The official publication of the Coastal Conservation Association Florida
SEAWATCH October 2003 Issue #97
- CCA Applauds Gulf Council Decision to Allow Surface Trolling in Grouper Reserves -- by Ted Forsgren
- Tampa
Bay Citizen Group Stands Behind County Efforts to Protect Manatees
-- by Rick
Farren
- Overfishing of Pompano Prompts New Regulations -- by Ted Forsgren
- Sargassum Management Plan Finally Approved -- by Rick Farren
- Marine Conservationists Make Stand with Freedom to Fish Act
- Law Enforcement
Incident Review --
by Rick Farren
CCA Applauds Gulf Council Decision to Allow Surface Trolling in Grouper Reserves
by Ted Forsgren, CCA Florida Executive Director
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has made a precedent-setting
decision in denying the creation of two arbitrary no-fishing zones in
the northern Gulf of Mexico. The ruling allows recreational anglers to
continue to troll for coastal pelagic species on the surface while restricting
bottom fishing in the two, 100 square mile areas.
The Madison-Swanson and Steamboat Lumps reserves, off the central Panhandle
coast, were created in 1999 to protect stressed gag grouper stocks. The
Council’s decision maintains a total ban on bottom fishing in the
two areas and allows surface trolling from May to November—the most
popular months for anglers fishing for pelagic species. The areas are
completely closed during the winter months when large numbers of gag grouper
gather there to spawn.
“We are very pleased that the Council based its decision on the science,”
said Fred Miller, chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations
Committee. “This is the conservation measure we had in mind when
CCA first offered its support of closed areas for gag grouper stocks in
1999. The process was much more difficult than it needed to be, but the
end result is sound management of the resource based on science, without
an arbitrary closure to trolling.”
In 1999, it was determined that the two areas are the sites of significant
spawning aggregations of gag grouper. CCA supported the initial, experimental
proposal to close the two areas to all bottom fishing to enhance recovery
of gag grouper stocks.
However, when the proposal was expanded at the last minute to ban all
fishing, CCA filed suit in federal district court. CCA argued that preventing
fishing for unrelated and healthy fish stocks in the mid- to upper-levels
of the water column was unnecessary to conserve gag grouper residing on
the bottom, 200 to 400 feet below the surface.
A settlement agreement between CCA and the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) was reached in 2001. As a result NMFS agreed not to ban trolling
for coastal pelagics until research could determine if it was possible
to catch grouper while trolling on the surface for king mackerel, wahoo,
dolphin and other species.
Research, conducted by NMFS in June 2003, clearly demonstrated that it
is virtually impossible to do so, thus providing the scientific basis
for the Council to deny creation of the blanket no-fishing zones.
Initially, NMFS had released information describing “trolling”
research methods that had successfully caught gag grouper, lending support
to the idea that the areas should be closed to all forms of fishing. Those
methods included heavy weights, steel line and speeds of one to two knots
or less. Not a single coastal pelagic was caught during the research using
those methods.
CCA protested the methodology of the research, suggesting that the point
of the research was not to find a way to catch gag grouper using the most
abnormal means possible. It was to determine if, under normal circumstances,
a recreational fisherman trolling for coastal pelagics could catch grouper.
Clearly the answer is no.
“We have contended all along that surface trolling in the reserves
will not impact spawning gag grouper,” said Alex Jernigan, chairman
of CCA’s Gulf of Mexico Fishery Committee. “This decision is
a good compromise and it shows that the Council is adhering to the original
intention to create the reserves for gag grouper while allowing non-harmful
recreational trolling.”
The Council also adopted CCA’s recommendation to add an additional
conservation measure by prohibiting the possession of any reef fish while
in the Madison-Swanson and Steamboat Lumps areas.
[return to Table of Contents]
Tampa
Bay Citizen Group Stands Behind County Efforts to Protect Manatees
by Rick Farren, Communications Director
of CCA Florida
The first local manatee advisory group has completed a series of
six meetings during which state-proposed manatee speed zones for Tampa
Bay were reviewed and largely rejected.
The Florida Legislature, in 2002, passed legislation mandating the establishment
of balanced local advisory groups to review proposed manatee regulations.
The CCA-backed bill, introduced by Senator Bill Posey and Representative
Lindsay Harrington, called for these committees to comment on proposed
state manatee speed zone rules before final action is taken by the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
“We supported creation of the local groups because we firmly believe
that local anglers, fishing guides, other water users, and environmental
interests can provide valuable input up front to assist in balancing the
protection needs for manatees and reasonable boating access,” said
Ted Forsgren, CCA Florida executive director. “Recreational fishing
and manatee conservation are compatible activities and management measures
can be developed which allow both to survive.”
The first advisory group was formed to study proposals by the FWC staff
for Tampa Bay, which involves Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee counties.
“The FWC staff came in with a proposal that would have created thousands
of acres of new speed zones,” said Forsgren. “However, the group
rejected virtually all of the staff recommendations.”
The main reason for the group’s action was the tremendous success
in protecting manatees that’s already been seen in the Tampa Bay
area because of measures taken by the three counties. “We felt the
citizens of Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee counties have an ongoing
manatee protection program that’s been very successful,” said
Steve Furman, president of the CCA Florida Tampa Chapter. “CCA used
data from the Florida Marine Research Institute to demonstrate substantial
increases in population counts while watercraft collision numbers remained
flat.” As the graph below clearly demonstrates, all manatee mortalities
in Tampa Bay, including those resulting from watercraft collisions, have
remained low, while the number of manatees using the bay has steadily
risen from 88 in 1985 to nearly 400 last year. In fact, the number of
watercraft mortalities in Tampa Bay hasn’t risen above nine in any
of the last 17 years that the population has been growing.
Nevertheless, the FWC staff still came forward with proposals that would
have severely restricted boater and fishing access. “Their action
begs the question of how much faster do the manatee population counts
need to rise before they feel that current regulations are sufficient?”
said Forsgren.
The FWC staff is charged with analyzing whether or not existing regulations
are sufficient to protect manatees in a given area. If regulations are
found to be deficient, then additional protection measures can be considered.
That simply wasn’t the case in Tampa Bay, so the massive amount of
additional regulations were unnecessary.
“Basically,” said Forsgren, “the group felt that if it’s
not broken, it doesn’t need to be fixed. They instead primarily deferred
to the counties to continue the excellent job they’ve done so far.”
The group’s report, which was completed on August 27, will be taken
into consideration by the FWC staff, which will then submit protection
recommendations to the full commission.
CCA is also pleased to note that FWC commissioner David Meehan, who is
from the Tampa Bay area, attended every meeting of the advisory group.
The commissioners have consistently recognized the importance of including
angler and boater opinions into future protection proposals.
Overfishing of Pompano Prompts New Regulations
by Ted Forsgren, CCA Florida Executive Director
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has approved
a series of amendments to pompano and permit management regulations. The
new rules are in response to an FWC stock assessment which found that
pompano is overfished on both coasts and requires a 10 percent reduction
in harvest.
Among the amendments, which go into effect on January 1, is an increase
in the minimum size limit from 10 to 11 inches fork length and a reduction
in the recreational bag limit for pompano and permit from 10 to six. (The
two species are regulated together because of their similar appearance
when young.) Another important factor in the FWC’s decision was that
according to biologists with the Florida Marine Research Institute, about
50 percent of all pompano reach sexual maturity between 11 and 12 inches.
The increased size limit means more fish will be able to spawn each year.
CCA Florida is generally pleased with the increase in the minimum size
for both recreational and commercial fishermen. We felt it was the best
option to insure protection for the resource because it prohibits sale
of pompano less than 11 inches or larger than 20 inches—effectively
taking a large segment of the pompano population out of the hands of the
poachers. (Recreational anglers may keep one pompano or permit greater
than 20 inches.)
The overriding issue for pompano, however, isn’t size limits or bag
limits, it’s the control of illegal netting. Pompano have an extremely
high market value and are a lucrative target for illegal netters. Unless
more rule amendments and law enforcement actions to substantially reduce
poaching are directed at pompano, then further restrictions on legal commercial
and recreational fishermen will not achieve resource protection goals.
Continued reductions on legal fishermen will simply increase the numbers
of fish available to poachers.
On the other hand, if the FWC acts to substantially reduce the illegal
poaching of pompano, the 10 percent take reduction and the resource protection
goals will be achieved.
We are also encouraged that the FWC staff was directed to look at future
measures CCA had offered to address the ongoing illegal netting problems.
One such measure would prohibit possession of more than the recreational
bag limit of pompano at night. Since the majority of pompano poaching
takes place at night, this restriction would enable law enforcement to
more effectively prevent illegal netting while not interfering with the
normal daytime activities of hook and line commercial pompano fishermen.
The Commissioners also brought up the question of whether penalties for
illegal gillnetting are sufficient to curtail the poaching of pompano
and other species. Currently, it’s a felony under state law to “molest”
a crab trap, but it’s only a misdemeanor to use a gill net to illegally
harvest hundreds of pounds of pompano.
CCA also recommended a vessel limit reduction for hook and line commercial
fishermen from 250 fish per day to 175. Such a reduction would have little
impact on the commercial hook and line fishery—the primary legitimate
fishery. It would, however, further hamper illegal netters seeking to
take large numbers of fish with banned gear. Commissioners did decide
that the 250 daily vessel limit will now also apply to pompano harvested
in federal waters. Currently, there is no bag limit for pompano supposedly
taken in “federal” waters.
Special Activity License Program
Another new rule amendment eliminates the pompano special activity license
program in all areas of the state except Southwest Florida. This program
has not established that a viable pompano gill net fishery exists anywhere
in federal waters off Florida, other than a questionable fishery in Southwest
Florida. Elimination of most of this program will prevent further development
of a commercial pompano fishery with gill nets in federal waters.
CCA has consistently opposed the special activity license program and
continues to question the necessity of maintaining it in Southwest Florida.
Currently only two of the 89 commercial netters holding special pompano
permits in that part of the state have demonstrated they can catch pompano
in federal waters. It’s fairly obvious there is not a fishery in
federal waters, and the special permits only provide another loophole
in the attempt to remove gill nets from the pompano fishery. The 87 other
permit holders should be given time to demonstrate to observers that they
can catch pompano in federal waters. If not, their permits should be revoked.
Vessel Limit for Permit
In a related development, Commissioners directed staff to schedule public
workshops in South Florida to receive input on a proposal to establish
a daily vessel limit for permit greater than 20 inches in length. This
proposal is intended to reduce the recreational harvest of large permit
in Florida, which is considered to be a prized game fish.
Sargassum Management Plan Finally Approved
by Rick Farren, Communications Director of CCA Florida
Passage of the sargassum management plan may open the door to long-awaited,
dolphin and wahoo conservation measures.
After six years a management plan to protect sargassum in the South Atlantic
Ocean has finally been approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS). The 228-page Fishery Management Plan for Pelagic Sargassum Habitat,
which was developed by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council,
sets a restricted harvest level and limits the area where sargassum can
be harvested.
Sargassum is a free-floating seaweed found throughout the South Atlantic.
It serves as essential fish habitat for more than 100 species of fish
including juvenile marlin, sailfish and dolphin (mahi mahi), 145 species
of invertebrates such as crabs, five species of sea turtles, and a number
of marine bird species. Many free-roaming pelagic fish, especially dolphin,
use the floating mats of seaweed as a place to find both food and shelter.
The protection of sargassum has been a major initiative of CCA Florida’s
Bluewater Campaign since the mid-90s. “This is good news for offshore
anglers,” said CCA Florida Chairman Michael Kennedy. “It’s
not quite as strong as the protection plan that we supported in 1999,
but it does limit the harvest of this important resource, and discourages
future harvesters from entering the fishery.”
Despite years in development and overwhelming support from the conservation
community for the original plan, it was rejected by NMFS in 1999 because
it didn’t include a commercial harvest component. At the time a North
Carolina company was harvesting the seaweed for use in the feed supplement
industry.
The new regulation prohibits all harvest south of the North Carolina/South
Carolina state line, sets a total allowable catch of 5,000 pounds of wet
weight per year, limits harvest to November through June, prohibits harvest
within 100 miles of shore, and requires that observers be present onboard
any vessel harvesting sargassum.
Between 1995 and 1997 (the last years during which NMFS has recorded any
harvest) annual harvest levels amounted to an average of around 14,000
pounds. In 1990, 200,000 pounds of sargassum was harvested, by far the
largest amount of any year before or after. During years of continuous
harvest between 1981 and 1988 amounts averaged 19,000 pounds per year.
“We’ve worked hard and waited a long time for action to take
place on sargassum,” said Kennedy. “Now we can only hope NMFS
moves more swiftly to provide protection for dolphin and wahoo.”
Because sargassum is considered “Essential Fish Habitat” for
dolphin, approval of the rule should open the way for final consideration
of proposed dolphin and wahoo regulations which have languished with the
federal agency for many years. CCA Florida and chapters in other southeastern
states worked with the council to craft the currently-proposed dolphin
and wahoo management plan.
A copy of the sargassum management plan can be found at www.safmc.net.
Marine Conservationists Make Stand with Freedom to Fish Act
Under the deceivingly benign banner of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs),
a network of federal “no-fishing zones” in the Gulf of Mexico,
Atlantic and Pacific oceans threatens to arbitrarily deny recreational
fishermen access to U.S. marine resources. In response, the Coastal Conservation
Association is urging Congress to pass the Freedom
to Fish Act (H.R. 2890) in the 108th Congress to ensure that excluding
recreational anglers from a public resource is a last resort, not a first
option, in fisheries management.
With current and proposed bans on recreational fishing encompassing as
much as 20 percent of U.S. waters, CCA and the American Sportfishing Association
worked with congressional leaders to draft the Freedom to Fish Act.
“Modern fishery management techniques work, and the Freedom to Fish
Act will ensure that MPAs are another tool available to fishery managers,
not the only tool,” said David Cummins, CCA National president. “The
majority of anglers are firmly committed to the concept of conservation,
yet these no-fishing zones threaten to remove them from the very environment
they have protected for so long. Arbitrary exclusion zones are simply
not an acceptable approach.”
The Act includes a specific set of criteria for the proper utilization
of MPAs, while acknowledging recreational anglers’ freedom to access
our nation’s renewable marine fisheries.
Congressman Jim Saxton (NJ-3rd) recently introduced the Freedom to Fish
Act in the House of Representatives.
“Up and down the East and West Coast, the story is the same,”
said Congressman Saxton, vice chairman of the House Fisheries Conservation,
Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee. “Sensible fishing policies must
be based on sound science. This bill establishes reasonable, scientifically-based
standards that must be met before our marine waters can be closed off
to recreational fishing.”
The use of no-fishing zones ignores the success achieved by modern fishery
management techniques and instead presents a one-size-fits-all management
measure that bans all fishing in a specific area, forever. The Freedom
to Fish Act provides a logical set of criteria to determine if and when
MPAs provide the only viable solution to a fishery management problem,
or if other, less extreme measures will suffice.
“Recreational fishermen have long promoted management measures that
include not only size restrictions and bag limits, but also special management
zones, gear-restricted areas, time and area closures, and closures with
regard to specific species,” said Fred Miller, chairman of CCA’s
National Government Relations Committee. “These measures have been
successfully employed to restore popular sportfish decimated by commercial
overfishing, such as red drum, striped bass and Spanish mackerel, among
others. Yet some groups seem to view recreational anglers as merely another
problem to be solved. We see ourselves as part of the solution.”
[return to Table
of Contents]
Law Enforcement Incident Review
by Rick Farren, Communications Director of CCA Florida
The following excerpts were derived from weekly law enforcement reports provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission between April and August of this year. Although only a small portion of the number of law enforcement actions taken by FWC officers, it demonstrates the statewide effort being made against illegal netting, as well as the need to continue to target such violations. The remnants of illegal netting activity remaining eight years after implementation of the net ban is still causing significant damage to Florida’s marine resources.
On the night of July 6, in Charlotte County, two officers on patrol
in Charlotte Harbor observed the silhouette of a net boat running without
lights. A stop and inspection of the vessel revealed eight seine nets
on board a 23-foot commercial fishing vessel with motor forward of the
center point. All the nets were connected forming one large net approximately
3,300 square feet in mesh area. The fisherman was reportedly “belligerent,
argumentative, and refused to comply with the officers instructions.”
In Collier County, on April 26, three repeat violators were arrested
and booked into the Collier County Jail for numerous net and resource
violations. The arrests were based on information that a group of fishermen
would be working an illegal net that night. The officers staked out a
boat ramp, and at about 2 a.m. a blacked-out skiff pulled up with three
people onboard. An inspection of the vessel revealed more than 600 yards
of illegal gill net along with undersized permit, sheepshead, black drum,
snook and bonefish. Snook and redfish were still entangled in the net.
The captain of a shrimp boat was arrested on April 19 in Escambia County
for fishing with oversized nets in the southwest portion of Escambia Bay.
A number of netting arrests occurred the past few months in Franklin
County. On May 6, officers on patrol approached two net skiffs. One
skiff veered off to the shoreline and dumped a large object on the beach
that turned out to be a wet trammel net approximately 250 yards long.
Approximately 500 pounds of fish were seized.
A patrol near Cape San Blas on May 20 stopped a vessel trawling 2.4 miles
seaward of the territorial Sea Base Line. The shrimper was using four
large trawls that averaged 1,750 square feet each.
On June 19, an officer walking a beach at Yents Bayou located a 100-yard
monofilament trammel net and a 200-yard monofilament gill net that had
been hidden above the high water line.
In the early hours of July 9, also in Franklin County, an officer investigating
an oyster boat found two fishermen onboard but no oystering equipment.
A cast net onboard appeared dry, and there were a few mullet in the fish
box. The officer opened a box and found a 100-yard monofilament gill net.
During an early morning net detail on August 31 three subjects were caught
on a boat with a monofilament net and 100 pounds of mullet. One of those
arrested had just been to court on similar charges two weeks earlier.
In Hillsborough County, on July 31, two commercial fishermen were
caught using seine nets that measured 1,675, 1,640, 990, and 1,550 square
feet.
An officer patrolling Indian River County in early April observed
five individuals wading and pulling coolers. The subjects also had an
80-yard gill net that they admitted using.
An estimated 900-1000 yards of monofilament and nylon gill nets were retrieved
from the waters of Apalachee Bay in Jefferson County on May 23
and 24. The nets were concealed at the water’s edge and hidden under
canvas and palm fronds. Another 400-yard gill net, laced with dead fish,
was retrieved from the waters nearby.
On April 30, a net limitation enforcement detail in Manatee County
spotted a group of fishing vessels. When approached, the vessels fled
in opposite directions. Officers apprehended one of the fishermen and
recovered one net skiff with approximately 500 yards of monofilament entangling
net.
In late April, a night flight to look for illegal netting activity in
Manatee and Sarasota counties resulted in the seizure of 650 yards
of monofilament gill net and a 22-foot vessel.
FWC officers out of Monroe County patrolling the Tortugas Shrimp
Sanctuary on April 17 documented five vessels shrimping in closed state
waters. The vessels were boarded, their catch secured, and all were ordered
to return to the docks in Key West. The captain and crew for one of the
vessels cooperated with the FWC officials, had its catch seized, and posted
a bond for the nets and doors. The captains of the four other vessels
refused to assist with off loading of their product. They were booked
into the Monroe County Jail with a bond for each set at $50,000. A total
of 61,500 pounds of shrimp was seized.
On July 18, officers in Pasco County caught three individuals in
a commercial skiff using a seine net that was 1,500 square feet. The net
and 115 pounds of mullet were seized.
St. Lucie County officers received word from the State Attorneys
Office in early April that a previously-arrested subject had pled out
on charges in a case that included gillnetting in state waters, possessing
a net over 500 square feet in area on a vessel less than 22 feet in length,
a net transiting violation, and unlawful method of harvesting pompano.
The fine agreed to in the plea bargain was $4,000.
Fish and Wildlife officers, with air support, recovered and destroyed
800 yards of abandoned monofilament gill net in Wakulla County
on August 21.
[Return to Table of Contents] [Return to CCA Florida home page] [Return to list of SeaWatch publications]
Thank You
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.
OCEAN WAVES, our newest official sponsor, providing four pairs of sunglasses and a Guy Harvey Print to each of CCA Florida's fundraising banquets.
[Click here to see our 2003 Banquet Schedule.]
