Florida Archives - Page 53 of 64

Lionfish Pervade Waters Off Florida’s Coasts

May 19, 2017 — Saturday is “Lionfish Awareness and Removal Day” in Florida. Lionfish are an invasive species off Florida’s coasts. People in southwest Florida are studying the fish’s impact and others are helping to keep the invasive species’ population under control.

Sometime in the 1980s, a boat coming somewhere from the Indo-Pacific had lionfish onboard. That’s how they ended up in the waters off Florida where they don’t belong. They’re white with red stripes, and have eighteen hypodermic-like needle-sharp venomous spines on their fins. They’re the kind of fish you see in aquariums.

They’re pretty fish. But, as Florida Gulf Coast University marine biologist Mike Parsons said, their impact on the waters off Florida’s coasts, where they’re not supposed to be, has been anything but pretty.

“In terms of marine invasive species, this is probably one of the major ones that have had an impact on the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico,” said Parsons. “This is probably the biggest impact we’ve seen locally.”

And, Parsons said, they’re really good at breeding.

“A female can basically spawn 20,000 eggs every two or three days. And so a single female can spawn 2 million eggs a year,” he said.

Parsons also said lionfish are more productive when it’s warmer. And in recent years those high levels of production remain constant year round.

Read the full story at WGCU

NOAA Fisheries Announces the Opening of the Western, Northern, and Southern (Gillnet component) Zones to Commercial King Mackerel Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico On May 11, 2017

May 4, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

KEY MESSAGE:

NOAA Fisheries announces the re-opening of the western, northern, and southern (gillnet component only) Gulf of Mexico zones to commercial king mackerel fishing at 12:01 a.m. local time, May 11, 2017. NOAA Fisheries will publish a closure notice for each zone when the respective quota is projected to be reached.

WHY THIS RE-OPENING IS HAPPENING:

A final rule effective on May 11, 2017, increases the quota for each zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
The western, northern, and southern zones are currently closed because landings reached the old quotas.
The increase in the quotas allows additional harvest for the 2016/2017 fishing year, thus NOAA Fisheries is re-opening the zones in the Gulf of Mexico which have available remaining quota to commercial king mackerel fishing.
The landings for the southern zone hook-and-line component exceeded the original quota and are at 100 percent of the new quota; thus, only the western, northern, and southern (gillnet component only) zones will re-open.
Beginning May 11, hook-and-line fishing will be prohibited in the Florida Keys, which will now be part of the southern zone in the Gulf year round, and thus is subject to the Gulf of Mexico southern zone hook-and-line component closure.
Additional quota information for the 2016/2017 season is as follows:

	Pounds landed	Old quota	Old quota %	New quota	New quota %	Pounds left
Western	1,114,278	1,071,360	104.00	1,180,000	94.43	65,722
Northern	289,641	178,848	161.95	531,000	54.55	241,359
Southern Hook and Line	619,544	551,448	112.35	619,500	100.01	0
Southern Gillnet	534,892	551,448	97.00	619,500	86.34	84,608

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

Where are the zones that will re-open?

Please see the map below.

Why aren’t all of the zones re-opening?

Zones are only re-opening if there is sufficient available quota to harvest
NOAA Fisheries determined that the southern zone hook-and-line component does not have sufficient quota available to allow for a re-opening and a timely closure to prevent exceeding their quota.
Therefore, the southern zone hook and line sector will not be re-opening for the 2016/2017 fishing year when the final rule becomes effective May 11.
Because the Florida Keys will now be part of the southern zone in the Gulf year round, harvest of hook-and-line fishing there for king mackerel is prohibited when the southern zone is closed.

What will the quotas be in later fishing years?

Quota for years up to the 2019/2020 fishing years are listed below.

Year	Western	Northern	Southern Hook and Line	Southern Gillnet
2016/2017	1,180,000	531,000	619,500	619,500
2017/2018	1,136,000	511,200	596,400	596,400
2018/2019	1,116,000	502,200	585,900	585,900
2019/2020	1,096,000	493,200	575,400	575,400

What is the status of the king mackerel population in the Gulf of Mexico?

A 2014 assessment determined that the Gulf of Mexico king mackerel population is not undergoing overfishing (too many fish being harvested) nor is it considered to be overfished (too few fish).
The assessment indicates that catch levels for the population can be increased.

Related Links and Information can be found on NOAA Fisheries Website: http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_fisheries/gulf_sa/cmp/2016/am%2026/index.html

SEAMAP Releases 5-Year Management Plan

April 19, 2017 — The following was released by the Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program:

The Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (SEAMAP) has released its 2016-2020 Management Plan. Prepared by the South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean components of SEAMAP, the Management Plan serves as a reference for official SEAMAP policies and procedures through 2020. The Plan also includes detailed information on SEAMAP activities and highlights how SEAMAP data meet critical needs for recent stock assessments and management decisions. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, the Plan details how SEAMAP’s core surveys have been impacted by level/declining funding. It identifies how expansions in funding could be used to refine existing assessments and advance the movement towards ecosystem-based management; ultimately, leading to more comprehensive fisheries management in the Southeast region.

SEAMAP is a cooperative state/federal/university program for the collection, management, and dissemination of fishery-independent data and information in the Southeastern U.S. and Caribbean. Representatives from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) jointly plan and conduct surveys of economically and ecologically important fish and shellfish species and the critical habitats that support them. Since 1982, SEAMAP has sponsored long-term standardized surveys that have become the backbone of fisheries and habitat management in the Southeast and Caribbean. SEAMAP currently provides the only region-wide mechanism for monitoring long-term status and trends of populations and habitats within the region.

As a cooperative effort, SEAMAP monitors the distribution and abundance of fish and other marine resources from North Carolina through Texas and into the Caribbean. SEAMAP is intended to maximize the capability of fishery-independent and associated survey activities to satisfy data and information needs of living marine resource management and research organizations in the region. The primary means of performing that task is to optimize coordination and deployment of regional surveys and provide access to the collected data through documents and online databases. Additional roles of SEAMAP are to document long- and short-term needs for fishery-independent data to meet critical management and research needs, and to establish compatible and consistent databases for ecosystem and predictive modeling applications. SEAMAP promotes coordination among data collection, processing, management, and analysis activities emphasizing those specifically concerned with living marine resource management and habitat protection, and provides a forum for coordination of other fishery-related activities.

The 2016-2020 SEAMAP Management Plan is available online at: http://bit.ly/2pw1qXM. For more information about SEAMAP, particularly the South Atlantic component, please visit www.SEAMAP.org or contact Shanna Madsen, SEAMAP-SA Coordinator, at smadsen@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Sustainable Shark Alliance Applauds Recent Seizure of Illegal Shark Fins by Florida Wildlife Officials

April 4, 2017 – The Sustainable Shark Alliance (SSA), representing shark fishermen and dealers on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, calls for an investigation into the recent illegal shark finning incident reported last week near Key West.

The SSA vehemently opposes the reprehensible and illegal act of shark finning. U.S. domestic shark fishermen adhere to the legal and sustainable shark fishing quotas set by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The following was released by the SSA:

The Sustainable Shark Alliance, a coalition of shark fishermen and dealers along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, applauds Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission efforts to combat unlawful shark finning in a reported enforcement action involving a Key West shrimp boat. Such alleged unlawful activities, where a shark’s fins are removed and its carcass is discarded, harm the legal and federally permitted shark trade by U.S. fishermen laboring under conservative catch quotas and strict anti-finning laws.

Shark finning has long been illegal, and shark finning in the United States is extremely rare. Given the frequency of at-sea and dockside enforcement inspections, this violation is clearly an outlier.

The SSA strongly urges state and federal law enforcement agencies to remain vigilant in their efforts to eliminate illegal activities, including identifying the would-be buyers and ultimate customers for the fins. The legal shark fishery is closely monitored: harvesters must report catches of individual sharks and total amounts landed, and buyers must have federal permits and report all sharks purchased to the federal government. Exports are also reported, though the SSA supports enhancing the system for tracking shark fins after they leave the dock.

“This reprehensible activity harms law-abiding U.S. fishermen,” said Shaun Gehan, attorney for the SSA. “While some groups will use this unfortunate incident to push an agenda of banning fin sales, the fact is such laws will not dissuade criminals as would meaningful penalties such as those now before the Florida Legislature.” Nearly all fins harvested in the United States are exported to China.

The ability to sell fins is essential to the economic survival of SSA members. On average, fins account for fifty percent of the value of the landed catch. Given restrictive harvest limits and the costs associated with operating fishing vessels, loss of fin income would make it unprofitable for the fishery to continue. This would harm U.S. fishermen and their communities, while boosting profits for foreign fishermen not subject to the same strict conservation laws and oversight.

Sharks are managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under a very restrictive quota system that has been in place since the mid-1990s. As a result, populations of large and small sharks have been sharply increasing. In its last survey, NMFS found the most sharks in the survey’s 29-year history, 65 percent more than the one prior. Given the success of domestic shark management, efforts to ban fin sales have been opposed by fishery managers and leading scientists specializing in sharks.

Butchered shark fins seized from shrimp boat off Key West

April 4, 2017 — Florida wildlife officers made a grisly discovery aboard a Key West shrimp boat this week: dozens of pairs of dismembered shark fins.

The boat was discovered about 20 miles north of the island Wednesday night, an indication that illegal finning still occurs in Florida waters despite being banned more than 16 years ago. Buying and selling fins also remains legal in most states, fueling a practice that targets some of the world’s biggest and longest-lived sharks that are also among the planet’s oldest species.

“When we import them we have no idea if they came from sustainable shark fisheries or fisheries where they’re still finning,” said Mariah Pfleger, a scientist for Oceana, which is pushing a bill to ban the trade.

The boat was stopped by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers who alerted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service. FWC referred questions to NOAA and NOAA declined to release details, saying it was too soon in the investigation.

However, Oceana reported that officers found between 30 and 40 pairs of fins. NOAA Fisheries is continuing to investigate and no charges have been filed, spokeswoman Kim Amendola said in an email.

Read the full story at the Bradenton Herald

The following was released by the Sustainable Shark Alliance in response to this event:

The Sustainable Shark Alliance (SSA), a coalition of shark fishermen and dealers along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, applauds Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission efforts to combat unlawful shark finning in a reported enforcement action involving a Key West shrimp boat. Such alleged unlawful activities, where a shark’s fins are removed and its carcass is discarded, harm the legal and federally permitted shark trade by U.S. fishermen laboring under conservative catch quotas and strict anti-finning laws.

Calling Fishery Scientists! The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Seeks Scientific Advisors

April 4, 2017 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is soliciting scientists interested in serving on its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). Membership is open to any qualified scientist, regardless of affiliation or geographic location. The Council will review applications during its June 12- 16, 2017 meeting in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Applications received by April 26, 2017 will be submitted to the Council for consideration.

King Mackerel Trip Limit to Remain at 50 Fish per Day for Commercial Hook-And-Line Vessels Fishing in the Florida East Coast Subzone

February 24, 2017 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

KEY MESSAGE:

The daily vessel trip limit will remain at 50 fish per day for commercial hook-and-line vessels fishing for Gulf group king mackerel in federal waters of the Florida east coast subzone.
The 50-fish daily trip limit will remain in effect until March 31, 2017, unless the subzone’s quota is reached.
If the 1,102,896-pound quota is harvested during February or March 2017, the subzone will be closed and the daily trip limit will be reduced to zero king mackerel until the 2016/2017 season ends on March 31, 2017.
From November 1 through March 31, the Florida east coast subzone for Gulf group king mackerel is the area north of a line directly east from the Miami-Dade/Monroe County, Florida, boundary (25° 20.4′ N. lat. ), and south of a line directly east from the Volusia/Flagler County, Florida, boundary (29° 25′ N. lat. ). See map below.

WHY THIS TRIP LIMIT IS REMAINING THE SAME:

By regulations, if 70 percent of the quota for this subzone has not been harvested by March 1, the trip limit increases to 75 fish. However, NOAA Fisheries determined that more than 70 percent (or 772,027 pounds) of the 1,102,896-pound quota has been harvested for this fishery segment as of February 21, 2017. Therefore, the trip limit will not increase.

**PLEASE NOTE: Under the Florida regulations, the daily trip limit for king mackerel harvested in state waters off the east coast of Florida will also remain at 50 fish per day.

FLORIDA: TIME TO RETHINK RED SNAPPER RULES?: Locals are hopeful feds will reopen fishery

February 22, 2017 — Local fisherman say officials should consider re-opening the red snapper fishery in the federally controlled waters off of Florida’s northeast coast this year, but after years of being told it won’t happen, they don’t sound too hopeful.

While the season remains open year-round in the state-controlled Atlantic waters between the coast and 3-miles offshore (regulations are different in the Gulf of Mexico), fishermen say there are virtually no snapper to be had there.

“You won’t catch a snapper around here in state waters,” said Capt. Luke Jarriel, a boat captain for Sea Love Charters that operates out of Cat’s Paw Marina.

But they are thick, he said, at the spots 16-20 miles offshore, where he was fishing Monday with about 30 clients.

He estimated those clients caught about 60 red snapper, none of which could be kept.

“And that’s on the modest end,” he said Monday evening as he helped some clean the fish they could keep.

It’s numbers like those that make Jarriel and his boss, Sea Love’s co-owner, Darryl Lloyd, think the population is strong enough to start fishing again.

“You’ll see more red snapper than pretty much any fish you will see out there,” Lloyd said Monday while waiting in the marina parking lot for his boat to return.

Lloyd said he could only speak to the waters around the Northeast Florida area, but what he and his captains see from week to week suggests they should be allowed to keep the snapper they are catching anyway.

Read the full story at The St. Augustine Record

FLORIDA: Senate Bill Targets Shark Fin Trade

Editor’s note: “Shark finning,” or the practice of removing a shark fin at sea and discarding the rest of the shark, is illegal in the United States. All domestic shark fisheries are required to land the entire shark at the dock, and are managed according to sustainable fishery management plans.

February 15, 2017 — A bill filed in the state Senate would crack down on the sale and possession of shark fins and shark tails which are considered a delicacy in parts of Asia.

The measure, filed by Sen. Travis Hutson, would make it a first-degree misdemeanor in Florida to trade or offer for sale shark fins or shark tails. Commercial and recreational fishers found in violation would face a suspension or loss of their licenses or permits.

Read the full story at CBS Miami

Don’t Feed The Dolphins: Scientists Warn

February 13, 2017 — Well-meaning humans who just can’t resist throwing fish overboard to attract wild bottlenose dolphins may be doing the creatures more harm than good. A recent study that draws on data collected in Sarasota Bay in cooperation with Mote Marine Laboratory cast light on the dangers, even when inadvertent and accidental feedings are involved.

“This is the first study that directly links human-related feeding of wild dolphins – intentional or not – with increase risks of injury from human interactions such as boat strikes, entanglement in fishing gear or ingestion of hooks and line,” said Dr. Katie McHugh, staff scientist of the Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program. That program is a collaboration with Mote Marine.

Read the full story at the Clearwater Patch