Saving Seafood

Florida Red Snapper Season Now Open on Gulf Coast Weekends

May 11, 2016 — At its April 13 meeting in Jupiter, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) set the 2016 recreational red snapper season in Gulf of Mexico state waters.

The 2016 season is open Saturdays and Sundays in May starting May 7. On May 28, the season will open continuously through July 10. Finally, the season will reopen for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in September and October, and on Labor Day.

This would provide for a 78-day season in Gulf state waters. This season will help maintain fishing opportunities for recreational anglers in state waters and provide additional May and fall weekend fishing days.

Read the full story at The Fishing Wire

FLORIDA: Panhandle leaders seek ways to end lionfish invasion

May 11, 2016 — Environmental leaders are looking for an economic roar from the troubling invasion of lionfish into the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Because of the high concentration of the fish in the waters off Pensacola, the region has become Florida’s lionfish capital, the leaders said Monday night during a Regional Lionfish Control Workshop sponsored by Escambia County.

“What we are trying to do is to turn that lemon into lemonade,” Anna Clark of the Pensacola-based environmental advocacy organization Coast Watch Alliance told the group.

Clark and others pushed ideas that might provide a boost to the local economy while also combating the lionfish problem, including ecotourism based on “lionfish safaris.”  The plan would encourage divers who spearfish to come to the area to hunt lionfish.

Clark’s organization and the University of Florida’s Sea Grant program also are working to encourage retailers to sell lionfish meat and to promote restaurants that offer lionfish-based menu items.

Read the full story at the Panhandle News Journal

Florida power plant has sucked in over 4,100 sea turtles in the past decade

May 10, 2016 — Over the past decade, over 4,100 sea turtles — averaging to more than a turtle a day — have been sucked into the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant on Hutchinson Island in Florida, resulting in injuries and even deaths, TCPalm reported. Since the plant opened in 1976, about 16,000 turtles, mainly the threatened loggerhead and endangered green, have been affected.

Xander, a subadult loggerhead, is just one of these many turtles. In August, he was found tangled up in fishing line and wounded in the canal. After being rescued, Xander was given antibiotics and underwent orthopedic surgery. After treatment, he was released back into the wild on March 31, according to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center.

The federal government is finally stepping in to build pipe grates on the three pipes, each a quarter-mile long, that run through the ocean, which will take two years to build and test. This is the first step taken in addressing this issue, but the crosshatched mesh grate will only protect about 27% of the turtles that ever enter the pipes. Any smaller mesh would also stop water flow, the Florida Power & Light Company said, according to TCPalm.

Read the full story at AOL News

More acidic seawater now dissolving bit of Florida Keys reef

May 4, 2016 — Seawater — increasingly acidic due to global warming — is eating away the limestone framework for the coral reef of the upper Florida Keys, according to a new study. It’s something that scientists had expected, but not so soon.

This is one of the first times scientists have documented long-term effects of ocean acidification on the foundation of the reefs, said study author Chris Langdon, a biological oceanographer at the University of Miami.

“This is what I would call a leading indicator; it’s telling us about something happening early on before it’s a crisis,” Langdon said. “By the time you observe the corals actually crumbling, disappearing, things have pretty much gone to hell by that point.”

The northern part of the Florida Keys reef has lost about 12 pounds per square yard (6.5 kilograms per square meter) of limestone over the past six years, according to the study published in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles. Over the length of the reef, that’s more than 6 million tons. The water eats away at the nooks and crannies of the limestone foundation, making them more porous and weaker, Langdon said.

Read the full story at the New Jersey Herald

FLORIDA: Gulf County scallop season could be shut down this season

April 28, 2016 — GULF COUNTY, Fla. — Scalloping is a major part of the tourism economy in Gulf County, but this year they may have to do without.

The culprit is red tide. Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say in the 18 years they’ve been monitoring scallops, they’ve never had to cancel the season. This year it’s looking like it may come to that.

“Most people like doing it because it’s an underwater Easter egg hunt and it’s just a great way to spend the day,” said Local Dusty May.

On Wednesday, the FWC held a meeting to discuss whether to cancel the scalloping season all together.

“Bay scallops were negatively impacted by the red tide that came last year,” said Amanda Nalley, Spokesperson for FWC. “It did come during a time that was very important to scallops. It was during the spawning season and when larva was in the water, so that is why the scallop population was affected.”

Read the full story at NBC Gulf County

FLORIDA: Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission could close scallops in St. Joe Bay for 2 years

April 27, 2016 — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is considering closing scallop season for two years. The issue will be discussed at a meeting tonight.

“Scientific monitoring of bay scallops in St. Joseph Bay indicates that the bay scallop population has declined severely due to impacts of red tide. As a result, the bay scallop population is too low to sustain and recover from an open season for scalloping this summer,” officials wrote in a news release. “To help ensure the bay scallop population can recover as quickly as possible, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is making arrangements to cancel the 2016 harvest season in state waters west of St. Vincent Island including St. Joseph Bay.”

Read the full story at myPanhandle.com

NOAA Announces Modifications to Gag, Black Grouper Regs in Gulf of Mexico

April 27, 2016 — NOAA Fisheries Announces Modifications to Gag and Black Grouper Recreational Management Measures in the Gulf of Mexico

Small Entity Compliance Guide

NOAA Fisheries has published a final rule changing gag and black grouper recreational management measures in the Gulf of Mexico. These changes include:

  • An increase in the gag recreational minimum size limit from 22 inches total length to 24 inches total length.
  • An increase in the black grouper recreational minimum size limit from 22 inches total length to 24 inches total length.
  • A lengthening of the gag recreational fishing season from July 1 – December 2, to June 1 – December 31.

Need for Action:
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has chosen to increase the recreational minimum size limits for gag and black grouper from 22 inches total length to 24 inches total length. This increase is expected to provide more opportunity for gag and black grouper to mature before entering the fishery, and creates consistent recreational size regulations with those developed by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and State of Florida for gag and black grouper.

Read the full story at The Fishing Wire

Joe’s Stone Crab: How a Weird Crab Built Miami’s Legendary Restaurant

April 27, 2016 — MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — It’s Friday afternoon at Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami Beach, Florida, and lunch has gotten off to a rollicking start. Mario Batali’s expected in at any moment with a party of several dozen. The Alinea Group’s asked for even more seats to be reserved. Meanwhile, Martha Stewart’s just called in on her way from the airport, and may or may not need a relatively modest table of fewer than 20. And yet another celebrity chef, in the midst of a messy divorce, has called in his regrets and apologetically explained that it’s not a great time to claim his usual table. Meanwhile, the dining rooms are already booming with the laughter and clatter of Miami’s elite—federal judges, businessmen, doctors—chowing down on endless platters of Florida stone crabs with the requisite ramekins of Joe’s signature mustard-mayo sauce.

But Joe’s is like a massive iceberg, and the dining room is just what customers see on the surface. Behind the swinging doors, the sprawling kitchen has all the frenzied efficiency of a well-oiled machine, with cooks, servers, bussers, stockers, managers, and other staff pumping out a constant stream of stone crabs, fish, salads, sandwiches, and Key lime pies under the watchful eye of general manager Brian Johnson. The back rooms, which include its retail and distribution end, and storage and freezer rooms the size of full kitchens in most Manhattan restaurants—would alone cover much of an average city block.

Joe’s is an industry unto itself, turning seafood into hundreds of happy customers every day, and it’s all thanks to the humble Florida stone crab 103 years ago. That’s when Hungarian immigrant Joe Weiss opened up a beachside seafood shack, selling local fish and, eventually the odd-looking local stone crab that no one had really thought to try eating before. “We have a product that is unique and is indigenous to Florida, and that represents our brand by being sustainable,” says Steve Sawitz, Joe Weiss’s great-grandson and the current COO of Joe’s Stone Crab. “That, right along with the other million details gives you a good chance of staying open for a 100 years.”

“It’s Mother Nature’s perfect gift,” chef André Bienvenu says. “And the fact that the restaurant’s over 102 years old itself, proves to me the product continues to get better and better.”

They’re both talking about the special regenerative properties of the Florida stone crab and how it’s fished. The crustacean can regrow lost limbs over and over again. Crabbers twist off the claws and then throw the crab back in the ocean, where they can recover. Restaurants only serve the claws for customers to eat. That means that Joe’s regulars can be confident that they and their descendants will be eating that sugar-sweet, slightly briny stone crab meat for a long time to come. “We were green before going green was a thing,” general manager Johnson says.

Read the full story at Bon Appétit 

Lobster Poachers Caught and Vessel Forfeited in Biscayne National Park

April 25, 2016 — Biscayne National Park and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers conducted a safety and marine fisheries inspection on the commercial fishing vessel “El Donny.” The inspection ultimately resulted in filed charges, a plea agreement and sentencing.

During the inspection officers observed a lobster shell inside a crab trap, although the boat owner indicated that no lobsters were on the vessel. While inspecting the engine room, an officer noticed a white plastic bag hidden behind some engine equipment. This bag, along with four others that were discovered, included a total of 87 wrung lobster tails, 66 of which were undersized.

Read the full story at the South Dade News Leader

Lionfish Removal Effort Ramps Up: Florida Incentivizes Anglers to Help Target Invasive Species

April 22, 2016 — They’re the beauties with the beastly reputation—one so unwelcome that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has launched a new incentive program aimed at their eradication.

We’re talking about lionfish, those ornately designed invasives of aquarium origin that have overrun reefs throughout Florida’s coast. Exploding in numbers, lions compete with native species and upset local ecosystems.

You’d think that all the grouper, sharks, and barracuda would appreciate the additional forage, but lionfish pack a set of poisonous spines that warn would-be diners to back off.

So, that leaves humans to handle the task of eradicating these fish, or at least controlling their numbers. And that’s the idea behind the FWC’s 2016 lionfish removal program highlighted by a Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day on May 16.

Read the full story at Outdoor Life