CCA Florida States Position on Controversial Everglades National Park Plan

CCA Florida has issued a position statement and recommendations in response to the National Parks Service’s May, 2007 release of four preliminary management plan draft alternatives. Alternative A would continue present management regulations. B, C and D would create boating restriction zones. A fifth option, Alternative E, has been proposed by the Florida Keys Guides Association (visit http://alternativee.com).

Alternative D proposes to outlaw combustion motor use over 150 square miles of traditional sight fishing shallows in Florida Bay proper, and close the most popular remote backcountry waters to motorboats, which has created an uproar among local anglers and those who travel from outside Florida.

CCA Florida established a special subcommittee of its Government Relations Committee to review the Park proposals, and to develop recommendations that would be more practical and fair across the board for all Park users, whether they fish from motorboats or kayaks and other paddle craft. The CCA Florida state board approved recommendations that state Alternative A (do-nothing alternative required by law) is acceptable with modification to reflect all restrictions and regulations already in place, and that Alternatives B, C and D are unacceptable. (To view the complete CCA Florida position statement visit www.ccaflorida.org and click on “CCA Florida Comments and Recommendations on Everglades National Park General Management Plan...”)

State officials have also commented on the Park’s proposed measures. “Leave it alone,” said Rodney Barreto, Key Largo resident and current Chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Everglades National Park Superintendent Dan Kimball attended the CCA Florida Convention in early July and stated that based on meetings with various stakeholders, personal “ground-truthing” trips into Park waters, and public comment, the NPS intends to modify the draft alternatives in regard to how they address boating in the Park. A revised set of preliminary alternatives for public comment should be released sometime in the fall.

—Mike Conner

Take Tautog (Blackfish) off the Market

They’re not pretty, but they are excellent on the table, and the consensus is building that poaching is causing rapidly declining numbers of tautog, a.k.a blackfish, a favorite inshore fish from the Northeast to mid-Atlantic coast.

Despite years of tightening regulations, tautog, a very slow-growing fish, have not recovered. The latest stock assessment concludes that total biomass is at very low levels which prompted the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) to approve an addendum to tautog management plan in January 2007 requiring states to reduce the tautog take by 25.6 percent for the 2008 season. However, the ASMFC also stipulates that this reduction apply only to the recreational fishery, and justifies this by claiming that 90 percent of the reported tautog harvest in the last 10 years has come from recreational anglers. Understandably, this raises a red flag with recreational anglers. Several states argued that by not reducing the commercial catch as well, the burden is unfairly placed on recreational anglers, especially in state waters where the legal, reported commercial take now exceeds 10 percent of the total take, and is expected to grow.

The “live-fish” business, a rather lucrative market wherein restaurants pay a premium for undersized, live fish, is thriving, and got its start in New York City. This, and the severe decline in cod populations, made tautog a more sought-out winter species.

Due to the inaction of the ASMFC, in August, New Jersey congressman Frank Pallone introduced the Atlantic Blackfish Conservation Act (HR 2939) to prohibit the commercial harvesting and sale of tautog (blackfish) in state and federal waters.

North Carolina Red Drum Committee Recommends Increased Commercial Limit

Just when it appears that redfish stocks are on the road to recovery in North Carolina, the Red Drum Advisory Committee voted in July to increase the commercial trip limit by 43 percent (from 7 to 10 fish) while keeping the one-fish recreational bag limit in place.

The last Red Drum Fisheries Management Plan, implemented in 1999, reduced the recreational limit from 5 to one fish per day, and set a 250,000-pound cap on the commercial fishery. An initial 100-pound trip limit was also implemented for commercial fishermen. The 250,000-pound cap was promptly exceeded substantially in 1999 and 2000, thus a 7-fish trip limit was established for the 2001 season, and a netter would have to have equal poundage of other fish in order to possess the 7 red drum.

“This makes no sense,” said Bill Mandulak, President of the Coastal Conservation Association North Carolina. “Red drum are just recovering from years of abuse and right when we get them on the right track, the netters are allowed to cut into those gains.”

According to Lee Paramore, biologist for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, it is the position of the Division staff to keep the commercial red drum limit at 7 fish, but the motion for the increase was made and “that’s how the vote went,” said Paramore. “It is early in the process, and this recommendation will have to go before the NC Marine Fisheries Commission in November to get to the next step, which is public hearings.”

For announcements of public hearings, visit www.ncfisheries.net and check with issues of Shallow Water Angler for updates.

SWA