Florida Archives - Page 22 of 62

Bipartisan Small Business Task Force Unveils Final $377 Billion Emergency Coronavirus Relief Package

March 25, 2020 — The following was released by the Office of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.):

The Keeping American Workers Paid and Employed Act would provide $377 billion to help prevent workers from losing their jobs and small businesses from going under due to economic losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Paycheck Protection Program would provide 8 weeks of cash-flow assistance through 100 percent federally guaranteed loans to small employers who maintain their payroll during this emergency. If the employer maintains its payroll, then the portion of the loan used for covered payroll costs, interest on mortgage obligations, rent, and utilities would be forgiven, which would help workers to remain employed and affected small businesses and our economy to recover quickly from this crisis. This proposal would be retroactive to February 15, 2020 to help bring workers who may have already been laid off back onto payrolls.

Paycheck Protecton Program

The bill would provide $350 billion to support loans through a new Paycheck Protection Program for:
- Small employers with 500 employees or fewer, as well as those that meet the current Small Business Administration (SBA) size standards;
- Self-employed individuals and “gig economy” individuals; and
- Certain nonprofits, including 501(c)(3) organizations and 501(c)(19) veteran organizations, and tribal business concerns with under 500 employees.
The size of the loans would equal 250 percent of an employer’s average monthly payroll. The maximum loan amount would be $10 million.
Covered payroll costs include salary, wages, and payment of cash tips (up to an annual rate of pay of $100,000); employee group health care benefits, including insurance premiums; retirement contributions; and covered leave.
The cost of participation in the program would be reduced for both borrowers and lenders by providing fee waivers, an automatic deferment of payments for one year, and no prepayment penalties.
Loans would be available immediately through more than 800 existing SBA-certified lenders, including banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions, and SBA would be required to streamline the process to bring additional lenders into the program.
The Treasury Secretary would be authorized to expedite the addition of new lenders and make further enhancements to quickly expedite delivery of capital to small employers.
The maximum loan amount for SBA Express loans would be increased from $350,000 to $1 million. Express loans provide borrowers with revolving lines of credit for working capital purposes.

Entreprenurial Assistance

The bill would provide $265 million for grants to SBA resource partners, including Small Business Development Centers and Women’s Business Centers, to offer counseling, training, and related assistance to small businesses affected by COVID-19.
$10 million would be provided for the Minority Business Development Agency to provide these services through Minority Business Centers and Minority Chambers of Commerce.

Emergency EIDL Grants

The bill would expand eligibility for entities suffering economic harm due to COVID-19 to access SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), while also giving SBA more flexibility to process and disperse small dollar loans.
The bill would allow businesses that apply for an EIDL expedited access to capital through an Emergency Grant—an advance of $10,000 within three days to maintain payroll, provide paid sick leave, and to service other debt obligations.
$10 billion would be provided to support the expanded EIDL program.

Small Business Debt Relief

The bill would require SBA to pay all principal, interest, and fees on all existing SBA loan products, including 7(a), Community Advantage, 504, and Microloan programs, for six months to provide relief to small businesses negatively affected by COVID-19.
$17 billion would be provided to implement this section.

Read the announcement here

Florida Lawmakers Send Shark Fin Ban to Governor

March 13, 2020 — Selling and possessing shark fins could soon be outlawed in Florida, joining about a dozen other states in attempting to protect sharks and remove the delicacy from restaurant menus.

The Florida Senate unanimously approved a measure already ratified by the state House, sending the legislation to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature.

The practice of shark finning has long been outlawed under federal law, but most states currently have no prohibitions against possessing and selling shark fins. A decade ago, Hawaii became the first state to ban the possession and sale of shark fins. Since then, about a dozen other states have enacted similar laws.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

FLORIDA: House passes shark fin ban — renamed after Kristin Jacobs — with carveout for domestic fishermen

March 10, 2020 — The House passed the Senate version of a bill (SB 680), which outlaws the import and export of fins to or from Florida.

However, one amendment was added, meaning the Senate will have to vote anew on the reconfigured bill.

Rep. Kristin Jacobs, in what may be some of her final remarks on the House floor, noted that a lot of traffic has moved through Miami due to that and other illicit trades.

“There’s no end to finding a black market for all kinds of things,” Jacobs noted, adding that shark carcasses have been used to traffic cocaine.

Shark finning is the process of catching a shark, removing its fins and discarding the shark. Shark finners usually drop the body back into the ocean, where it bleeds to death or drowns because it can no longer swim properly. The fins fetch a hefty price on the black market where they are most often sold to Asian countries.

Read the full story at Florida Politics

Florida Lobster Got a Break on China Tariffs. Then Came Coronavirus.

March 9, 2020 — Like other commercial fishermen along the east and west coasts, Ethan Wallace had been waiting 18 months for China — the world’s largest importer of live lobster — to lift its crushing retaliatory tariffs on American seafood that had whittled down his profits.

This week, that moment came: Beijing started allowing Chinese businesses to apply for tariff exemptions. But for Mr. Wallace, it no longer mattered.

Tariffs or not, no one in China is buying. The coronavirus outbreak meant the Lunar New Year banquets and wedding parties that feature a fresh lobster on every plate, a symbol of good fortune, were canceled. In several cities, restaurants are shuttered and public indoor gatherings are prohibited. And even if they weren’t, many of the planes that ferry live lobsters aren’t flying to China.

“Boom! Coronavirus,” said Mr. Wallace, 28, after he had steered Piece of the Pie, his 43-foot Torres boat, into the Keys Fisheries marina in Marathon. Although the season continues through the end of March, he and his crew that day took home more lobster traps than pounds of lobster from the Gulf of Mexico.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Federal Fishery Managers Address Broad Range of Issues During Meeting This Week

March 6, 2020 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

This week’s meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council in Jekyll Island, Georgia reflected the diversity of issues involved in managing fisheries in federal waters in the Southeast. During the meeting the Council developed recommendations on measures proposed in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, approved an amendment to modify transit provisions for shrimp vessels during cold-weather closures, addressed designating Special Management Zone areas off the coasts of the Carolinas, and received updates on the 2020 red snapper season, shark depredation, and wind farms.

The Council received presentations from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) as well as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary regarding proposed measures in the Sanctuary’s Restoration Blueprint affecting fishing within the South Atlantic Council’s portion of the Sanctuary. The proposed measures include expansion of the Sanctuary boundaries, modifying designated marine zones where fishing would be restricted or prohibited, eliminating baitfish permits, and prohibiting fish feeding activities. FWC held a series of stakeholder workshops in January 2020 and has developed recommendations based on input received at the workshops and other meetings. After reviewing the FWC recommendations, the Council discussed their role in the process and began drafting a letter to provide formal comments to the superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary by mid-March. A final copy of the letter will be posted on the Council’s website as part of the March 2020 meeting materials.

Council members voted to approve Amendment 11 to the Shrimp Fishery Management Plan that would modify current transit provisions for commercial shrimp vessels during cold-weather closures. The Council created the cold-weather closures and associated transit provisions to protect overwintering shrimp. During the most recent cold-weather closure for penaeid shrimp (brown, pink, and white shrimp) in 2018, shrimp fishermen indicated that gear stowage requirements were no longer feasible and asked that they be adjusted. Working together with members of the Council’s advisory panels to find a solution, the amendment would modify the gear stowage requirements within the transit provisions. The amendment must undergo Secretarial review before the measures may be implemented.

At the request of state marine resource agencies in North Carolina and South Carolina, the Council is considering designating a series of artificial reef sites within federal waters (3 miles or greater) offshore of each state as Special Management Zones. Amendment 34 to the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan would designate 30 artificial reef sites off of North Carolina and four sites off of South Carolina, where gear restrictions would be put into place for fishermen targeting species in the snapper grouper management complex. The Council approved the amendment for public hearings to be held via webinar prior to the June Council meeting. The hearings will be publicized as details become available.

Other Items

The Council received an update from NOAA Fisheries regarding a possible recreational season for red snapper in the South Atlantic of three days beginning the second Friday in July. The number of fishing days is determined by NOAA Fisheries each year. The 2020 opening is contingent on changing current regulations restricting opening the season for three days or less. The Council approved Snapper Grouper Regulatory Amendment 33 in December 2019 requesting the minimum number of days requirement be eliminated. The amendment is currently under review by NOAA Fisheries. Read more.

The Council also received a presentation from NOAA Fisheries Highly Migratory Species Division addressing concerns about shark depredation. The presentation acknowledged growing concerns about the impacts of shark depredation on fishing activities and outlined the challenges in addressing the concerns, including data needed to quantify shark encounters by fishermen. Council members also received an update on the status of the Kitty Hawk Wind Farm project proposed off the east coast of North Carolina, took action to table proposed changes for commercial Spanish mackerel trip limits in the northern zone, moved forward with developing an amendment to designate bullet mackerel and frigate mackerel as Ecosystem Component Species and began preliminary discussions of allocations. For additional meeting details, view the interactive Story Map for the March Council meeting or visit the Council’s website at: https://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/council-meetings/ for committee reports and other meeting materials.

The next meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is scheduled for June 8-12, 2020 in Key West, Florida.

Recreational red snapper season uncertain for 2020

March 5, 2020 — There won’t be a red snapper season for recreational fishers this year in federal waters off the Georgia coast unless an amendment under consideration moves with the necessary quickness.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, which manages fisheries in federal waters from North Carolina to the Florida Keys, is in its annual March meetings on Jekyll Island. The SAFMC committee on snapper and grouper aired a fair amount of vexation Wednesday as it came to red snapper and plans to speed up a planned stock assessment.

“There’s obviously a lot of sources of frustration about the situation we’ve got with red snapper,” said Spud Woodward, a fisheries biologist and former director of the state Department Natural Resources’ Coastal Resources Division. He said it can be hard to know where to focus efforts in this sort of situation.

One thing Woodward said concerns him is that discussions tend to come back around to the inadequacy of the data. He said they’ve got to work on the foundations of the ability to manage the fisheries. There was some talk among snapper/grouper committee members that there would always be a significant amount of problems with recreational reporting, because it’s would take too much money and too much effort to put into effect the sort of policies that would come close to guaranteeing reliable numbers.

Read the full story at The Brunswick News

Florida’s freshwater turtles falling prey to the international black market

March 4, 2020 — Florida freshwater turtles are being illegally caught and exported live in increasingly large numbers to keep up with demand for their meat, their supposed medicinal purposes and their value as pets, state wildlife officials said this month.

The black market trade is putting a strain on the state’s already vulnerable fresh water and terrestrial turtle populations, and officials say they expect demand to grow along with the dollar amount poachers in Florida can fetch.

Depending on the species, harvesters can make anywhere from $300 to more than $16,000 for a single turtle, officials say.

The appetite for freshwater turtles in Asian countries like China, Indonesia and India is already measured in tons per day, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and it has reached the point where it is unsustainable. While China has large farms raising turtles, the demand for wild caught adult turtles in the country is exploding.

Turtles live a long time, some species from 80 to more than 100 years, and they reach sexual maturity later in life than many other animals. This combination makes their populations particularly at risk to not only poaching, but to development, traffic and predatory animals, as well as sea level rise and climate change.

Read the full story from the Miami Herald at the Baltimore Sun

FLORIDA: 10 years ago, local fishermen marched on D.C. for change

March 2, 2020 — Ten years ago, more than 35 local fishermen boarded a charter bus at Capt. Anderson’s Marina on Panama City Beach for a marathon ride to Washington D.C. for the United We Fish march on the Capitol.

When the captains and deckhands from Destin, Panama City and Mexico Beach boarded the bus for the 18-hour trek, they had high hopes of getting more flexibility in fishing regulations and longer fishing seasons.

″(I’m) not sure that trip made a difference in and of itself,” said Ken Creel, a Destin recreational fisherman who made the bus ride. “However I’m sure it played a part in the overall outcome.

″(It was) one of the first times the private and for-hire sectors came together,” he added. ”(It) proved that there is strength in cooperation. It was a tough three-day trip on a bus, but I would definitely do it again.”

Read the full story at The Destin Log

Shark fin ban moving through Florida legislature

February 25, 2020 — Two bills are moving through the state legislature that may impact shark conservation in Florida.

Shark-finning is the process of cutting the fins off of live sharks, then dumping the fish back in the water and leaving them to drown or bleed to death. It was prohibited nationally in 2000 through the Shark Finning Prohibition Act by then-president Bill Clinton.

But now, two companion bills in Florida – HB 401 and SB 680 from Rep. Kristin Jacobs (D-Coconut Creek) and Sen. Travis Hutson (R-Palm Coast) – are planning to ban the possession and sale of shark fins on a state level. The bills aim to the move the lucrative shark fin industry out of the Sunshine State by banning the import and exports of shark fins.

Researchers, however, are hoping for a better solution – one that would better serve long-term shark sustainability.

“There’s really no need to eliminate the domestic industry because it’s already under heavy regulation,” Dr. Robert Hueter, the director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory, said. “It is true that there is a problem there and we don’t want to allow fins that have been acquired through the wrong way to come through the U.S.”

Read the full story at WFLA

FLORIDA: Proposed shark fin sale ban dismays fishermen

February 24, 2020 — Dave Campo has been catching sharks since he was 12. He spends his nights bobbing on the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean, waiting patiently in the dark for his catch and hauling the 80- to 300-pound fish on board his boat, the Miss Maggie, with his crew.

When the Miss Maggie docks, each shark, already gutted and beheaded, is carefully lifted out of a large icebox that takes up about a quarter of the boat. Crew member Ed Zirkel, 30, dressed in white rubber overalls and bright orange gloves, grabs a sharp knife and, from the dorsal to the lower tail lobe, systematically slices off each fin. With the rubber waders off, a thick scar is visible on the front of his leg — it’s from a shark bite.

Once the sharks’ stomachs are removed, each heavy carcass is weighed, chopped into fillets, skinned, packaged and weighed again. By the time the men have finished their work, the floors of the boat and the fish house are covered with a thin layer of watery blood.

Pending state legislation in Florida could soon quash this scene.

In the U.S., shark finning — the gruesome process of stripping living sharks of their fins, dumping the fish back in the water and leaving them to struggle for life, drown or bleed to death — has been outlawed since the Shark Finning Prohibition Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on Dec. 21, 2000. Many states since then have also banned the import, export and sale of fins, which is different from finning, but nonetheless controversial. Two bills — HB 401 and SB 680 — are currently moving through the Florida Legislature to ban all fin sales.

Robert Hueter, director of the Sarasota-based Mote Marine Laboratory’s Center for Shark Research, said the anti-finning bills may be well-intended but would have negative consequences.

Hueter said banning the import and export of fins in Florida will merely push the illegal trade underground, preventing regulation, and promote wastefulness by forcing local fishermen to throw away the fins on the sharks they catch.

Read the full story at The Gainesville Sun