scheduled for Ft. Myers Ft. Pierce, Islamorada, Miami, Naples, Sarasota, Tarpon Springs, Tampa and West Palm Beach.

Comments on snook management can also be sent to Ted Forsgren at Tallahassee headquarters for distribution to the CCA Snook Management Committee. For a complete copy of the MFC’s Snook Management Options as well as workshop scheduling updates contact the Marine Fisheries Commission, 2540 Executive Center Circle, Suite 106, Tallahassee, FL 32301; 850-487-0554 or visit their web page at http://www.dep.state.fl.us/mfc/

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