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Advocacy

Advocacy

Support FWC’s Plan for Fishing in Biscayne Bay

In 2014, Biscayne National Park released a management plan that many recreational anglers considered a “lock-out.” Despite a lack of scientific backing and state support, the Park designated a large area as a marine reserve that would have been closed to fishing.

Now, there is potentially good news on the horizon.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has worked with the Park to develop a new plan that would improve the condition of the Park’s fisheries without implementing the marine reserve.

The new plan is science-based, avoids closed zones and proposes Park-specific aggregate bag and size limits to achieve the goal of increasing the abundance and average size of targeted species by 20%. The targeted species include snapper, grouper, hogfish, triggerfish, grunts, baitfish, stone crab and spiny lobster.

A link to the entire proposal can be found here.

Managing the park is extremely complex and while the proposal may not be perfect, its reliance on traditional fishery management tools rather than arbitrary no-fishing zones represents tremendous progress. It is important for anglers to voice support for the new plan to the FWC and ensure that exclusionary policies remain out of the Biscayne National Park management plan.

There are two ways you can help:

  • Send a message to the FWC that you support their new plan and oppose no-fishing reserves. Simply click the link below to help make a difference to the future of fishing in Biscayne.
  • Attend the Commission Meeting on October 2 and make your voice heard. Click here for more info.

Click the link below to log in and send your message:
https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/Rqvb19Q65nEbr1qKIopt9w

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