SeaWatch is underwritten by THE ORVIS COMPANY

SEAWATCH May 2002 Issue #90

Table of Contents:

• Grouper Regulations Target Recreational Anglers - Again
• 2002 Florida Legislature Yields Conservation Gains
  
• Poachers Kill 7,000 Pounds of Spanish Mackerel in Illegal Gill Net
  
• Net Ban Off Again, On Again in Three North Florida Counties
• 2002 Fisheries Conservation Work Plan
  
• CCA Florida’s Year in Review - 2001
  

Grouper Regulations Target Recreational Anglers - Again

by Rick Farren, Communications Director

You could almost hear the yelling along the Florida Panhandle when the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council announced its “preferred alternative” proposal to close the recreational red and gag grouper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico for four months every year. It seemed that everybody who owned a grouper rod was angry, and for good reason. Once again recreational fishermen were being asked to accept extreme restrictions despite a long history of watching commercial operations take an ever-increasing percentage of the resource.

The Gulf Council announcement stated that the plan is designed to “achieve proportional harvest reductions in both the commercial and recreational fisheries.” Unfortunately, the history of federal management of grouper fisheries plainly shows a shift in the percentage of the overall harvest from recreational to commercial fishermen.

CCA Florida has always been willing to support necessary grouper conservation measures, as long as the councils adopt equally strong measures that maintain historical allocation between recreational and commercial fishermen, but that simply hasn’t been the case with grouper management. Commercial operations already take 87 percent of the harvest of Gulf of Mexico red grouper.

In fact, a CCA Florida analysis of Gulf grouper landings before and after federal regulations clearly indicates that the council’s past actions toward recreational fishermen in gag grouper management have been horribly inequitable. The cumulative impact of 11 years of Gulf Council gag grouper regulations has caused the annual recreational landings, after federal regulations, to be reduced by an average of 42 percent. Commercial landings have not been reduced at all. In fact, after enacting federal regulations, average annual commercial gag landings have increased by 7 percent!

Moving Bottom Longlines Out to the 50-Fathom Depth
Another part of the plan would move bottom longlines out to the 50-fathom depth contour throughout the Gulf. The change would dramatically reduce the use of commercial longlines to harvest red grouper since the majority of that species resides in shallower water.

Gag Grouper caught in the Gulf of Mexico.

CCA Florida strongly supports this action and believes that the highly-efficient gear, which catches grouper at a far faster rate than traditional hook-and-line gear, is responsible for the overfishing problem. For example, in 1999, longlines caught 66 percent of the commercial take of red grouper.

In addition, longlines are already prohibited inside 50 fathoms along the South Atlantic Coast and in the rest of the Gulf of Mexico west of Cape San Blas (located near Apalachicola, Florida). At CCA’s urging, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), last June, voted to endorse the idea of moving the longline boundary out to 50 fathoms.

For a copy of the Draft Red Grouper Amendment contact the Gulf Council at (813) 228-2815. Final action on the Red Grouper Amendment is now scheduled for the Gulf Council meeting in July 2002 in Sarasota.
CCA Florida urges all concerned recreational fishers to contact the Gulf Council and oppose the four-month gag grouper closure on recreational fishers.

Voice your concerns to:
Roy Williams, Chairman
Gulf of Mexico Fishery
Management Council
3018 U.S. Highway 301 North
Suite 1000
Tampa, FL 33619-2266

(813) 228-2815
Fax: (813) 225-7015
E-Mail: gulfcouncil@gulfcouncil.org

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CCA Florida is pleased to note a successful outcome to the 2002 Florida Regular Legislative Session. Although the grassroots network had to be called upon numerous times to support marine conservation issues, the final days saw passage of favorable legislation regarding the enforcement of the net ban and management of manatees.

NET BAN ENFORCEMENT LEGISLATION
Legislation was introduced early in the session by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)—SB 556 sponsored by Sen. Rod Smith and HB 1243 by Rep. Joe Pickens—that contained several statutory amendments designed to enhance net ban enforcement efforts against repeat violators and commercial fish houses that purchase illegally-netted fish.

The bill passed both houses with support from CCA Florida and the Organized Fishermen of Florida. The only opposition came from a small group of Wakulla County and Lee County commercial netters. The legislation 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 Saltwater Product licenses liable for fines and confiscation of gear for illegal activities carried out by persons fishing on their boat or under their license. Another component prohibits anyone with a suspended saltwater products license from fishing under another individual’s commercial license.

MANATEE MANAGEMENT
After a long and difficult track through several Senate and House committees, manatee management legislation was passed on the last day of the Regular Session. CCA Florida strongly supported two parts of the final legislation, which was initially introduced in the House by Representative Lindsay Harrington and in the Senate by Senator Bill Posey.

The first is a requirement for the FWC to develop a “measurable biological goal” for manatee recovery by February 2003. The second is a requirement for the FWC to establish a “balanced” local advisory group to review and comment on proposed manatee speed zone rules.

The measurable goal is to be used by the FWC in developing manatee management plans and to evaluate the effectiveness of existing and proposed rules. Nothing in the bill alters the final decision-making authority on all manatee protection rules which currently rests with the FWC. The final legislation was agreed to by fishing, boating and manatee groups.

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Poachers Kill 7,000 Pounds of Spanish
Mackerel in Illegal Gill Net
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is continuing its investigation into an illegal netting incident in which poachers netted and then abandoned, thousands of pounds of Spanish mackerel in a huge gillnet.

Poachers netted thousands of pounds of Spanish mackerel in a huge gillnet found in Sarasota County in March 2002.

“This is clearly a large scale poaching operation. It takes a pretty big net boat to set and retrieve 750 yards of gillnet with 7,000 pounds of fish,” said CCA Florida Executive Director Ted Forsgren. “In addition, that quantity of fish was certainly headed for a major fish house processing operation. This stuff wasn't going into a pickup truck for backdoor restaurant sales.”

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) contacted the FWC at 1 a.m. on March 18 and reported the abandoned gillnet in the Gulf of Mexico off of Sarasota County. FWC officers located the net just offshore and south of Midnight Pass. It took numerous trips with USCG and FWC vessels to recover the 750 yards of monofilament gillnet and more than 7,000 pounds of Spanish mackerel.

The fish netted by the poachers were part of the huge schools of large Spanish mackerel that have been seen by anglers off the beaches this spring in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

“The water has been very clear and over one, 3-day period I saw the biggest school of mackerel I've ever seen in my life,” said Captain Tom Stephens of Sarasota. “It was a steady, non-stop flow of fish, close in near the beaches, that stretched for at least 10 miles.”

“This is clearly a large scale poaching operation. It takes a pretty big net boat to set and retrieve 750 yards of gillnet with 7,000 pounds of fish,” said CCA Florida Executive Director Ted Forsgren.

“If this type of large scale, organized poaching is going on with Spanish mackerel, imagine what is happening to pompano which has a dockside value four times greater than mackerel,” said Forsgren.
FWC officials stated that their investigation is continuing to determine the individuals responsible for setting and abandoning the illegal gillnet. CCA Florida will provide updates on the status of the investigation as information becomes available to the public.

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Net Ban Off Again, On Again in Three North Florida Counties
CCA Florida Intervenes in Lawsuit

On February 12, a Panhandle circuit court judge ruled that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) regulation prohibiting nets with a stretched mesh larger than two inches was unconstitutional. (The two-inch measurement was established shortly after passage of the net ban to provide a determination of what constituted an illegal gill net versus a legal seine net.)

The judge’s ruling applied only in three coastal counties in the Second Judicial Circuit: Wakulla, Jefferson and Franklin. Attorneys from the FWC appealed the ruling and CCA Florida intervened in the case.
When the case was initially appealed, an automatic stay of the judge’s ruling took effect, which would have allowed the FWC’s rule to remain in force until the appeals court could resolve the issue. However, the circuit court issued an order on February 21, lifting the stay.

FWC attorneys then filed an emergency motion with the First District Court of Appeals, requesting that the court reimpose the stay until the appeal process had run its course. On March 14, the appeals court agreed, and reinstated the stay, clearing the way once again for FWC officers to resume enforcement of the two-inch stretched mesh net restrictions.

According to FWC attorneys, the plaintiffs are not likely to succeed in getting the latest ruling reversed, so the restrictions should remain in effect while the appeals court considers the case.

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Thank You

We are deeply appreciative of Mercury Marine for their continued support of CCA Florida
conservation initiatives.  Mercury donates two motors for every CCA Florida banquet. 

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.

STELLA MARINE of Palm Beach Gardens and Stuart for a major Gold Level donation in support of "our waters and fisheries and to do our part to make sure our children have the opportunity to enjoy those great natural resources."

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 in addition to underwriting a majority of the expenses related to publishing SEAWATCH.

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